How to Write a Book Summary
Are you required to create a book summary? You might like to sum up what you’ve read and make it available for others.
Even so, it is not easy to create a summary.
In this article, we’ll look at how to write a book summary and give a step-by-step process.
What’s the difference between book reviews and book summaries?
It doesn’t matter why you want to write book summaries, but it does not mean that you are writing a book review.
The difference may not be obvious, but a book review describes the book and your feelings about it. A book summary is often referred to simply as a synopsis. It summarizes the main points of the story without bias commentary.
Is a Book Summary Too Long?
You are not writing the entire book.
Before beginning writing your book summary, you will want to make sure to list all of the essential characters, places, and events that occur while leaving some of the ‘filler’ sections.
These filler sections are a part of every book and story. They can add atmosphere or character development to the book, but they don’t always need to be included in the book summaries.
The following is an example of a formula many book summaryers use:
[page limit÷number of chapters=number of summary pages]
You may not need a page limit. However, this is what I do to keep my readers involved by writing concise sections.
To summarize, you’d want four pages per page if your 3-page limit is 12 pages.
What is the best way to structure a book summary?
This is the most difficult one, because it’s up to you to decide how to structure your book summary.
Here’s what I discovered to be It is best to do one section at time.The first section introduces the characters, before we get into the tale that the author is telling.
You should, for example, have 16 chapters in your book summary. The first section will introduce characters, setting, theme and then the 15 sections that summarise each chapter.
A section can be added at the end to serve as a conclusion. But in some instances, it may not be needed. This section is for you if you like to share your thoughts.
Which are the best steps to write a summary?
First, you must read through the entire book before beginning to write a book summary. Next, you will need to sum up what just occurred in the chapter and all the significant paths taken by the writer in telling their story.
This helps you to consolidate what you have learned and makes it easier for your brain to store the relevant information.
Here are some steps to help you write an engaging book summary.
Take control of the market
Before you start to read the book, you should determine the market or target audience.
If you’re summarizing the book, and you have your target audience in mind it is important to identify which sections need to be expanded upon or paraphrased and condensed.
You might want to, for instance, expand on the writing process used by beginning poets in a book that you are summarizing about poetry.
It is important to understand your audience and how you can reach them.
You can begin to tailor your summary for your target market once you know your readers.
Find out more about the author
It is a smart idea to do some research on the author before you begin to write the summary and also to read the entire book.
You will get a sense of the writing style. Knowing their history can help you understand where they come from and the point they’re trying to make. In their story.
While some subject matter might seem off-topic in your summary, knowing what the author thought and felt when they wrote their book can allow you to better understand their thoughts.
Read the Book
It is crucial to be able to summarize the book you have just read.
Contrary to a reading assignment you have for college, it is important that you take time to really think through each section you read.
This is the best mindset for teaching a group or class about each topic. It will help you to remember the most important points that each author wants to make clear through your words.
We read a lot of things, but we often don’t pay enough attention to what it means or how the words actually sound.
You can summarize the entire book by reading it back. This will help your brain to retain what you’ve just read.
Make Notes and Highlights
While it may slow down the process of reading, taking notes and noting important points can make it more effective and help you retain the information. You can also make a checklist to keep track of what you should include in your summary.
This can be done in many ways. I prefer to keep a list of all important advice given by readers. Or, if the story is fictional, to draw attention to the key actions taken.
It would be smart to make as many notes for the story-driven sections of the book as you can.
It is important to remember that taking too many notes or exaggerating your points can lead to more trouble down the road. While taking notes, it is important to be able to discern the essential and non-essential information.
For each chapter, write a summary.
It helps to write small summaries of each chapter. This will help your brain store what you have just learned and make it easier for you to complete your final project.
You can easily forget parts of the book towards the end if you’re reading too much information. You can make your own summary as you go through the book and keep notes. This will help when it comes to reading those summaries for the final project.
If you find a section you want to add or change, this will allow you to go back and revise the book summary.
It is also easier to organise your thoughts in the future. For example, if your summary contains a section you feel should be more or less, you can refer back to your section summary to do this.
These are the key points
Although this is a great way to summarize key points, make sure you highlight important points in your sectional summaries.
It will ensure that your eyes aren’t just focused on a text wall. Your brain can comprehend the important bits of information in smaller, more manageable chunks.
Although the main points of each book will differ, it is a good idea to summarize the following.
- The main characters
- They took what actions
- And what did this result in?
You may also want to include additional key points or information.
- The introduction of main characters or secondary characters
- Secondary actions that were taken
- any seemingly small “ripples” that have happened, that may have conflicts or solutions later in the text
You can also bullet your key points after you have finished editing the entire book.
This is your choice. It’s up to how you present it.
Your full summary should be written
You can now begin writing your summary. Following the above sections will help you to know what the most important points are and how you can summarize them in bullet points.
It is about putting all the information in an orderly format.
You should avoid unnecessary rambling and give only the most relevant information. You aren’t writing a book.
By using useful information that is kept to the point and concise, you can grasp your reader’s attention and give them the information about the book that they need.
End thoughts
A book summary can be a great way to solidify knowledge of a book you’re reading and can be used to skim over crucial points later on.
These steps will help you write future book summaries.