Writing a good book report requires summarizing a lot of information in a very small space. Your job is to extract the main ideas of a book and possibly analyze it as well and then type it up into a presentable report. Follow these steps to make the task easier.

Take thorough and careful notes as you read the book. (See "How to Take Reading Notes.") Use Post-it flags to mark pages that contain important passages or quotes.

Gather your reading notes and the book and have them by your side as you write your report.

Ask yourself, What would I want to know about this book?

Look through your notes and decide, based on the length of the book report and your answers to the above question, what is essential to include and what can be excluded.

State the main point of the book: Why did the author write the book? Or for fiction, give a brief plot summary.

Outline the plot or main ideas in the book (See "How to Write a Paper Outline"), or for fiction describe the story and key dramatic points.

Follow your outline as you write the report, making sure to balance the general and the specific. A good book report will both give an overview of the book's significance and convey enough details to avoid abstraction.

Summarize the overall significance of the book: What has this book contributed to the knowledge of the world? For fiction: What does this story tell us about the author's take on life's big questions?