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Sooner or later one or more of your teachers are going to assign a book review or a book report. It's a fact of life, and something, whether you like it or not, has to be done.

Whether you cringe at the thought of writing book reviews and book reports or secretly enjoy doing them, what you need is a "system" for tackling this kind of assignment. Writing a book review or report is an art that takes practice. Once you know how to go about it, it can be easy and actually, enjoyable, especially if you put your computer to work as your assistant.

When you make your computer your assistant, it can help you:

• Pick a book.
• Take notes.
• Pop your notes right into the rough draft of your review.
• Use Spell Check and Thesaurus as your personal assistants.
• Streamline your editing.
• Delete what you don't need and add what you do.
• Present your review/report in style - essay, essay with illustrations, a video, newspaper article, cartoon, a radio piece, or perhaps, an interactive digital presentation.
• Hand in a quality book review.

You'll need to know how to get going writing a book review and how to put your computer to work for you. That's what we're going to tackle here. We'll begin with what to do when you hear those words, "A book review (or book report) is due ?."

When Your Teacher Assigns a Book Review or Book Report

The Review Vs. The Report

Sometimes the terms book review and book report are used interchangeably, even though they aren't the same thing. They are similar, but you'll find that the book report that your teacher considered wonderful when you were in Grade 6, won't quite do as a book review when you are in high school. Your teacher will most likely specify whether you should be writing a book report or a book review.

In general, a book report is a description or a summary of the contents of the book. Although in many book reports, the writer of the report gives an opinion of the book, usually in the ending paragraph or near the end, the report does not focus upon the reporter's opinion of or evaluation of the book. In contrast, the book review is just the opposite. While the writer of the review usually tells about what happens in the book, the reviewer 's emphasis is upon how the book is written and whether or not to recommend the book to others. The review is similar to an argument for or against the book. It's like a persuasive essay. For an example of a book review on Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird check this review from Scholastic at http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/bookrev/read.htm.

Finding a Book for Your Review or Report

Think about the guidelines that your teacher gave you for doing your review or report. What type of book is acceptable? Even if your teacher told you that you could pick a book that you like, you know there are limits. It's best, if you have any doubts about book choice, to talk with your teacher. Make sure you select a book that fits the assignment. Otherwise, even though your review or report may be outstanding, your grade won't.

If you need help with just what book to select for your review or report, go to the related links section below and select Finding the Right Book. There you'll find a number of links that will help you select a book.

Don't, however, spend all your time vacillating over which book to read. Pick one and get started. After all you've got to read the book, take notes, and write the review. That takes time. Be sure to pick a book that:

• You're interested in.
• That's okay with your teacher.
• That can be read in the time assigned.

Got a book? On to the Review or Report

Creating a Pre-Outline/Taking Notes

The best way to use your computer to help with a book review or report is to begin your writing before you read the book. Oh, we know you are thinking, "I couldn't possibly begin my book reviews/reports until I finish the book. It would interfere with my reading." But, think about it. Don't you usually ask yourself when you get ready to write, "How in the world am I ever going to get this review/report done before tomorrow? Or why didn't I start this work last week or ??" The result is a mad scramble through the book looking for something - anything - to write. If you had taken notes as you went along, writing the review would be a cinch.

One method designed to encourage you to take notes while you are reading is the pre-outline. It's simply an organized list of what you'll be looking for in your book. Another is, of course, traditional and computerized note-taking, which we will discuss, after giving you some sample pre-outlines to experiment with.

You can copy the pre-outlines you'll see below, but you can also go to the related links section below and choose Book Reports: Create a Pre-Outline The pre-outlines are waiting there for you to copy and paste into a word processor such as AppleWorks or Microsoft Word. Just highlight and copy the online outline you want, open a new word-processing document, and paste. That will put the outline on your computer, and you can type your answers into it. Then when you get ready to assemble your book review or report, you can copy and paste your answers directly into the review. Lots of your work will already be done for you before you even think about putting your final copy together.

Remember to print your pre-outline and keep it with you as you read your book. This way, you can jot down notes even when your computer isn't handy.

Sample Note-taking Suggestions

Novel Pre-outline for a Book Report
Directions: Don't forget to fill out this outline WHILE you read the book - not after! Remember to change the outline to fit your book.

Title and Author:
Important Characters/Descriptions: (Leave space to take notes on the important characters.)
Actions/Involvement: (What do the characters do?)
Setting:
Mood:
An Interesting Quote or Two from the Book: (Something good to quote and cite in your report)
Problems, Which Need to Be Solved:
How Are the Problems Solved?
Opinion of the Book, Writing, etc.:

Novel Pre-outline for a Book Review

Title:
Author and Author's Background: (Has the author written other books? Why is the author qualified to write this book?)
Writing Style: (How is it written, organized?)
Intended Audience
Setting:
(Brief) Important Characters, Happenings:
(Brief) Summary:
Strengths of the Book:
Weaknesses of the Book:
Quotes that Back Up Your Opinions:
Your Overall Opinion/Evaluation of the Book:

Directions: Don't forget to fill out this outline WHILE you read the book - not after! Remember to change the outline to fit your book.

Title and Author:
Name of Person:
Dates: (When did the person live?)
Where: (In what places does the biography take place?)
Description of the Person: (What does the person look like and act like?)
Person's Childhood:
Person's Adult Life:
End of Person's Life:
Problems Faced:
How Problems Were Solved?
Achievements: (What did the person do that is important?)
An Interesting Sentence or Two from the Biography: (Something you'd like to quote. Remember to jot down what page the quote was on.)
Why Is the Person Important?
Opinion of the Book (evaluation and recommendations)

Directions: Don't forget to fill out this outline WHILE you read the book - not after! Remember to change the outline to fit your book.

Title and Author:
Author's Qualifications for Writing this Book
Writing Style:
Intended Audience:
Importance of this Biography:
Selected Information on the Person, his Life, and Achievements:
Strengths of the Book:
Weaknesses of the Book:
Selected Quotes that Backup Your Evaluation of the Strengths and Weaknesses:
Overall Opinion of the Book:

Non-Fiction Pre-outline for a Book Report

Directions: Don't forget to fill out this outline WHILE you read the book - not after! Remember to change the outline to fit your book.

Title and Author:
Type of Book: (science, how-to, history, etc.)
Purpose of the Book: (Why did the author write the book?)
How is the book organized? (How do you find information in the book?)
Illustrations/Charts/Photographs: (Are illustrations important to the book? If so, why?)
Interesting Part of the Book 1:
Notes about Interesting Part of the Book 1:
Interesting Part of the Book 2:
Notes about Interesting Part of the Book 2:
(Add other interesting or important parts.)
What Did You Learn from the Book?
Overall Opinion of the Book (evaluation and recommendations)

Directions: Don't forget to fill out this outline WHILE you read the book - not after! Remember to change the outline to fit your book.

Title and Author:
Type of Book: (science, how-to, history, etc.)
Author's Qualifications for Writing the Book:
Writing Style:
Purpose of the Book: (Why did the author write the book?)
(Brief) What is the Book About:
How Is the Book Organized? (How do you find information in the book?)
Illustrations/Charts/Photographs: (Are illustrations important to the book? If so, why?)
Strengths of the Book:
Weaknesses of the Book:
Quotes to Backup your Evaluations:
Overall Opinion of the Book:

Other Ideas for Notetaking

Chapter Pre-Outline

Maybe you'd would rather to keep track of what's happening in your book by doing chapter-by-chapter sentence summaries. Using this method, after you finish reading each chapter, write a sentence or two in your own words about it. Just remember what type of information you'll want to collect. If it's a book review, you're looking for content that will help you evaluate the book, while your book report will need more of a description of the book and its contents. You'll also find a form for this type of outline in the link below. It's okay to copy it to your computer to use.

One of the problems with the Chapter Pre-outline is that the length of chapters may vary a great deal from book to book. If your book has very long chapters, you'll probably need to take more notes on each chapter. However, if your book has loads of chapters, maybe you won't need notes on all of them. You'll just have to use your common sense about what you'll need for your final review.

Notes

You may decide that you just want to take notes like you've done before on note cards or pieces of notebook paper. This is fine, of course, but why not take them on the computer? If you don't have a computer handy when you are ready to takes some notes, you can always type them in later. You might want, in addition, to think about other ways to save your thoughts about the book. Think about how you might put to use a Personal Digital Assistant (such as a Palm or a Visor) with a folding keyboard or perhaps, one of those tiny tape recorders. It's simply easier to remember your thoughts if you save your ideas while you are reading. BOTTOM LINE - No matter what method or methods you use to remember your ideas about the book, be sure to get them into your computer and save them where you'll be sure to find them. Transforming this skill into habit will save you time and frustration not only now but when you get into your college studies.

Coming Up Next: Start Reading and Writing

Once you decide which type of note taking you'll to use with your book, you're ready to begin reading and writing. As you do, you'll be filling in the information for your review in your pre-outline or other note taking method. Next up in Computers & You will be ideas for what to put into your notes.

We'll also be discussing:

• Using online book notes.
• Avoiding plagiarism.
• Getting Motivated for Writing.