Your Ultimate Book Report Template

Writing a book report at college presents many challenges.

Firstly, it stipulates a comprehensive reading – not just reading between the lines or finding someone else’s review on a given book online, but a thorough and thoughtful reading of the entire book and making notes along the way.

Secondly, a good book report requires one to conduct a critical analysis of a book’s content. This means an unbiased and objective assessment of the main characters, and events, as well as the historical context and place of the work in the relevant literature niche. If you feel like you are not ready yet for this work, check out Bookwormlab.com which is known for some of the most affordable book reports on demand.

Students also hate writing book reports because they take loads of time, require excellent writing skills, knowledge of the existing citation and referencing styles, and strictly original content without any plagiarism.

Many don’t even know where to get a template for a book report…

College book report template example

The following example of a template of a book report is one of the most complete one can find. It covers the needs of book report writing at the college and university level and certainly satisfies a high school book report template, as well as a middle school book report template requirement.

Title: [Book Title]

Author: [Author’s First and Second Name]

Publication Date: [Publication Date]

Genre: [Genre of the Book]

Introduction: brief information about the book, featuring its title, author, publication year, and genre. May also include the main theme and background information.

Summary: the main plot or storyline of the book, the major characters, and key events.

Analysis and Evaluation: personal assessment of the book, including its strengths and weaknesses. Evaluation of the author’s writing style, character development, timeline, and context.

Character Analysis: analysis of protagonists and antagonists with a focus on their psychological portraits, personality traits, motivations, and talents.

Themes and Messages: a review of the pivotal messages conveyed. The relation of the messages and themes to the overall interpretation and value of the book.

Personal Reflection: subjective opinion and reactions of the reporter, memorable scenes, etc. Keeping them at a minimal level, as this is just a report, not a full-fledged book review.

Conclusion: a brief takeaway from reading this book, including recommendations for future readers (is this book worth recommending reading?).

College book report format

When it comes to the format of a book report, your particular template may or may not define that. Things like page margins, text alignment, and font style are not typically a part of book report requirements. So, unless your assignment explicitly says something about page and font format, here are the general format guidelines used in this type of writing:

• Page layout. A default 8.5’’ x 11’’ page size should be used. Margins must be set at 1 inch from all sides (if you need more space – at least from the left side). 1.5 or double-spacing should be preferred.
• Font format. Easy-to-read fonts should be preferred, such as Areal, Times New Roman, or Calibri. To aid reading comfort, ensure your font size is at least 12 or better 14.
• Titles and headings. Use the necessary title information as mentioned in the template example section of this article. Include author and year of publication information. For heading, ensure consistent, clear, and properly aligned heading names, followed by subheadings if necessary.
• Referencing and citations. Depending on your assignment referencing style requirements, you may need to apply APA, MLA, or Chicago referencing style. Ensure both proper in-text and end-of-the-text bibliographic references.

Where to get alternative book report templates

If you want to dig deeper into this topic, here are a few suggestions where to start:

• Local educational resources. Firstly, check out our immediate educational institution’s website and library. They may have plenty of referencing materials on how to write a book report, including examples and templates.
• Tutoring centers. If your high school has a tutoring center, check for a book report template high school level.
• Online learning websites. Plenty of online learning resources offer easily accessible and free-of-charge materials on the art and practice of writing a book report. Check out such websites as Coursera, Khan Academy, OpenLearn, TED-Ed, and others.
• Writing guides. Specialized writing guides offer plenty of learning materials, including guides on book reviews and reports. One great example is the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL).
• Books on report writing. Besides, there are plenty of old-fashioned learning resources, such as hard copies of books dedicated to writing reviews and reports. Go to your local library or book market to ask for those.