book review template excel

Get your Romance Reading Journal at 50% off for a limited time only!

9 Free Reading Tracker Spreadsheets (2024)

This blog post contains affiliate links, no extra cost to you, thank you for your support!

It’s always a good time to start tracking your reading and reading tracker spreadsheets are perfect for that!

If you’re not a fan of bullet journalling, using reading tracker apps or tracking your reading on bookstagram , simple reading tracker spreadsheets that are aesthetically pleasing and easy to navigate sounds just the thing for you.

In this blog post, I’ve compiled a list of paid and free reading trackers to suit your needs.

There are colourful, neutral, simple and elaborate trackers – a tracker for every reader! And most of these reading trackers are for google sheets!

readers’ favourite

Reading tips.

• How To Read More Books Before The Year Ends (For Busy Adults)
• 10 Free Printable Reading Journals (PDF) And Digital Downloads
• 10 Reading Trackers For All Types Of Readers

Reading Tracker Spreadsheets To Help You Organize Your Reading

1. reading tracker template by toadstoolsterrariums.

If you’re looking for a super affordable book tracker template and love the colour pink, this one is perfect for you.

This reading tracker spreadsheet helps you:

• Remember which books you’ve lent out
• Keep track of all books in your collection
• Start and finish of book with handy progress bars
• Ratee your book
• Sort by genre

2. Book Tracking Spreadsheet by AubreiKTemplates

This spreadsheet is not to track your yearly reading but is to track every single book you own. It is a personal library tracker for all you bookworms who are growing their reading collection.

Its colours are neutral and warm – perfect for the cozy reader.

3. Reading Tracker Template (Notion) by ConceptPlanners

If you’re an avid notion user, this reading tracker template will satisfy your book-tracking needs.

Besides books, it can also track your movies.

This reading tracker notion template is comprehensive and has everything you’d need:

• Add as many books and movies
• Track your reading monthly and yearly.
• Store notes on your favourite books
• Add start and finish dates for books
• Categorize your books and movies
• Reading planner
• Rate your books
• Create a list of quotes that inspired you from the books you’ve read

4. Minimal Reading Tracker Spreadsheet by TheSimplicityGuide

This minimal reading spreadsheet has a cool tone colour palette and is especially useful if you’re looking for a google sheets book tracker.

This minimal reading tracker allows you to:

• Add half-ratings
• Track your reading on Google Sheets & Excel
• Keeps track of your TBR
• Keeps track of books you own
• Keeps track of your yearly, monthly reading goals 
• Keeps track of your reading time

5. TBR List Template Spreadsheet

This TBR list spreadsheet will help you organize your never ending list of books to be read.

This spreadsheet contains 6 different tabs:

• Books you want to read
• Monthly TBR
• Review copies tracker
• Schedule when to read your books and post about them

Free Reading Tracker Spreadsheets 

1. free reading tracker for google sheets.

This simple Google sheet reading tracker is easy to use and is suitable for any sort of reader.

If you’re looking for something that doesn’t have much colours, excessive tracking and tabs, this one is great for you.

2. Reading Spreadsheet by Your Words My Ink

This free reading spreadsheet is very thorough and complete if you’re looking to track your reading seriously.

Some of its features are:

• Books read in a year
• Pages read daily, weekly and monthly
• Series tracker
• ARC tracker
• Haul & Unhaul tracker
• Book Request tracker for book influencers

And there’s way more!

3. Books Spreadsheet for Tracking by Elaine Howlin

This free book tracking spreadsheet is updated every year with new features.

It has everything you would need for a minimalistic tracking style. There’s not too much to track and yet it is detailed enough for you to reflect on your monthly and yearly reading habits.

4. Book Tracker Google Sheets for Lazy Readers

I’m not calling you lazy! But if you do think that you’re anything like me and don’t have the time to track every single detail about your reading choices, this Lazy Reader google spreadsheet will help you collect just enough data about your reading habits throughout the year.

Wrap Up: Reading Tracker Spreadsheets

Here you go, 9 reading tracker spreadsheets for all sorts of readers. There’s paid and free options, a notion option and most of them are compatible with Google Sheets and excel.

I hope these reading spreadsheets help you read more!

If you’re looking for book journal templates, it’s worth checking out these free printable reading journals (PDF) that you can download.

Hi there, i'm Sonia. The founder and author at Brewing Writer, a blog that features detailed book reviews, bookstagram tips, book blogging tips, thoughtfully curated book lists (which my readers love!) and cozy aesthetic photography that’ll make you crave a cup of coffee and a good book.

Similar Posts

12 Disadvantages Of Reading Every Reader Should Know

Romance Book Terms & Abbreviations (The Ultimate List)

Summer Reading Challenge For Adults + FREE Printable (2024)

12 Reasons Why Reading Is A Good Hobby (Why Should You Start Reading?)

Spring Reading Challenge For Adults (2023)

How To Colour Code Your Bookshelf (Rainbow Bookshelf)

Thank you so much for mentioning my reading tracker!

No worries and thank you for the awesome reading tracker! 🙂

Comments are closed.

I am Lover of romance, who indulges in the romantic adventures of literature

My name is Renee, and I am the host of this site. I am a 34 year old woman, on the prowl for her mate, searching out the best of books, exploring the wilds of the imagination and delving into the heart of a beautiful love story.

Sign up below to receive weekly tips, tricks, updates and special offers.

2022 Ultimate Reading Tracker Spreadsheet

by Lover of Romance | Oct 25, 2021 | Reader Spreadsheet | 12 comments

Introduction

Welcome to something new that I have been working on for quite a while now, and this has been something that I have been wanting to share. As book lovers, its always important and it can be FUN too, to track what we read, to accomplish our reading/bookish goals, and see the progress that we make in our reading. As a book blogger, I have come to appreciate what tracking books and blog goals can be in a spreadsheet. And there are so many options out there for us bookish lovers. But I will admit that many of them don’t have what I need, and so I thought I would combine aspects of all the various spreadsheets that I like to bring together something that is more extensive on the tracking. This is something that I have found very useful and I wanted to create something that would be adaptive to your needs. Now the base of this spreadsheet is off of the spreadsheet template Ezra @ I Heart Romance shared last year (which the original base was from NovelTea plus other aspects of spreadsheets from Brock and Ali’s templates), but I added some things and made some tweaks here and there to create something more expansive. I hope you all enjoy it and find it useful for you!

Download The Template

All you need to do is select the button here below, to send you to the file on Google Sheets. Now, this file is protected to make sure it’s available for everyone to use. So if you are new to this, all you need to do is go to File>>>then Save As Copy. And then its yours to use and adjust and start tracking all of your bookish stuff. 

Features of the Spreadsheet

This spreadsheet contains multiple sheets and there are different uses and needs for each of them. It might seem overwhelming at first, but this is adaptable, in that just find what works for you and then you can delete what you don’t want. I personally, am OCD about my organization and find that many aspects of this spreadsheet to really work for me. There are multiple stats pages, plus 10 main sheets, and then a couple of other sheets (that I will explain the reason for below). 

This is definitely my favorite tab (other than the stats pages) I just love how this one is built and all the features that it has. This log calculates many different elements but you don’t have to use them all. If there is a column you don’t want to use, just delete it. This one will help you calculate your authors, series, genres, tropes, and more. It also has an added feature that I implemented from “The Book Roast” She has a rating system called “CAWPILE” and how it works is that it takes seven subcategories which you judge on a scale of 1-10 and then in this spreadsheet, it will calculate the rating for you. I have included the cheat sheet for this system, I have found it so useful in the past year in helping me calculate a more detailed and accurate rating. But I would also recommend if you are interested, to watch her video on this: 

Acquisitions 

This is a page where you can track the books your purchase, get from the library, or even subscriptions. I really love this one because this is where I like to track books I purchase vs. books I read from the library. I know many like to see where they are spending money and the difference in saving money. 

Series Tracker

This is a page where you keep track of your series, and there are some stats tables to help you keep track of where you are going with your series and your progress with them. This spreadsheet also includes a table stat to help you track your series, like how many books are 1st in a series for 2, 3rd, or 4th or series you are completing throughout the year. 

DNF Tracker

I wanted to include this one because I know that many readers like to track what books they DNF, personally, I don’t DNF that much so its not one I use very much. But it does help me see how often I DNF and the reasoning behind doing it. 

ARC Tracker 

This sheet is if you read ARC’s and like to track your books and it also helps you remember and keep track of what books you need to read. This sheet is what really helped me get caught up on my NG ratio (which I recently got to 100%), Because it can be so easy to get behind and lose track of those books for review. 

Author Tracker 

This is a sheet you won’t have to do much with. Once you enter in the authors on the “Book Log” page, then it calculates all authors into this page, with only two other columns that help you keep track if they are “New To You” and “Debut”. This really helps understand your reading habits as it pertains to authors. And its also nice because it will show you the # of times you read certain authors which is good to see in watching your reading habits. 

Buddy Read Tracker 

This is one of my favorites, I have in recent years really enjoyed buddy reading books with friends and this page is super useful in helping to track these. So if you buddy read, I think you will find this one super useful in tracking them. 

New Releases 

I wanted to include this sheet because this one has HELPED me so much this year. I really like to keep track of my new releases and this is the BEST way that really has helped me track them more. 

This is a page that will seem overwhelming for some especially if you have a lot of books whether they are physical or digital, to keep track of. But I have found once you have it filled, and keep up on it as you buy books, it’s a good reminder of reading your TBR. This one I really like, I don’t have too many TBR books. I tend to read books when I first buy them (or I try to) so this helps me see where I am at and what I need to work on. 

Categories 

Now it is ESSENTIAL to understand how this sheet work. As you look in the Book Log, you will see quite a few drop-down menus, so on this page, this is where all of your menu items are locations and if you want to add or change them, you can do as many as you want. Like for example if you want to add more publishers or tropes or themes of what you are reading, you can change it. But for example, if you want to change your genres (these genres are really just for romance fiction only, but if you want to add different ones, you will have to adjust some of the stat tables through functions  (if you need help with this, just DM or email me and I can walk you through it, its fairly easy once you understand how to do it) 

Stats Sheets

This is honestly one of my favorite aspects of tracking my reading through spreadsheets, I absolutely love it so much. Its just so fun to see the various charts and grids and all the numbers is really fun to see. Now I have a few sheets for this template. We have the Summary, Monthly Stats, Details Page, and then the Graphs/Pie Charts page. I absolutely love all of these sections. 

I hope that you all find this useful and feel free to change things around, delete what you don’t want, or change the colors to suit your personal aesthetics. For example, I changed the colors to softer hues (the original base I used from Ezrah had SUPER bright colors and I don’t like those haha. 

Also if you would like be to do a video and explain this spreadsheet in-depth and full detail, let me know in the comments, and if I get enough requests, I will definitely do so here. 

Hope you all have fun with this one here, and if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me! 

You May Also Like…

2024 Reading tracker Spreadsheet

End of Year Survey , Reader Spreadsheet

So as some of you know, a couple of years ago, I created a spreadsheet and it was a HUGE success. The massive amount of emails that I received this past year of appreciation was so wonderful, knowing that I was able to create something that assisted so many readers to...

2023 Updated Reading Tracker Spreadsheet

Reader Spreadsheet

So as some of you know, last year I created a spreadsheet and it was a HUGE success. The massive amount of emails that I received this past year of appreciation was so wonderful, knowing that I was able to create something that assisted so many readers to help track...

12 Comments

That’s great! I usually just write down the title of the book to share at the end of the year.

Thanks for sharing. I will definitely make use of this spreadsheet

That is impressive. I think I have the most simplistic tracker of any blogger around.

Wow! I can tell that a lot of work went into this. Thank you for sharing it with everyone!

It does seem overwhelming, but charting is sooo worth it. I didn’t even count as something necessary until towards the end of last year. Now I keep a simple sheet for each month to keep track of stuff. This seems so comprehensive and I’d probably use up everything lol. Thank you so much for doing this! ?

A booklover and reviewer’s dream. Thanks, Renee. I already use spreadsheets, but I’m always open for new ideas and ways to track my reading and TBR List.

What a great system. I’ve been tracking my reading with spreadsheets for many years. I have numerous sheets and tabs but it’s still nowhere as detailed as these. 🙂

Wow, this is really involved! I’m not this organized at all, lol. Glad you found a tracker to love!

I always look forward to the BookRiot reading tracking, but this tracking is soooo much more detailed. I’m having a great time filling it in, thank you so much for taking the time to make and share this!

This is truly a fantastic tracking spreadsheet. Appreciated.

So incredibly awesome of you to share!! I just have to say WOW!!

I love this so much, but the button is a URL I tried copying it and pasting it, but it isn’t working. Can you email me the link? Or maybe help me gain access? Thank you!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

• Sunday Post (45) Happy Halloween – Addicted To Romance - […] Reading Tracking Spredsheet Template […]

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Privacy overview.

Join Discovery, the new community for book lovers

Trust book recommendations from real people, not robots 🤓

Blog – Posted on Thursday, Nov 11

The only book review templates you'll ever need.

Whether you’re trying to become a book reviewer , writing a book report for school, or analyzing a book, it’s nice to follow a book review template to make sure that your thoughts are clearly presented. 

A quality template provides guidance to keep your mind sharp and your thoughts organized so that you can write the best book review possible. On Reedsy Discovery , we read and share a lot of book reviews, which helps us develop quite a clear idea what makes up a good one. With that in mind, we’ve put together some trustworthy book review templates that you can download, along with a quick run-through of all the parts that make up an outstanding review — all in this post! 

Pro-tip : But wait! How are you sure if you should become a book reviewer in the first place? If you're on the fence, or curious about your match with a book reviewing career, take our quick quiz:

Should you become a book reviewer?

Find out the answer. Takes 30 seconds!

Book review templates for every type of review

With the rapid growth of the book community on Instagram, Youtube, and even TikTok, the world of book commentary has evolved far beyond your classic review. There are now many ways you can structure a book review. Some popular formats include:

• Book reports — often done for school assignments; 
• Commentary articles — think in-depth reviews in magazines and newspapers; 
• Book blog reviews — short personal essays about the book; and
• Instagram reviews — one or two-paragraph reviews captioned under a nice photo. 

But while the text in all these review styles can be organized in different ways, there are certain boxes that all good book reviews tick. So, instead of giving you various templates to use for different occasions, we’ve condensed it down to just two book review templates (one for fiction and one for nonfiction) that can guide your thoughts and help you nail just about any review. 

⭐ Download our free fiction book review template  

⭐ Download our free nonfiction book review template  

All you need to do is answer the questions in the template regarding the book you’re reading and you’ve got the content of your review covered. Once that’s done, you can easily put this content into its appropriate format. 

Now, if you’re curious about what constitutes a good book review template, we’ll explain it in the following section! 

Elements of a book review template

Say you want to build your own book review template, or you want to customize our templates — here are the elements you’ll want to consider. 

We’ve divided our breakdown of the elements into two categories: the essentials and the fun additions that’ll add some color to your book reviews.

What are the three main parts of a book review?

We covered this in detail (with the help of some stellar examples) in our post on how to write a book review , but basically, these are the three crucial elements you should know: 

The summary covers the premise of the book and its main theme, so readers are able to understand what you’re referring to in the rest of your review. This means that, if a person hasn’t read the book, they can go through the summary to get a quick idea of what it’s about. (As such, there should be no spoilers!) 

The analysis is where, if it’s a fiction book, you talk more about the book, its plot, theme, and characters. If it’s nonfiction, you have to consider whether the book effectively achieves what it set out to do. 

The recommendation is where your personal opinion comes in the strongest, and you give a verdict as to who you think might enjoy this book. 

You can choose to be brief or detailed, depending on the kind of review you’re writing, but you should always aim to cover these three points. If you’re needing some inspiration, check out these 17 book review examples as seen in magazines, blogs, and review communities like Reedsy Discovery for a little variation. 

Which review community should you join?

Find out which review community is best for your style. Takes 30 seconds!

Which additional details can you include?

Once you’ve nailed down the basics, you can jazz things up a little and add some personal flavor to your book review by considering some of these elements:

• A star-rating (the default is five stars but you can create your own scales); 
• A bullet-point pros and cons list; 
• Your favorite quotation from the book; 
• Commentary on the format you read (i.e., ebook, print, or audiobook);
• Fun facts about the book or author; 
• Other titles you think are similar.

This is where you can really be creative and tailor your review to suit your purpose and audience. A formal review written for a magazine, for instance, will likely benefit from contextual information about the author and the book, along with some comment on how that might have affected the reading (or even writing) process.

Meanwhile, if you’re reviewing a book on social media, you might find bullet points more effective at capturing the fleeting attention of Internet users. You can also make videos, take creative pictures, or even add your own illustrations for more personal touches. The floor is yours at this point, so go ahead and take the spotlight! 

That said, we hope that our templates can provide you with a strong foundation for even your most adventurous reviews. And if you’re interested in writing editorial reviews for up-and-coming indie titles, register as a reviewer on Reedsy Discovery !

Continue reading

More posts from across the blog.

45 Best History Books of All Time

If the mere mention of ‘history books’ is enough to conjure up memories of fighting back yawns in your middle school classroom, then chances are you haven’t been looking in the right places. But fear not — this list is here to bring you some of the most well-researched, entert...

115 Best Young Adult Books of All Time

The books we read in our teen years often become our favorites. So we've compiled the best 115 young adult books to help you find your own classics!

125 Best Children's Books of All Time

Whether it’s read out loud by a parent, covertly read under the covers with a flashlight after bedtime, or assigned as class reading — children’s books have the ability to

Heard about Reedsy Discovery?

Trust real people, not robots, to give you book recommendations.

Or sign up with an

Or sign up with your social account

• Submit your book
• Reviewer directory

Writing a book review?

Use our free book review template to make sure you don't leave anything out.

25+ Book Review Templates and Ideas to Organize Your Thoughts

Danika Ellis

Danika spends most of her time talking about queer women books at the Lesbrary. Blog: The Lesbrary Twitter: @DanikaEllis

View All posts by Danika Ellis

When I was a kid I loved reading, but I hated book reports. It felt impossible to boil a book down to a few lines or even a page of writing. Besides, by the time I had to write the report, I had already forgotten a lot. It never ceases to be painful to try to pull my thoughts and opinions out of my head and put them on the page, especially in a coherent way.

As an adult, I continue to usually find writing book reviews painful . And yet, I maintain a book blog with reviews of all the (bi and lesbian) books I read. Why? For one thing, I want to raise the visibility of these books — or, in the case of a book I loathed, warn other readers of what to expect. It helps me to build community with other book lovers. It’s also a great way to force myself pay attention to how I’m feeling while I’m reading a book and what my thoughts are afterwards. I have learned to take notes as I go, so I have something to refer to by the time I write a review, and it has me notice what a book is doing well (and what it isn’t). The review at the end helps me to organize my thoughts. I also find that I remember more once I’ve written a review.

Once you’ve decided it’s worthwhile to write a review, though, how do you get started? It can be a daunting task. The good news is, book reviews can adapt to whatever you want them to be. A book review can be a tweet with a thumbs up or thumbs down emoji, maybe with a sentence or two of your thoughts; it can also be an in-depth essay on the themes of the book and its influence on literature. Most are going to fall somewhere between those two! Let go of the idea of trying to create the One True Book Review. Everyone is looking for something different, and there is space for GIF-filled squee fests about a book and thoughtful, meditative explorations of a work.

This post offers a variety of book reviews elements that you can mix and match to create a book review template that works for you. Before you get started, though, there are some questions worth addressing.

Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Book Review Template

Where will you be posting your book reviews.

An Instagram book review will likely look different from a blog book review. Consider which platform you will be using for your book review. You can adapt it for different platforms, or link to your original review, but it’s a good starting point. Instagram reviews tend to be a lot shorter than blog reviews, for instance.

Thank you for signing up! Keep an eye on your inbox. By signing up you agree to our terms of use

Will you be using the same template every time?

Some book reviewers have a go-to book review template. Others have a different one for each genre, while another group doesn’t use a template at all and just reacts to whatever each book brings up.

Heading or no headings?

When choosing which book review elements to mix and match, you can also decide whether to include a header for each section (like Plot, Characterization, Writing, etc). Headers make reviews easier to browse, but they may not have the professional, essay-style look that you’re going for.

Why are you writing a review?

When selecting which elements to include in your review, consider what the purpose is. Do you want to better remember the plot by writing about it? You probably want to include a plot summary, then. Do you want to help readers decide whether they should read this book? A pros and cons list might be helpful. Are you trying to track something about your reading, like an attempt to read more books in translation or more books by authors of color? Are you trying to buy fewer books and read off your TBR shelf instead? These are all things you can note in a review, usually in a point-form basic information block at the beginning.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jess | Books and Thread Co. (@booksandthreadco)

Book Review Templates and Formats

Essay-style.

This is a multi-paragraph review, usually with no headers. It’s the same format most newspapers and academics use for book reviews. Many essay-style reviews use informal categories in their writing, often discussing setting, writing, characters, and plot in their own paragraphs. They usually also discuss the big themes/messages of a story. Here are some questions to consider when writing an essay-style review:

What is the author trying to do? Don’t evaluate a romance novel based on a mystery novel’s criteria. First try to think about what the book was attempting to do, then try to evaluate if they achieved it. You can still note if you didn’t like it, but it’s good to know what it was aiming for first.

What are some of the themes of the story? What big message should the reader take away? Did you agree with what the book seemed to be saying? Why or why not?

How is this story relevant to the world? What is it saying about the time it was written in? About human nature? About society or current issues? Depending on the book, there may be more or less to dig into here.

What did this book make you think about? It may be that the themes in the book were just a launching off point. How did they inspire your own thinking? How did this book change you?

A Classic Book Review

This is probably the most common kind of book review template. It uses a few criteria, usually including Setting, Writing, Characters, and Plot (for a novel). The review then goes into some detail about each element, describing what the book did well, and where it fell short.

The advantage of this format is that it’s very straightforward and applies to almost any fiction read. It can also be adapted–you will likely have more to say about the plot in a mystery/thriller than a character study of a novel. A drawback, though, is that it can feel limiting. You might have thoughts that don’t neatly fit into these categories, or you could feel like you don’t have enough to say about some of the categories.

Pros and Cons

A common format for a Goodreads review is some variation of pros and cons. This might be “What I Liked/What I Didn’t Like” or “Reasons to Bump This Up Your TBR/Reasons to Bump This Down On Your TBR.” This is a very flexible system that can accommodate anything from a few bullet points each to paragraphs each. It gives a good at-a-glance impression of your thoughts (more cons than pros is a pretty good indication you didn’t like it). It also is broad enough that almost all your thoughts can likely be organized into those headings.

This is also a format that is easily mix and matched with the elements listed below. A brief review might give the title, author, genre, some brief selling points of the novel, and then a pros and cons list. Some reviews also include a “verdict” at the end. An example of this format:

The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O’Neill

🌟 Fantasy All-Ages Comic 💫 Adorable pet dragons ✨ A diverse cast

Pros: This book has beautiful artwork. It is a soothing read, and all the character are supportive of each other. This is a story about friendship and kindness.

Cons: Don’t expect a fast-moving plot or a lot of conflict. This is a very gentle read.

Another approach to the review is not, strictly speaking, a book review template at all. Instead, it’s something like “5 Reasons to Read TITLE by Author” or “The # Most Shocking Plot Twists in X Series.” An advantage of this format is that it can be very to-the-point: if you want to convince people to read a book, it makes sense to just write a list of reasons they should read the book. It may also be more likely to get clicked on–traditional book reviews often get less views than more general posts.

On the other hand, listicles can come off as gimmicky or click-bait. You’ll have to decide for yourself if the book matches this format, and whether you are writing this out of genuine enthusiasm or are just trying to bend a review to be more clickable.

Your Own Original Rating System

Lots of reviewers decide to make their own review format based on what matters to them. This is often accompanied by a ratings system. For instance, the BookTube channel Book Roast uses the CAWPILE system:

CAWPILE is an acronym for the criteria she rates: Characters, Atmosphere, Writing, Plot, Intrigue, Logic, Enjoyment. Each of those are rated 1–10, and the average given is the overall rating. By making your own ratings/review system, you can prioritize what matters to you.

My favorite rating system is Njeri’s from Onyx Pages , because it shows exactly what she’s looking for from books, and it helps her to think about and speak about the things she values:

A “Live Tweet” or Chronological Review

Another format possibility is live tweeting (or updating as you go on Goodreads, or whatever your platform of choice is). This has you document your initial thoughts as you read, and it’s usually informal and often silly. You can add what you’re loving, what you’re hating, and what questions you have as you go.

This is a fun format for when you’re reading a popular book for the first time. That way, other people can cackle at how unprepared you are as you read it. This requires you to remember to always have your phone on you as you read, to get your authentic thoughts as they happen, but it saves on having to write a more in-depth review. Alternately, some people include both a “first impressions” section and a more in-depth analysis section in their final review.

Get Creative

There are plenty of book review templates to choose from and elements to mix-and-match, but you can also respond in a completely original way. You could create a work of art in response to the book! Here are some options:

• Writing a song , a short story, or a poem
• Writing a letter to the author or the main character (you don’t have to send it to the author!)
• Writing an “interview” of a character from the book, talk show style
• Making a visual response, like a collage or painting
• Making a book diorama, like your elementary school days!

Mix-and-Match Elements of a Book Review

Most book reviews are made up of a few different parts, which can be combined in lots of different ways. Here is a selection to choose from! These might also give you ideas for your own elements. Don’t take on too much, though! It can easily become an overwhelming amount of information for readers.

Information

Usually a book review starts with some basic information about the book. What you consider basic information, though, is up for interpretation! Consider what you and your audience will think is important. Here are some ideas:

• The title and author (pretty important)
• The book’s cover
• Format (audiobook, comic, poetry, etc)
• Genre (this can be broad, like SFF, or narrow, like Silkpunk or Dark Academia)
• Content warnings
• Source (where did you get the book? Was is borrowed from the library, bought, or were you sent an ARC?)
• Synopsis/plot summary (your own or the publisher’s)
• What kind of representation there is in the novel (including race, disability, LGBTQ characters, etc)
• Anything you’re tracking in your reading, including: authors of color, authors’ country, if a book is in translation, etc

Review Elements

Once you’ve established your basic information, you’re into the review itself! Some of these are small additions to a review, while others are a little more time-intensive.

Bullet point elements:

• Rating (star rating, thumbs up/down, recommend/wouldn’t recommend, or your own scale)
• Who would like it/Who wouldn’t like it
• Read-alikes (or movies and TV shows like the book)
• Describe the book using an emoji or emojis
• Describe the book using a gif or gifs
• Favorite line(s) from the book
• New vocabulary/the most beautiful words in the novel
• How it made you feel (in a sentence or two)
• One word or one sentence review
• Bullet points listing the selling points of a book
• BooksandLala’s Scary, Unsettling, and Intrigue ratings, for horror
• World-building, for fantasy and science fiction titles
• Art, for comics
• Narration, for audiobooks
• Romance, for…romance
• Heat level, for erotica

Visual elements:

• Design a graphic (usually incorporating the cover, your star rating, and some other basic info)
• Take a selfie of yourself holding the book, with your expression as the review
• Make a mood board
• Design your own book cover
• Make fan art

Elements to incorporate into a review:

• Quick/initial thoughts (often while reading or immediately after reading), then a more in-depth review (common on Goodreads)
• A list of facts about the book or a character from the book
• Book club questions about the book
• Spoiler/non-spoiler sections
• Research: look up interviews with the author and critique of the book, incorporate it (cited!) into your review
• Links to other resources, such as interviews or other reviews — especially #OwnVoices reviews
• A story of your own, whether it’s your experience reading the book, or something it reminded you of

This is not a complete list! There are so many ways to write a book review, and it should reflect your own relationship with books, as well as your audience. If you’re looking for more ways to keep track of your reading, you’ll also like 50+ Beautiful Bujo Spread Ideas to Track Your Reading .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Painted Pages Library (@paintedpageslibrary)

You Might Also Like

Elaine Howlin Studio

lost in the pages of books

2022 Reading and Books Spreadsheet for Tracking

Get the 2024 Spreadsheet here

I have loved tracking my reading and books with this spreadsheet this year. I discovered the tracker on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books near the end of last year and fell in love with it! It suited my needs better than most of the trackers I’ve come across and their post was so helpful for someone like me who knows feck all about using spreadsheets. Thanks to them, I figured out how to edit their tracker to make it really work for me and eventually, after some tinkering around, I figured out how to prettify it as well.

Please check out their post on how to do these things. I wish I could explain it all but I am very much a novice at this stuff and probably wouldn’t do it right.

Since I got my first spreadsheet looking just how I liked I made a copy of it for 2022 and decided to share it with you all. The screenshots below show you what I entered and how the data was used for the graphs. You can change all of these things for your own spreadsheet and the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books post can help you with this.

I’m such a nerd for all of those graphs and pie charts. I freaking love ’em! Once December 31st passes I will be printing my spreadsheet on tea-stained paper and adding it to my reading journal. Click the button below to get a blank copy of this spreadsheet for 2022. Be sure to create a copy of the spreadsheet so you can add your own data.

The spread sheet is set to view only so you must make a copy to use as your own.

Thank you so much to Smart Bitches, Trashy Books for creating and sharing such an amazing spreadsheet 🧡🧡

2022 Reading & Books Tracking Spreadsheet for Google Sheets from @elainehowlin_ Tweet

Don’t forget to share this post with your friends using the Sharing Buttons below 🧡 

Where to Find Me

Share this Post with Friends:

Published by Elaine Howlin

Elaine lives in the lush green countryside of Ireland with her husband. She spends her time lost in the pages of books and journals, reading and creating for hours on end. View all posts by Elaine Howlin

26 thoughts on “ 2022 Reading and Books Spreadsheet for Tracking ”

• Pingback: These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan Book Review – Elaine Howlin

What does ARC stand for?

Like Liked by 1 person

It stands for Advanced Reader Copy. It means a pre-release version of a book before final edits.

Reblogged this on Book Reviews by the Reluctant Retiree and commented: This sounds so interesting! I may just have to give it a shot.

• Pingback: My Favourite Books from 2021 – Elaine Howlin
• Pingback: 2021 Reading and Books Spreadsheet for Tracking – Elaine Howlin

Thank you for sharing I was only looking for a new spreadsheet yesterday!! I love piecharts 😍

• Pingback: Journal with Me | Jane Austen Reading Journal and Planner Kit – Elaine Howlin

I’m also using a spreadsheet one but I love the stats page you have! Thanks for sharing. ♥

Thank you! I love seeing stats on my reading

Hi Elaine We think, such a spreadsheet is too detailed. One usually doesn’t need that. As more detailed such a spreadsheet is as bigger the chance to forget about it after a while. We just write 3-5 sentences about the books we read and the date we finished it and that’s all. We do this for years and that’s enough even as we are kind of professional readers. All the best The Fab Four of Cley 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Hi Fab Four, I’m glad you have a system that works for you all and frees up your time for reading 🙂

This looks like an amazing tracker! Thanks for sharing.

Thank you and you’re welcome 😀

Love a good spreadsheet!

Thank you so much for the template for tracking my books read. I plan to move away from using Goodreads for tracking books and keep up with it myself. Thanks.

Thank you, I’m so happy you like it!! Goodreads tracking does leave a lot to be desired. I don’t always want my reading to be socialised as well…

Thanks for sharing this! I was considering starting a tracker in 2022 but I didn’t know where to start. But now you have solved my dilemma!

Thank you!! I’m so glad you’ll find it useful. It might give you some ideas if you decide to create your own one later 🙂

This looks like a super helpful tracker Elaine, I’ll have to check it! I’ve been getting into reading trackers more this year & I’d love to try this one out to see all the features it has!😍

Thank you!! I hope you find it helpful with your tracking. I think it’s so cool to see all of your reading stats at the end of the year.

Thanks for sharing. Usually I just do all those stats and graphs by hand, but this next year I’ll have a go at this tracker.

Thank you!! Must be a lot of work creating all your stats by hand! It’s so satisfying seeing your reading stats though, isn’t it? I love it!

I’m going to have a go at this, I’m a bit of nerd when it comes to stats. Thanks for sharing. 😊

Thank you! I’m glad you like it. I love checking my reading stats as well.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

• Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
• Subscribe Subscribed
• Copy shortlink
• Report this content
• View post in Reader
• Manage subscriptions
• Collapse this bar

How to Write a Great Book Review: 6 Templates and Ideas

This post may contains affiliate links. If you click and buy we may make a commission, at no additional charge to you. Please see our disclosure policy for more details.

Whether you’ve loved or hated your recent reads, writing book reviews can be a fun and satisfying process. It’s a great way to unpack messages and information from a story, and it also helps you remember key elements of a book for much longer than you usually would. Plus, book reviews open up some interesting and exciting debates between readers with different opinions, and they also help others decide which books to read next .

Table of Contents

Where Can You Post Book Reviews?

Back in the old days, book reviews were reserved for leading publications and journals, but now, anyone can create their own book reviews, and they’re popping up almost everywhere.

Social Media

Bookworms have taken over social media, with hashtags like # bookstagram drawing in millions of readers from around the internet to share thoughts, ideas, inspiration, and of course, reviews.

Book blogs are also blowing up right now, and plenty of avid readers are making a solid income by writing and sharing their book reviews this way. You can either create your own from scratch or write guest posts and reviews for already established blogs.

Goodreads is the undisputed online home of books. It’s a great place to find inspiration for your next reads, browse other people’s book reviews, and of course, add your own reviews, too.

If you post a review of a popular book on Goodreads, it’s bound to be seen by a huge audience. Plus, it’s a great way to advertise your blog if you have one, as the Goodreads guidelines allow you to insert a link within the body of your review.

The world’s largest bookstore gets an incredible amount of traffic, so it’s one of the best places to get your reviews seen by the masses. But bear in mind that there are more rules and regulations for Amazon book reviews than on some of the other platforms listed here. Make sure you familiarize yourself with the guidelines first, or your submission could be rejected.

Booktube is a Youtube community dedicated to reviewing, discussing, and recommending books. If you’re comfortable in front of a camera, vlogging your book reviews on Booktube is an excellent alternative to the more traditional written book reviews above. It’s also a great way to get noticed by viewers around the world.

Some Booktube reviewers make their entire income from their channel, so if you’re passionate about reviewing and want to turn it into a living, this is a great avenue to explore.

Get Paid for Your Book Reviews

Some of the platforms I’ve listed above, like Booktube, Instagram, and blogging , allow you to get paid for your book reviews if you generate enough traffic, but getting to that level takes a lot of dedication, time, and patience.

Thankfully, there are plenty of websites that pay reviewers on a freelance basis. Here are three of the most popular:

Remember, each site has strict submission guidelines and requirements that you’ll need to check carefully before writing and submitting a review.

Kirkus Reviews

The Kirkus Reviews magazine, founded in 1933, is one of America’s oldest, most respected book reviewing companies.

They accept reviews around 350 words in length, and once you’re assigned the gig, you have a two-week submission deadline.

Kirkus is always on the lookout for new book reviewers, but you’ll need to prove you have experience and talent before they’ll accept your submissions. The best way to do this is to create a professional-looking portfolio that showcases your previous reviews, both paid and unpaid.

Booklist is a subgroup of the American Library Association. They feature all kinds of book reviews, both fiction and non-fiction, and publish them online and in print.

They pay their reviewers on a freelance, book-by-book basis. Their rates aren’t going to make you rich (around $12- $15 per review), but it’s a great way to gain some professional experience and build your book review portfolio without having to work for free.

Booklist has various publication outlets, such as their quarterly in-print magazine, a reader’s blog, and top book lists. Plus, they also accept pitches for book-related news and author interviews.

Online Book Club

This free-to-access community of bibliophiles has been going for over ten years, with a million active members and counting.

To join their professional freelance team, you’ll first have to submit an unpaid review to help them to determine if you’re worth hiring. If your review makes the cut, then your next submission is paid at a rate varying between $5 and $60, depending on the book’s length, the quality of the review, etc.

One of the major stipulations of Online Book Club is that your reviews are in-depth and honest. If you don’t like the book, never put a positive spin on it for the sake of it. ( The same goes for any book review platform you post on. )

It’s also worth noting that with Online Book Club, you’ll never pay for the books you review. So even if they reject your submission, you’ll still get a free book out of it.

How to Write a Book Review?

Book reviews can range from a simple tweet to a full-length essay or long-form blog post and anything in between.

As I mentioned above, some book review sites and platforms have strict guidelines and parameters to follow. But if you’re writing a book review for social media, your own blog, or any other purpose that lets you take the reins, then the following ideas will give you some help and inspiration to get started.

But before we dive in, let’s take a look at four key elements that a comprehensive book review should contain.

1. Information about the author and the name of the book

You might want to include any accolades that the author has received in the past and mention some of their previous notable works.

Also, consider the publication date; is the book a brand-new release, a few years old, or a classic from another century?

2. A summary of the plot

Writing about the plot takes skill and consideration; if your description is too thorough, you risk ruining the book for your audience with spoilers. But on the other hand, if you’re too vague on the details, your review can lack depth.

Consider your audience carefully, and if you feel like your book review contains even the slightest hint of spoilers, always add a warning at the beginning so people can decide for themselves whether to read on.

3. Your evaluation

This is the part where you get to describe what you feel about the book as a whole and give your opinion on the different elements within it. But, again, don’t be tempted to fall into the trap of positively evaluating books you didn’t actually like; no one wants to read a false review, so if you didn’t like it, explain why.

4. Your reader recommendation

Who might the book appeal to? Is it suitable for all audiences? In your opinion, is it a universal must-read, or should people avoid it?

Keep in mind that the purpose of most book reviews is to help the reader decide whether or not they would like to read it themselves. What works for you might not work for others, so consider this when writing your recommendations.

6 Book Review Templates and Ideas

1. the traditional approach.

Most traditional fiction reviews, like the ones found in newspapers and other popular publications, are based on the following format…

Introduction

The introduction is a paragraph or two which includes:

• Key information that the reader needs to know. For example, the book’s title, the author’s name, the publication date, and any relevant background information about the author and their work.
• A brief one-sentence summary of the plot. This sets the general scene of what the book is about.
• Your overall opinion of the book. Again, keep it brief. (you can delve deeper into what you liked and disliked later in the review).

This is the main body of your book review, where you break down and analyze the work. Some of the key elements you might want to examine are listed below. Approach each element one at a time to help your analysis flow.

• The characters
• The setting
• The structure of the story
• The quality of the writing

What did you notice about each one, what did you enjoy, and what did you dislike? Why?

The conclusion is usually the shortest part of a traditional book review, which usually contains:

• A summary of your thoughts about the book as a whole
• Your reader recommendation

Remember that unless you’re writing a book review for a pre-existing publication, there are no rules that you need to follow. This traditional format can be adapted to suit your own style, the book you are reviewing, and your audience.

Also Read : BEST FICTION BOOK REVIEWS

2. Social Media Book Reviews

Book reviews posted on social media tend to have a more relaxed tone than a traditional book review. Again, there are no set rules, but here are a few guidelines and suggestions for posting reviews on platforms like Instagram and Facebook.

• Include an eye-catching image

This is essential on Instagram, but whatever social media platform you’re posting on, including a great photo will draw people in to read your review.

In the Instagram world, photos of books taken directly from above are called ‘flat lays.’ You can keep it simple and just snap the front cover, or you can get creative and shoot your book flat lay against an interesting backdrop or include items related to the story.

• Break up your review into short, bite-sized paragraphs

This rule applies to most web content, but it’s even more important on social media, where everyone competes for your reader’s attention.

Big blocks of text are much harder to follow and a sure-fire way to lose your reader’s attention before they even get started. Instead, stick to short paragraphs of one, two, or three sentences, and include spaces between each one.

• Know your character limit

At just 280 characters, Twitter is by far the stingiest of the major social media platforms when it comes to the length of posts. That’s why most people choose platforms like Instagram or Facebook for book reviews. That being said, you can still use Twitter as a way of linking to them once they go live.

Instagram is considerably more generous with its 2,200-character limit, but if you have a lot to say about the book you’re reviewing, it can still be limiting.

If you want to post a more comprehensive review on social media, Facebook is your best bet; they have an upper limit of 63,206 characters.

Whichever platform you post on, remember to factor any hashtags into your character limit too.

• Keep it succinct

Book reviews on social media perform better when sentences are concise. This helps to combat the character limit issue I mentioned above and gets your point across quickly, without the fluff.

Readers on platforms like Instagram and Facebook flit from post to post, so if you don’t say what you mean in as few words as possible, you’ll risk losing your audience altogether.

• Don’t be afraid of emojis.

Love them or hate them, emojis convey mood and emotion where words can sometimes fail us. They also add an extra visual element to a post, help to break up blocks of text and keep the tone informal.

Of course, there’s no rule that you have to include emojis in your social media book reviews, but if you’re already comfortable using them elsewhere, consider incorporating them here too.

• Add a star rating

Star ratings instantly tell your audience whether you loved the book or not before they read a single word of your post. It’s also another visual element to help draw your audience in to find out more.

• Avoid spoilers

I’ve already touched on spoilers above, but it’s essential to avoid them on social media book reviews. That’s because unsuspecting users are scrolling from post to post on these platforms with no way of knowing what’s coming next. As a result, it’s very easy to read something you can’t unread.

• Consider tagging the author and publisher.

But ONLY do this if you enjoyed the book and your review is favorable. It’s not good online etiquette to tag in the creators if you’re posting a scathing critique; it’s mean-spirited, and it could lead to a social media squabble, which the internet has enough of already.

3. Goodreads and Amazon Book Reviews

Both Goodreads and Amazon allow anyone to upload a review of any book, so they’re great places to get started if you’re new to the reviewing world. Plus, you can post more in-depth and lengthy reviews than you can on social media platforms.

There are endless ways to write reviews for sites like these, but if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, here’s a good template that will help you to flesh out your ideas.

• Star Rating

Sites like Goodreads and Amazon usually ask for a 1-5 star rating before writing your review. 3 is your baseline which translates to “pretty good.” It can be tempting to rush straight in for a 5 star if you loved a book, but where possible, try to reserve this rating for books that really blow you away.

• A Brief Synopsis

Reviews on these sites appear directly under the book listing, so generally, there’s no need to mention the author, title, or publishing details. Instead, you can dive straight into a quick overview of the plot, using the official publisher’s summary to help you if needed.

Avoid revealing any significant details or spoilers, but include enough to outline the story and give context to the rest of your review.

Talking about how the book made you feel is a good place to start. Did you learn something you didn’t know before? Was it a page-turner or a hard slog? Were there any twists you did or didn’t see coming? Mentioning the existence of a plot twist is usually deemed ok, as long as you don’t reveal what it is.

Next, examine the book’s various elements, including the characters, setting, and plot, using examples. You might even want to include some direct quotes from the book, as long as they don’t give too much away.

Just like the traditional book review format, conclude it with a summary. Are you glad you read it? Who might enjoy this book, and who should avoid it?

4. Listicle Book Reviews

Listicles are articles and blog posts structured like a numbered list. An example from the book review world is “10 reasons why you need to read X by X”.

These types of reviews are particularly well suited to blog posts, as they’re an excellent way to encourage people to click on your link compared with a less attention-grabbing traditional format.

That being said, listicle book reviews tend only to work if your feedback is positive. Using this format to review a book you hated risks alienating your audience and coming across as harsh and judgemental. Less favorable reviews are better presented in a more traditional format that explores a book’s different aspects one by one.

5. An Essay Style Analysis

An essay-style review isn’t technically a review, as it delves much deeper into the work and examines it from multiple angles.

If you’re not limited to a word count and want to dissect an author’s work, then an in-depth essay-style analysis can be a great addition to your blog. Plus, they’re generally written for people who have already read the book, so there’s no need to worry about spoilers.

But when you’re writing more than 500 words about a book, it can be easy to ramble or go off on a tangent. Here’s an example format to keep you on track:

• Include the author’s name, the title of the book, and the date of publication.
• Is the book a standalone novel or part of a series?
• What made you choose this book in the first place? Have you read any of the author’s previous work?
• Describe the cover. Does it draw you in? Is it an appropriate representation of the book as a whole?

Set the Scene

• Include an overview of the plot.
• Did you have any expectations or preconceived ideas about the book before you read it?

Your Review

Discuss the following elements one at a time. Use quotes or direct examples when talking about each one.

• Describe the geographical location, the period in time, and the environment.
• Is the setting based on reality or imagination?
• How does the setting help to add mood and tone to the story?
• Give an overview of the main characters and their backgrounds.
• Discuss the significant plot points in the story in chronological order.
• What are the conflicts, the climaxes, and the resolutions?
• How does the author use literary devices to bring meaning and life to book?
• For example, discuss any elements of foreshadowing, metaphors, symbolism, irony, or imagery.
• What are the overall themes and big ideas in the story? For example, love, death, friendship , war, and coming of age.
• What, if any, are the morals within the story?
• Are there any underlying or less prominent themes that the author is trying to portray?

Your Opinion

• Which elements were successful, and which weren’t?
• Were the characters believable? Did you want them to succeed?
• In the case of plot twists, did you see them coming?
• Are there any memorable scenes or quotes that particularly stood out to you? If so, why?
• How did the book make you feel? Did it evoke any strong emotions?
• Did the book meet your preconceived expectations?
• Were you satisfied by the ending, or did you find it frustrating?
• Summarise the plot and theme in a couple of sentences.
• Give your overall opinion. Was the book a success, a failure, or something in between?
• Include a reader recommendation, for example, “this book is a must-read for anyone with a love of dystopian science fiction.”
• Include a star rating if you wish.

6. Create Your Own Book Review Template

If you plan on becoming a regular book reviewer, it’s a good idea to create your own unique template that you can use for every book you review, whether you’re posting on a blog, website, or social media account.

You can mix and match the various elements of the review styles above to suit your preferences and the types of books you’ll be reviewing.

Creating a template unique to you helps build your authority as an independent reviewer and makes writing future reviews a lot easier.

Writing book reviews is a great way to get even more out of your reading journey. Whether you loved or hated a title, reviewing it will help you remember and process the story, and you’ll also be helping others to decide whether or not it’s worth their time, too.

And who knows, you might fall in love with writing book reviews and decide to pursue it as an additional source of income or even a new career!

Whatever your book reviewing plans and goals are, I hope the templates, tips, and ideas above will help you get started.

Do you have any advice for writing a great book review? Let me know in the comments below!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

What’s Included: Literature Review Template

This template is structure is based on the tried and trusted best-practice format for formal academic research projects such as dissertations and theses. The literature review template includes the following sections:

• Before you start – essential groundwork to ensure you’re ready
• The introduction section
• The core/body section
• The conclusion /summary
• Extra free resources

Each section is explained in plain, straightforward language , followed by an overview of the key elements that you need to cover. We’ve also included practical examples and links to more free videos and guides to help you understand exactly what’s required in each section.

The cleanly-formatted Google Doc can be downloaded as a fully editable MS Word Document (DOCX format), so you can use it as-is or convert it to LaTeX.

PS – if you’d like a high-level template for the entire thesis, you can we’ve got that too .

FAQs: Literature Review Template

What format is the template (doc, pdf, ppt, etc.).

The literature review chapter template is provided as a Google Doc. You can download it in MS Word format or make a copy to your Google Drive. You’re also welcome to convert it to whatever format works best for you, such as LaTeX or PDF.

What types of literature reviews can this template be used for?

The template follows the standard format for academic literature reviews, which means it will be suitable for the vast majority of academic research projects (especially those within the sciences), whether they are qualitative or quantitative in terms of design.

Keep in mind that the exact requirements for the literature review chapter will vary between universities and degree programs. These are typically minor, but it’s always a good idea to double-check your university’s requirements before you finalize your structure.

Is this template for an undergrad, Master or PhD-level thesis?

This template can be used for a literature review at any level of study. Doctoral-level projects typically require the literature review to be more extensive/comprehensive, but the structure will typically remain the same.

Can I modify the template to suit my topic/area?

Absolutely. While the template provides a general structure, you should adapt it to fit the specific requirements and focus of your literature review.

What structural style does this literature review template use?

The template assumes a thematic structure (as opposed to a chronological or methodological structure), as this is the most common approach. However, this is only one dimension of the template, so it will still be useful if you are adopting a different structure.

Does this template include the Excel literature catalog?

No, that is a separate template, which you can download for free here . This template is for the write-up of the actual literature review chapter, whereas the catalog is for use during the literature sourcing and sorting phase.

How long should the literature review chapter be?

This depends on your university’s specific requirements, so it’s best to check with them. As a general ballpark, literature reviews for Masters-level projects are usually 2,000 – 3,000 words in length, while Doctoral-level projects can reach multiples of this.

Can I include literature that contradicts my hypothesis?

Yes, it’s important to acknowledge and discuss literature that presents different viewpoints or contradicts your hypothesis. So, don’t shy away from existing research that takes an opposing view to yours.

How do I avoid plagiarism in my literature review?

Always cite your sources correctly and paraphrase ideas in your own words while maintaining the original meaning. You can always check our plagiarism score before submitting your work to help ease your mind. 

Do you have an example of a populated template?

We provide a walkthrough of the template and review an example of a high-quality literature research chapter here .

Can I share this literature review template with my friends/colleagues?

Yes, you’re welcome to share this template in its original format (no editing allowed). If you want to post about it on your blog or social media, all we ask is that you reference this page as your source.

Do you have templates for the other dissertation/thesis chapters?

Yes, we do. You can find our full collection of templates here .

Can Grad Coach help me with my literature review?

Yes, you’re welcome to get in touch with us to discuss our private coaching services , where we can help you work through the literature review chapter (and any other chapters).

How to Write a Book Review: A Comprehensive Tutorial With Examples

You don’t need to be a literary expert to craft captivating book reviews. With one in every three readers selecting books based on insightful reviews, your opinions can guide fellow bibliophiles toward their next literary adventure.

Learning how to write a book review will not only help you excel at your assigned tasks, but you’ll also contribute valuable insights to the book-loving community and turn your passion into a professional pursuit.

In this comprehensive guide,  PaperPerk  will walk you through a few simple steps to master the art of writing book reviews so you can confidently embark on this rewarding journey.

What is a Book Review?

A book review is a critical evaluation of a book, offering insights into its content, quality, and impact. It helps readers make informed decisions about whether to read the book.

Writing a book review as an assignment benefits students in multiple ways. Firstly, it teaches them how to write a book review by developing their analytical skills as they evaluate the content, themes, and writing style .

Secondly, it enhances their ability to express opinions and provide constructive criticism. Additionally, book review assignments expose students to various publications and genres, broadening their knowledge.

Furthermore, these tasks foster essential skills for academic success, like critical thinking and the ability to synthesize information. By now, we’re sure you want to learn how to write a book review, so let’s look at the book review template first.

Table of Contents

Book Review Template

How to write a book review- a step by step guide.

Check out these 5 straightforward steps for composing the best book review.

Step 1: Planning Your Book Review – The Art of Getting Started

You’ve decided to take the plunge and share your thoughts on a book that has captivated (or perhaps disappointed) you. Before you start book reviewing, let’s take a step back and plan your approach. Since knowing how to write a book review that’s both informative and engaging is an art in itself.

Choosing Your Literature

First things first, pick the book you want to review. This might seem like a no-brainer, but selecting a book that genuinely interests you will make the review process more enjoyable and your insights more authentic.

Crafting the Master Plan

Next, create an  outline  that covers all the essential points you want to discuss in your review. This will serve as the roadmap for your writing journey.

The Devil is in the Details

As you read, note any information that stands out, whether it overwhelms, underwhelms, or simply intrigues you. Pay attention to:

• The characters and their development
• The plot and its intricacies
• Any themes, symbols, or motifs you find noteworthy

Remember to reserve a body paragraph for each point you want to discuss.

The Key Questions to Ponder

When planning your book review, consider the following questions:

• What’s the plot (if any)? Understanding the driving force behind the book will help you craft a more effective review.
• Is the plot interesting? Did the book hold your attention and keep you turning the pages?
• Are the writing techniques effective? Does the author’s style captivate you, making you want to read (or reread) the text?
• Are the characters or the information believable? Do the characters/plot/information feel real, and can you relate to them?
• Would you recommend the book to anyone? Consider if the book is worthy of being recommended, whether to impress someone or to support a point in a literature class.
• What could improve? Always keep an eye out for areas that could be improved. Providing constructive criticism can enhance the quality of literature.

Step 2 – Crafting the Perfect Introduction to Write a Book Review

In this second step of “how to write a book review,” we’re focusing on the art of creating a powerful opening that will hook your audience and set the stage for your analysis.

Identify Your Book and Author

Begin by mentioning the book you’ve chosen, including its  title  and the author’s name. This informs your readers and establishes the subject of your review.

Ponder the Title

Next, discuss the mental images or emotions the book’s title evokes in your mind . This helps your readers understand your initial feelings and expectations before diving into the book.

Judge the Book by Its Cover (Just a Little)

Take a moment to talk about the book’s cover. Did it intrigue you? Did it hint at what to expect from the story or the author’s writing style? Sharing your thoughts on the cover can offer a unique perspective on how the book presents itself to potential readers.

Present Your Thesis

Now it’s time to introduce your thesis. This statement should be a concise and insightful summary of your opinion of the book. For example:

“Normal People” by Sally Rooney is a captivating portrayal of the complexities of human relationships, exploring themes of love, class, and self-discovery with exceptional depth and authenticity.

Ensure that your thesis is relevant to the points or quotes you plan to discuss throughout your review.

Incorporating these elements into your introduction will create a strong foundation for your book review. Your readers will be eager to learn more about your thoughts and insights on the book, setting the stage for a compelling and thought-provoking analysis.

How to Write a Book Review: Step 3 – Building Brilliant Body Paragraphs

You’ve planned your review and written an attention-grabbing introduction. Now it’s time for the main event: crafting the body paragraphs of your book review. In this step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of constructing engaging and insightful body paragraphs that will keep your readers hooked.

Summarize Without Spoilers

Begin by summarizing a specific section of the book, not revealing any major plot twists or spoilers. Your goal is to give your readers a taste of the story without ruining surprises.

Support Your Viewpoint with Quotes

Next, choose three quotes from the book that support your viewpoint or opinion. These quotes should be relevant to the section you’re summarizing and help illustrate your thoughts on the book.

Analyze the Quotes

Write a summary of each quote in your own words, explaining how it made you feel or what it led you to think about the book or the author’s writing. This analysis should provide insight into your perspective and demonstrate your understanding of the text.

Structure Your Body Paragraphs

Dedicate one body paragraph to each quote, ensuring your writing is well-connected, coherent, and easy to understand.

For example:

• In  Jane Eyre , Charlotte Brontë writes, “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me.” This powerful statement highlights Jane’s fierce independence and refusal to be trapped by societal expectations.
• In  Normal People , Sally Rooney explores the complexities of love and friendship when she writes, “It was culture as class performance, literature fetishized for its ability to take educated people on false emotional journeys.” This quote reveals the author’s astute observations on the role of culture and class in shaping personal relationships.
• In  Wuthering Heights , Emily Brontë captures the tumultuous nature of love with the quote, “He’s more myself than I am. Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same.” This poignant line emphasizes the deep, unbreakable bond between the story’s central characters.

By following these guidelines, you’ll create body paragraphs that are both captivating and insightful, enhancing your book review and providing your readers with a deeper understanding of the literary work. 

How to Write a Book Review: Step 4 – Crafting a Captivating Conclusion

You’ve navigated through planning, introductions, and body paragraphs with finesse. Now it’s time to wrap up your book review with a  conclusion that leaves a lasting impression . In this final step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the art of writing a memorable and persuasive conclusion.

Summarize Your Analysis

Begin by summarizing the key points you’ve presented in the body paragraphs. This helps to remind your readers of the insights and arguments you’ve shared throughout your review.

Offer Your Final Conclusion

Next, provide a conclusion that reflects your overall feelings about the book. This is your chance to leave a lasting impression and persuade your readers to consider your perspective.

Address the Book’s Appeal

Now, answer the question: Is this book worth reading? Be clear about who would enjoy the book and who might not. Discuss the taste preferences and circumstances that make the book more appealing to some readers than others.

For example:  The Alchemist is a book that can enchant a young teen, but those who are already well-versed in classic literature might find it less engaging.

Be Subtle and Balanced

Avoid simply stating whether you “liked” or “disliked” the book. Instead, use nuanced language to convey your message. Highlight the pros and cons of reading the type of literature you’ve reviewed, offering a balanced perspective.

Bringing It All Together

By following these guidelines, you’ll craft a conclusion that leaves your readers with a clear understanding of your thoughts and opinions on the book. Your review will be a valuable resource for those considering whether to pick up the book, and your witty and insightful analysis will make your review a pleasure to read. So conquer the world of book reviews, one captivating conclusion at a time!

How to Write a Book Review: Step 5 – Rating the Book (Optional)

You’ve masterfully crafted your book review, from the introduction to the conclusion. But wait, there’s one more step you might consider before calling it a day: rating the book. In this optional step of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the benefits and methods of assigning a rating to the book you’ve reviewed.

Why Rate the Book?

Sometimes, when writing a professional book review, it may not be appropriate to state whether you liked or disliked the book. In such cases, assigning a rating can be an effective way to get your message across without explicitly sharing your personal opinion.

How to Rate the Book

There are various rating systems you can use to evaluate the book, such as:

• A star rating (e.g., 1 to 5 stars)
• A numerical score (e.g., 1 to 10)
• A letter grade (e.g., A+ to F)

Choose a rating system that best suits your style and the format of your review. Be consistent in your rating criteria, considering writing quality, character development, plot, and overall enjoyment.

Tips for Rating the Book

Here are some tips for rating the book effectively:

• Be honest: Your rating should reflect your true feelings about the book. Don’t inflate or deflate your rating based on external factors, such as the book’s popularity or the author’s reputation.
• Be fair:Consider the book’s merits and shortcomings when rating. Even if you didn’t enjoy the book, recognize its strengths and acknowledge them in your rating.
• Be clear: Explain the rationale behind your rating so your readers understand the factors that influenced your evaluation.

Wrapping Up

By including a rating in your book review, you provide your readers with an additional insight into your thoughts on the book. While this step is optional, it can be a valuable tool for conveying your message subtly yet effectively. So, rate those books confidently, adding a touch of wit and wisdom to your book reviews.

Additional Tips on How to Write a Book Review: A Guide

In this segment, we’ll explore additional tips on how to write a book review. Get ready to captivate your readers and make your review a memorable one!

Hook ’em with an Intriguing Introduction

Keep your introduction precise and to the point. Readers have the attention span of a goldfish these days, so don’t let them swim away in boredom. Start with a bang and keep them hooked!

Embrace the World of Fiction

When learning how to write a book review, remember that reviewing fiction is often more engaging and effective. If your professor hasn’t assigned you a specific book, dive into the realm of fiction and select a novel that piques your interest.

Opinionated with Gusto

Don’t shy away from adding your own opinion to your review. A good book review always features the writer’s viewpoint and constructive criticism. After all, your readers want to know what  you  think!

Express Your Love (or Lack Thereof)

If you adored the book, let your readers know! Use phrases like “I’ll definitely return to this book again” to convey your enthusiasm. Conversely, be honest but respectful even if the book wasn’t your cup of tea.

Templates and Examples and Expert Help: Your Trusty Sidekicks

Feeling lost? You can always get help from formats, book review examples or online  college paper writing service  platforms. These trusty sidekicks will help you navigate the world of book reviews with ease. 

Be a Champion for New Writers and Literature

Remember to uplift new writers and pieces of literature. If you want to suggest improvements, do so kindly and constructively. There’s no need to be mean about anyone’s books – we’re all in this literary adventure together!

Criticize with Clarity, Not Cruelty

When adding criticism to your review, be clear but not mean. Remember, there’s a fine line between constructive criticism and cruelty. Tread lightly and keep your reader’s feelings in mind.

Avoid the Comparison Trap

Resist the urge to compare one writer’s book with another. Every book holds its worth, and comparing them will only confuse your reader. Stick to discussing the book at hand, and let it shine in its own light.

Top 7 Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Writing a book review can be a delightful and rewarding experience, especially when you balance analysis, wit, and personal insights. However, some common mistakes can kill the brilliance of your review. 

In this section of “how to write a book review,” we’ll explore the top 7 blunders writers commit and how to steer clear of them, with a dash of  modernist literature  examples and tips for students writing book reviews as assignments.

Succumbing to the Lure of Plot Summaries

Mistake: Diving headfirst into a plot summary instead of dissecting the book’s themes, characters, and writing style.

Example: “The Bell Jar chronicles the life of a young woman who experiences a mental breakdown.”

How to Avoid: Delve into the book’s deeper aspects, such as its portrayal of mental health, societal expectations, and the author’s distinctive narrative voice. Offer thoughtful insights and reflections, making your review a treasure trove of analysis.

Unleashing the Spoiler Kraken

Mistake: Spilling major plot twists or the ending without providing a spoiler warning, effectively ruining the reading experience for potential readers.

Example: “In Metamorphosis, the protagonist’s transformation into a monstrous insect leads to…”

How to Avoid: Tread carefully when discussing significant plot developments, and consider using spoiler warnings. Focus on the impact of these plot points on the overall narrative, character growth, or thematic resonance.

Riding the Personal Bias Express

Mistake: Allowing personal bias to hijack the review without providing sufficient evidence or reasoning to support opinions.

Example: “I detest books about existential crises, so The Sun Also Rises was a snoozefest.”

How to Avoid: While personal opinions are valid, it’s crucial to back them up with specific examples from the book. Discuss aspects like writing style, character development, or pacing to support your evaluation and provide a more balanced perspective.

Wielding the Vague Language Saber

Mistake: Resorting to generic, vague language that fails to capture the nuances of the book and can come across as clichéd.

Example: “This book was mind-blowing. It’s a must-read for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Use precise and descriptive language to express your thoughts. Employ specific examples and quotations to highlight memorable scenes, the author’s unique writing style, or the impact of the book’s themes on readers.

Ignoring the Contextualization Compass

Mistake: Neglecting to provide context about the author, genre, or cultural relevance of the book, leaving readers without a proper frame of reference.

Example: “This book is dull and unoriginal.”

How to Avoid: Offer readers a broader understanding by discussing the author’s background, the genre conventions the book adheres to or subverts, and any societal or historical contexts that inform the narrative. This helps readers appreciate the book’s uniqueness and relevance.

Overindulging in Personal Preferences

Mistake: Letting personal preferences overshadow an objective assessment of the book’s merits.

Example: “I don’t like stream-of-consciousness writing, so this book is automatically bad.”

How to Avoid: Acknowledge personal preferences but strive to evaluate the book objectively. Focus on the book’s strengths and weaknesses, considering how well it achieves its goals within its genre or intended audience.

Forgetting the Target Audience Telescope

Mistake: Failing to mention the book’s target audience or who might enjoy it, leading to confusion for potential readers.

Example: “This book is great for everyone.”

How to Avoid: Contemplate the book’s intended audience, genre, and themes. Mention who might particularly enjoy the book based on these factors, whether it’s fans of a specific genre, readers interested in character-driven stories, or those seeking thought-provoking narratives.

By dodging these common pitfalls, writers can craft insightful, balanced, and engaging book reviews that help readers make informed decisions about their reading choices.

These tips are particularly beneficial for students writing book reviews as assignments, as they ensure a well-rounded and thoughtful analysis.!

Many students requested us to cover how to write a book review. This thorough guide is sure to help you. At Paperperk, professionals are dedicated to helping students find their balance. We understand the importance of good grades, so we offer the finest writing service , ensuring students stay ahead of the curve. So seek expert help because only Paperperk is your perfect solution!

What is the difference between a book review and a report?

Who is the target audience for book reviews and book reports, how do book reviews and reports differ in length and content, can i write professional book reviews, what are the key aspects of writing professional book reviews, how can i enhance my book-reviewing skills to write professional reviews, what should be included in a good book review.

Order Original Papers & Essays

Your First Custom Paper Sample is on Us!

Timely Deliveries

No Plagiarism & AI

100% Refund

Try Our Free Paper Writing Service

Related blogs.

Connections with Writers and support

Privacy and Confidentiality Guarantee

Average Quality Score

Printable Book Review Templates

Get ready to take your book reviews to the next level! We've got just the thing for you: a collection of printable book review templates that you can download in PDF, PNG, and JPG formats. These templates are editable, allowing you to customize fonts, colors, and even add or remove text sections. Plus, you can choose between A4 or US Letter size for your convenience. It's time to make your book reviews shine with these user-friendly and customizable templates. Download now and let your creativity run wild!

What is a Book Review Template?

A book review template is a handy tool for your reading journal that helps you organize your thoughts and opinions about a book. It serves as a structured way to record what you've read and provide a review of the book. With a book review template, you can easily keep track of your reading experiences and share your insights with others. It's like a personal roadmap that guides you through the process of reviewing and reflecting on the books you read.

Information in a Book Review Template

When using a book review template, there are certain details you should include to provide a complete picture of the book. Here are some key pieces of information to include:

• Start Date and End Date: The dates when you started and finished reading the book.
• Book Title: The title of the book you're reviewing.
• Author: The name of the author who wrote the book.
• Genre: The genre or category the book belongs to (e.g., mystery, romance, science fiction).
• Rating: Your overall rating or evaluation of the book (e.g., on a scale of 1 to 5 stars).
• Favorite Quotes: Any lines or passages from the book that stood out to you and you want to highlight.
• Favorite Pages: Specific pages or sections of the book that you found particularly interesting or impactful.
• Favorite Moment: A memorable or significant moment in the book that resonated with you.
• Review: Your detailed thoughts, opinions, and analysis of the book. This is where you can discuss the plot, characters, writing style, themes, and any other aspects you want to explore.

How to Use a Book Review Template

Using a book review template is simple and can make the review-writing process much easier. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to use one:

• Start by filling in the basic information such as the start date, book title, author, and genre.
• While reading the book, identify any favorite quotes, pages, or moments that stood out to you. Note them down in the template.
• After finishing the book, think about your rating for it. Consider the overall impression it left on you and assign a rating accordingly.
• Finally, dive into writing your review. Discuss the book's strengths, weaknesses, and your overall recommendation.

Remember, a book review is a personal opinion, so feel free to express yourself and share your genuine thoughts. Don't be afraid to be critical or highlight both the positives and negatives of the book.

Extra Resources

If you're looking for additional resources to enhance your reading experience and keep track of the books you read, we have just the thing for you! In addition to the book review template, we also offer reading log templates and book report templates that you can download and use.

Free Gradebook Template

This free Gradebook Template for Excel started out as a very basic grade book spreadsheet, but it has evolved into something that is very useful, flexible, and powerful (and still free). We now have a few different types of grade books that can handle most of the major grading systems used in high school and colleges.

For new teachers : I've included a lot of information on this page about how to use the grade book. There are some details that I wish I would have known my first time.

Some of the features that make this template particularly useful are the ability to mark excused assignments , hide/show names or IDs , apply different weighting to homework and exams, apply a simple curve to the final grades, and make adjustments to the grading scale . In addition, because the gradebook is in Excel rather than an online gradebook system, you can add cell comments and format cells to highlight specific grades.

You may also want to check out the Class Attendance Tracking template.

Gradebook Template : Percentage System

This system is commonly used in high schools and for courses that involve more subjective grading like art and literature. On each assignment, the grade is recorded as a percentage. The percentage might be a calculation, such as earning 25 out of 30 points. Or, the percentage might be recorded based on performance or a subjective letter grade. The nice thing about this system is that you can use whatever method makes sense for a particular assignment. If you are unsure what template to use, I would suggest using the percentage-based version.

Watch Demo Video

License : Educational Use (not for distribution or resale)

Weighting Factors vs. Points : If you use total points for the weighting factors, then the percentage system is almost exactly the same as the point-based system, except that you are recording grades as percentages, and doing the calculations for each assignment by hand.

Converting Letter Grades to Percentages : The grading scale is used to define the minimums for each grade. However, when recording an "A-" you would reference a different conversion chart. For example, instead of recording an A- as a 90% (the minimum), you might record it as a 92%.

Extra Credit - Giving extra credit using this system requires assigning the extra credit to specific assignments (such as giving a score of 110%).

Gradebook Template : Point System

In this version, the grading scale is percentage-based (A>=90%, B>=80%, etc.), but in the Gradebook worksheet you enter the number of points earned on each assignment or exam. This system is often used college courses such as science, math, and engineering.

Extra Credit : The values listed in the Points row in the Gradebook worksheet do not necessarily represent "maximum possible" points. For an extra credit assignment, you would enter a "0" in the Points row. Or, if you allow extra credit on a specific assignment, the student might earn a higher score than the one listed in the Points row.

Weighted Assignment Types

See below: Weighted Assignment Types

Important! (11/24/2015) - Version 1.3.0 of the file gradebook_points_weighted.xlsx should be considered a BETA version (i.e. higher than normal probability of containing errors). Versions downloaded prior to 11/24/2015 contained errors in the weighting for different assignment types and this version was designed to fix that. Make sure you are using the latest version (at least 1.3.0) and let me know if you find any problems.

Gradebook Template : GPA System

In this version, both the grade scale and the recorded grades are based on a 4.0 grade point system. This type of system might be used by a class in which all grades are subjective and the grading on each assignment is by letter grade. I would have liked to make the template work so that you enter the actual letter grades, but that turned out to be too complex, so instead, the grades are recorded by converting the letter grade to the equivalent point value.

Recording Failing Grades : Unlike the percentage grade scale where failing grades are entered as 50% or half the points, a failing grade is entered as a 0, because the scale is set up so that F=0 and A=4 averages to a C=2.

Important Tip

Have you ever lost all your grades because of a corrupted spreadsheet or lost file? Well, it rarely happens but it does happen, so follow this tip:

How to Use the Grade Book Template

Although some help information is included in the worksheets, I've included additional information about how to use the templates below. The items below are listed generally in the order that you would need to perform the various actions. Regardless of the system you use for grading, remember that grades you give should be Fair and Defendable (see [1] below).

1. Define a Grading Scale

To avoid confusion or possibly complete chaos, teachers should be very clear about how students will be graded. The grading scale is often outlined in the course syllabus, depending on how structured the course is. College students will usually want to know how many assignments and exams there will be as well the points or weighting associated with the home work and exams.

Each of the spreadsheets contains a worksheet for defining the Grading Scale , depending on the chosen grading method (see below).

2. Add/remove students in the Names and Gradebook worksheets

The grade book template is designed to make it easy to customize the spreadsheet for the size of your class. In the Names worksheet as well as the Gradebook worksheets, when inserting or removing students, you should insert or remove the entire row (right-click on the row number to bring up options).

3. Displaying Student Name vs. ID

It is important to allow students to see their progress. However, students usually like to keep their grades private to avoid heckling from other classmates. So, I've built into the spreadsheet a checkbox for switching between student names (for the teacher's convenience while recording grades) and custom student IDs (to maintain some privacy when displaying the grades to students).

Creating Random IDs : First, enter the Names of the students in the Names worksheet. Second, assign random (but unique) numeric IDs. Then, select all the Names and IDs and use the Excel sort feature to sort the list by ID.

4. Add/remove assignments

You can add or remove assignments by simply copying the entire column for an existing assignment and then pasting that column somewhere between the first and last assignment column. It is important that you do not paste the new column AFTER the last assignment because if you do that, the formulas will not automatically stretch to include the new column.

5. Weighting homework/quizzes/exams

It is fairly common, especially in college courses, to make the exams, quizzes, homework, the final, and class participation each a specific percentage of the final grade. For example, the breakdown might be homework=25% of the grade, midterm=25%, quizzes=15%, and the final=35%.

In favor of simplicity and flexibility in my spreadsheets, instead of calculating each of these totals separately then combining them to get the final grade, each assignment is given either a number of points or a weighting factor. See Weighted Mean on wikipedia.com for a mathematical description.

Example 1 : Relative Weighting - If you wanted an exam to be equivalent to 5 homework assignments, in the Gradebook worksheet you could set the weighting factors on the homework to 1 and the weighting factor for the exam to 5. Or, using the point system, the exam would be worth 5 times as many points as a homework assignment.

Example 2 : Using Total Points - The number of points for each assignment can be used as the weighting for determining what percentage of the overall course grade comes from homework, exams, quizzes, etc. For example, if a typical homework assignment is 25 points and you have 10 of them, the total points for homework is 250. To make the exams worth 50% of the grade, you just need to make the total points for the exams equal to 250, also.

6. Recording grades in the Gradebook worksheet

Excused Assignments : To record an incomplete assignment as excused, you can either leave it blank or enter an "E" or "e" (not case sensitive).

Adding Comments : One nice thing about using Excel is that if you need to include any comments about specific assignments, you can add a comment to the cell (right-click on the cell and select Insert Comment). This comment won't get printed, but it can be useful for you as the instructor. For example, you might want to include a comment about why a particular assignment was excused for a student.

Dropping Low Grades - If your policy is to take the best of 3 exam grades, then this can be handled easily by changing the lowest exam grade to an "E" for "excused". You should probably add a comment so you can keep a record of the actual score earned on that exam.

Guideline for Failing Grades : If you are using the Percentage or Point based grading system, a failing grade is typically less than 60%. However, if a student misses an assignment or scores less than 50%, you should record the grade as 50% or half the points for that assignment. Why? On a typical 4-point GPA scale, F=0 and A=4, so the average between an F and an A is a C=2. If you are using a percentage or point based grading scale, is the average between a 0% (F) and 100% (A) also a C? No, the average would be 50%=F. An Exception : Teachers might choose to give a 0% in order to penalize students for not turning in assignments and to discourage laziness. This would also distinguish a student who didn't do anything from one who struggles but only scores a 50%.

7. Final Adjustments to the Grading Scale

At the end of the course, the teacher usually looks at the grades for the entire class and might make adjustments to the grading scale depending on the class average and distribution of grades. Adjustments are normally only made to raise low grades . Lowering higher grades just makes students angry. The histogram of grades and class average come in handy at this point. When making adjustments, it is vital to remember to make the grades Fair and Defendable - meaning that you as the teacher can defend the grades you give when hounded by students, parents, the department head, or the school board.

Simple Curving : Instead of (or in addition to) making adjustments to the grading scale, you can use the Curve field in the Gradebook worksheet to increase all the final grades by a certain percentage. If you are aiming for a target class average, you can use goal seek to set the Mean percentage to the target value by changing the curve percentage. The curve field is not included in the GPA-based spreadsheet.

Example 1 : If a student's overall percentage was 79.9%, but the cutoff for a B- is 80%, the teacher might decide to change the minimum percent for a B- to 79.9%. To be fair, the teacher might want to shift all minimums down 0.1% in this case (this would also make the changes more defendable).

Example 2 : The policy in department X is to allow 15% of the grades to be A's (including A-, A, and A+). You can determine the minimum score for an A- by calculating the 85th Percentile and then shift the grading scale.

8. Assigning Final Letter Grades

The assignment of the final letter grade in the Gradebook worksheet is done automatically based on the grading scale defined in the Grades worksheet. For the formulas to work correctly, the Grading Scale must be ordered from lowest to highest.

Grading on a Curve

These gradebooks are not designed to automatically grade on a curve. However, what I have described above in "final adjustments to grading scale" is one method for adjusting grades based on a curve.

A Little Background : A common approach to grading on a curve is to first order all the final grades from highest to lowest. Then, you assign A's to the top 10%, B's to the next 23.5%, C's to the next 33%, D's to the next 23.5%, and F's to the lower 10%. These percentages represent a symmetric bell curve for the ABCDF grading system with a C average, but the values will depend on how many A's you are allowed to assign and whether or not the distribution is symmetric. For example, if you can give 10 A's, do you really want to give 10 F's?

The bins for each grade will be different widths. For example, in a 100-point scoring system, the A's may span from 80 to 100, while the B's might be 77 to 79.9 and C's might be 60 to 76.9.

An alternative to ordering the grades (something that the gradebook template doesn't do for you) is to determine the cutoff scores by calculating percentiles and altering the grading scale accordingly.

Using Percentiles : A Percentile is defined as a value below which a certain percent of values fall. For example, 90% of the students score less than the 90th Percentile value.

Let's say that you can assign A's to 10% of the students (including A-, A, and A+). To find the minimum score for an A-, you calculate the 90th percentile using the following Excel formula, where final_scores is the range of cells containing the final student scores.

Plus and Minus Grades (Chromatic Variants): When grading on a curve, the cutoff scores for the plus and minus grades (A-, B+, B-, etc) might be subjective or you might use the system where the minus scores make up the lower 30% of the letter grade and the plus scores make up the upper 40% of the letter grade to correspond with the GPA system. I have built these formulas into grading scale table in the template. However, you can manually enter your own cutoffs.

Applying Weighting to Different Assignment Types

Teachers may sometimes want to make different types of assignments worth a certain percentage of the final grade, such as Homework=30%, Exams=50%, and Attendance=20%. The file gradebook_points_weighted.xlsx has been designed for this purpose.

Final Grade : The final grade is calculated by multiplying the category weight times the category score and adding the results for each category. For example, if the weighting is Homework=60% and Exams=40% and a student's scores are 80% for homework and 75% for exams, then the final grade is 60%*80%+40%*75%=78%.

Extra Credit : In theory, extra credit can be earned by giving a student more points on an assignment than are available for that assignment, although the weight of that type of extra credit is difficult to determine. Defining specific extra credit assignments makes it easier to define the weight of the extra credit on the final grade. For example, if extra credit assignment #1 can increase your final grade by 2%, and a student earned 50/100 of the points possible, their final grade would be increased by 1%.

Scores per Category : The percentage score for each category is calculated by dividing the total points earned by the total points available for that category. Ungraded, excused, or dropped assignments are not included in these totals. Assignments within a category can be given different weights by giving each each assignment and different number of points possible (such as a final worth 150 points and a mid-term worth 100 points).

Dropping Lowest Scores

Dropping the lowest exam score or quiz score is a popular way to make students happy, but weighting factors can complicate this. If you give 3 exams and allow the lowest score to be dropped, it is easy to figure out which one to drop IF all exams are worth the same number of possible points - you drop the assignment with the lowest % score (or lowest points earned - it will be the same).

What if the exams have different weights, how do you know which one has the largest negative effect on the grade? Consider the following scenario in which the overall exam score is calculated as the Total Points Earned divided by the Total Points Possible:

• Exam A scored 15/20 = 75% (-5 points)
• Exam B scored 38/50 = 76% (-12 points)
• Exam C scored 85/100 = 85% ( -15 points )

The overall exam score is (15+38+85)/(20+50+100)=81.2%.

Which one do you think should be dropped, the lowest % score (Exam A) or the score with the largest point loss (Exam C)? Trick question. The answer is B (for this specific scenario).

• Drop Exam A: (38+85)/(50+100) = 82%
• Drop Exam B: (15+85)/(20+100) = 83.3%
• Drop Exam C: (15+38)/(20+50) = 75.7%

The point is ... if you are going to drop a score, keep things simple by making each of the assignments worth the same number of points.

References and Resources

• [1] "Beginner's Guide to Figuring Your Grades" by Scott Mandel, Ph.D., originally found on educationoasis.com
• [2] Grading on a Curve at wikipedia.com
• Grading Systems at wikipedia.com
• TeacherPlanBook - Paul Shuster from TeacherPlanBook.com helped me figure out a bug in Excel for Mac that was affecting the weighted gradebook. I also created the Google Sheets versions at his request.

Follow Us On ...

Education Templates

Popular templates.

Free Employee Performance Review Templates

By Becky Simon | July 5, 2016

• Share on Facebook
• Share on LinkedIn

Link copied

In this article, we’ve researched and compiled an expansive list of pre-built performance review templates that can be used to evaluate and manage employee performance.

Below, you’ll find a wide range of free templates in Word and Excel formats, including an annual performance review template , employee training plan template , employee evaluation form template , and more.

Performance Review Templates for Excel

Simple performance review template.

Download Simple Performance Review Template

Excel | Smartsheet

This simple performance review template offers just the basics: a list of employee skills and qualities, and a rating system from poor to excellent. This is not an in-depth, qualitative review, but it provides a snapshot of employee performance and can help guide a conversation between manager and employee. There is a section for comments or additional notes where you can include significant accomplishments or future goals. This is a simple form for situations that do not require detailed written feedback.

We’ve also included templates from Smartsheet, a work execution platform that empowers you to better manage the employee performance review and training process with real-time collaboration and work automation.

Project Management Guide

Your one-stop shop for everything project management

Ready to get more out of your project management efforts? Visit our comprehensive project management guide for tips, best practices, and free resources to manage your work more effectively.

View the guide

Employee Evaluation Form

Download Employee Evaluation Template

This employee evaluation form is designed to provide a comprehensive annual review. The template includes sections for measurable objectives that can be weighted and evaluated with follow-up notes. Other sections include assessing employee skills, self-evaluation for employees, and employee evaluation of managers. At the bottom of the template there is also room included for a professional development plan. This evaluation form is appropriate for a wide range of businesses, and can be customized to be as detailed or simple as needed.

Employee Attendance Tracker

‌Download Employee Attendance Template

Document employee attendance with this simple template. Keeping track of employee's past work availability, vacation time, and personal or sick leave  can support your performance review process. It’s also just a useful human resources tool for creating a record of employee attendance, including paid sick leave and vacation time.

Employee Training Plan Template

Download Employee Training Plan Template

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

This employee training plan template is designed for new hires to help facilitate the onboarding process. Having a clear training schedule and objectives can help the transition go smoothly, and  also provides a document for both the new employee and manager to refer to with questions and updates. After the introductory training period is completed, the template can be used as an evaluation tool to assess progress and create a plan for moving forward. The template includes room for feedback during each stage of training, which will come in handy when the time comes for a performance review. This template can also be used for employees who are moving into new roles.

Annual Manager Evaluation Form

Download Annual Manager Evaluation Template

Use this annual evaluation form template to focus on assessing management competencies. List as many competencies as needed to evaluate job performance, then use the rating system and comments section to provide well-rounded feedback. This template also provides a summary of the ratings to give you a quick overview of a manager’s performance.

Group Evaluation Form

Download Group Evaluation Template

If you need to evaluate a department, team or other organizational group, this template allows you to rate individuals for multiple competencies, and then calculates the total rating for the group. This is a simple evaluation form that can give you a general idea of the strengths and weaknesses of a particular group. The rating assigned to each employee can be pulled from self-evaluation forms or other performance reviews. 

Performance Review Templates for Word

Annual performance review template.

Download Annual Performance Review Template

Word | Smartsheet

This annual performance review template is separated into four sections: current responsibilities, performance assessment, professional development plan, and employee comments. Use the template to create a detailed narrative of an employee’s performance, including exceptional accomplishments as well as areas that need improvement. Work with the employee to create a professional development plan for the year ahead. This template encourages clear communication between employee and manager, and provides plenty of room for detailed feedback.

Professional Development Plan Template

Download Professional Development Plan Template - Word

A professional development plan outlines specific goals and a plan of action for reaching them. This template includes sections for listing any training or further education that might be needed, the purpose of each goal toward career development, action steps, support required to achieve the goals, and a timeline. Goals are separated into short-range, mid-range and long-range to address current needs as well as future growth. Taking the time to create a professional development plan can help keep your employees inspired and ensure that your future business goals are reachable.

Mid-Year Employee Evaluation Form

Download Mid Year Employee Evaluation Template - Word

A mid-year performance review supports the annual review by tracking progress and providing a reference point for future evaluations. This mid-year employee evaluation form provides a simple layout and rating scale for assessing performance. Sections are included for comments from both the supervisor and employee as well as a goal plan for the evaluation period. With this template, you can  create a detailed evaluation and development plan, or keep it simple for a more informal mid-year review.

Introductory Period Performance Review Template

Download Introductory Period Performance Review Template - Word

This performance review template offers a simple rating scale for new employees as well as space for providing open-ended feedback, listing goals, and identifying training needs. It’s designed to be used after the typical 90-day introductory period. Conducting a performance review at this time can help ensure that the individual is a good fit and provide a clear plan of action along with adequate support as the employee grows in his or her position.

Employee Self-Evaluation Form

Download Employee Self-Evaluation Template - Word

Self-evaluations can be challenging, but they can actually be a meaningful tool rather than just a formality. A self-evaluation is a chance to honestly evaluate your job performance and find out if your manager has the same understanding. It’s an opportunity to own your achievements, let your manager know what you’d like to work on, and focus on your career plan. A self-evaluation can be part of a collaborative effort to define performance objectives and expectations that are in line with both the employee’s career goals and the needs of the business. This self-evaluation form provides an open-ended outline for identifying responsibilities, assessing performance and planning performance objectives.

Upward Feedback Template

Download Upward Feedback Template

Utilizing upward feedback can boost employee job satisfaction and help develop more effective leadership. This upward feedback template gives an employee the chance to provide meaningful feedback to a supervisor. The template is uncomplicated and designed to solicit thoughtful feedback on strengths, accomplishments and areas for improvement.

Peer Review Template

Download Peer Review Template - Word

This peer review template is intended for organizations that include 360-degree feedback in their evaluations. Competencies are rated using a number scale to provide a simple, quantitative look at performance. You can edit the template to include whatever competencies are relevant and appropriate for a peer review among co-workers.

Streamline the Employee Performance Review Process with Smartsheet for Human Resources

Empower your people to go above and beyond with a flexible platform designed to match the needs of your team — and adapt as those needs change. 

The Smartsheet platform makes it easy to plan, capture, manage, and report on work from anywhere, helping your team be more effective and get more done. Report on key metrics and get real-time visibility into work as it happens with roll-up reports, dashboards, and automated workflows built to keep your team connected and informed. 

When teams have clarity into the work getting done, there’s no telling how much more they can accomplish in the same amount of time.  Try Smartsheet for free, today.

Additional Resources

Team & people management

Performance Improvement Plan Templates

Get started crafting a performance improvement plan (PIP) with these free templates.

Oct 2, 2023 13 min read

Human Resource Management 101: Functions, Policies & Procedures

Learn all about human resources functions, policies, and procedures.

Nov 18, 2021

Discover why over 90% of Fortune 100 companies trust Smartsheet to get work done.

• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar
• Skip to footer

Shut up, Shealea

she is sunflowers & thunderstorms

in Blogging Resources , Books , Resources · December 28, 2020

2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet Template

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a reader in possession of a seemingly endless to-be-read pile, must be in want of a simple, color-coded spreadsheet. But really, all poorly made references to Jane Austen aside, keeping track of your reading can feel like an unnecessary chore. Especially when there are sites like Goodreads that can organize your books into custom shelves.

As a reader, book reviewer, and creator of bookish content, having a more sophisticated system for tracking and organizing my books is a must. For example, I need to separate my unread ARCs from the unread books on my shelf. I also need to ensure that I don’t over-request upcoming titles or miss any review deadlines. Thus, a comprehensive spreadsheet is an invaluable asset for me .

It’s no secret that I’m a massive advocate for spreadsheets and other organizational methods. Furthermore, I find a great deal of satisfaction in making sense of the messes in my life and setting up a system that works for me . After many experiments and iterations, I’ve finally created a flexible, multi-purpose spreadsheet that suits all my needs as a reader, reviewer, and book blogger. Which I am extremely thrilled to share with all of you!

2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet

Spreadsheet trackers, spreadsheet databases, download must-have reader spreadsheet.

This spreadsheet is heavily based on my personal system for tracking my reads, reviews, and whatnot. I don’t like adding unnecessary bells and whistles to my trackers. Because I believe spreadsheets should be functional and straightforward. In addition, I recognize my own laziness, and high-maintenance spreadsheets just aren’t sustainable for me.

For a more comprehensive reader spreadsheet with graphs and charts, I strongly recommend looking into Kal’s 2021 Ultimate Book Blogger / Reader Spreadsheet . Kal’s template is perfect for the stats-minded blogger!

But for fellow lazy, low-maintenance readers like myself, the 2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet might be your perfect match. In fact, in creating this spreadsheet, I had casual readers and reviewers in mind at every step of the way. I hope you find it useful! (And if you like the spreadsheet and want to support my work, you can leave a one-time tip .)

The 2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet consists of separate trackers for your reading, book purchasing, ARC requesting, and wishing needs.

For your reading

Not to toot my own horn, but my reading spreadsheet is my favorite one. It’s perfect for readers who are conscious about diversifying the content that they consume. Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Reading Status (to be read, currently reading, read, reread, will return to, will not finish)
• Reading Details (star rating, numerical rating, release date, format, source, number of days read, month read, year read)
• Author Identity Details
• Checklist (debut, new to me, diverse)
• Diversity Tags for on-page marginalized representation
• Other Book Details (series, readership, genre)
• Review Details (review status, if the review will be posted on the blog)

For your purchasing

There is an entire spreadsheet dedicated to taking note of your bookish purchases. This is great for readers on a budget! Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Purchase Status (bought, pre-ordered, cancelled, returned)
• Book Details (format, signed, annotated, secondhand, special edition specifics)
• Purchase Details (source, date purchased, date received)

For your ARC requesting

For book bloggers and reviewers, there is a spreadsheet to keep tabs on the titles you’re requesting. Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Request Status (pending, request sent, approved, received, rejected)
• Priority (very low to highest)

For your bookish wishing

Additionally, there is also a spreadsheet to keep a relevant and updated wish list of books that you want to receive as a gift or you plan on buying for yourself. Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Wish Status (wish, pending, granted)

Bonus: For avoiding problematic books/authors

As a bonus, an extra spreadsheet can be used to document books and authors that you want to avoid.

Although I do have a ‘will avoid forever’ shelf on Goodreads, I am guilty of occasionally forgetting the reason or the context. Additionally, sometimes I don’t feel comfortable acknowledging the author or the book publicly. I’m not sure if other people share these feelings, but in any case, it’s included in the 2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet!

The 2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet also offers several databases based on format. Specifically, there are separate databases for your books, e-books, and ARCs. As a fun bonus, I also included a directory of publishing contacts for ARC requests and inquiries.

First, there is a database for Advanced Reader’s Copies (ARCs). In my own database, the ARCs are arranged according to their release dates. I’m the worst at remembering release dates, and this spreadsheet has helped me immensely. Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Reading Status (pending, currently reading, read but not reviewed, read and reviewed, will return to, will not finish, will abandon)
• Review Copy Details (format, source, date received)
• Author Details (debut, ownvoices)
• Other Book Details (series, readership, genres)
• Review Details (review deadline)

Second, there is a database for owned e-books. As someone who often forgets what titles are on my Kindle app, having a database for e-books has been so useful to me! I can’t count the number of times I accidentally purchased a physical copy of a book I already had on Kindle. But I digress. Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Source Details (source, date received)
• Author Identity

Physical books

Third, there is a separate database for owned books. I separated e-books and books from each other because variables like special/limited editions and book conditions are solely applicable to physically owned copies. Additionally, I also wanted to use the physical book database in hauling and unhauling preloved titles. Here’s a quick rundown of its features:

• Ownership Status (owned, borrowed, to unhaul, unhauled)
• Book Condition Details (condition, format, signed, annotated, secondhand, special edition)

Bonus: Publisher Contacts

Finally, as a bonus, the Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet includes a directory of publishing contacts. This can hopefully be a helpful guide for sending out ARC requests and inquiries.

This spreadsheet is free for personal use. I will strive to create improved versions annually, and future iterations of the Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet will first be available on Patreon . You are more than welcome to edit and modify the template, but please do not publish it as your own work.

DOWNLOAD FREE TEMPLATE

* To save a copy for yourself, click on File >> Make a copy.

Pin this post on Pinterest:

Thank you for reading!

My main affiliates (such as Amazon and Fully Booked ) are disclosed at the bottom of this website. Making purchases through my affiliate links will help me earn a tiny commission at no extra cost to you. Finally, if you really enjoy my content, consider further supporting me by leaving a one-time tip ☕ or joining my sunflower garden . 🌻🍃

I’d love to hear from you!

🌻 Do you consider yourself as an organized person? What’s your preferred method of organization?

🌻 Have you tried keeping track of your reading before? If yes, how did it work out for you?

🌻 What are your thoughts on the first-ever iteration of the Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet? What would you like to see in its 2021 version?

Related Posts:

Reader Interactions

November 27, 2021 at 11:36 AM

This is such an amazing tool! Thank you for taking the time to make it and share it!

January 28, 2021 at 5:40 AM

This is impressive. I use Google sheets to track my reading too but hadn’t discovered you can use a drop down menu. So much easier than typing in the same info over and over again.

January 22, 2021 at 4:43 PM

I currently keep track of books in any format through a private Trello board called My Personal Library. It’s worked out pretty well for me ever since I created it. If I ever decide to switch to something else, I’d definitely give your spreadsheet a shot!

January 20, 2021 at 4:54 AM

What a great way of organising reading, thank you for sharing! It’s simple and comprehensive at the same time. I also love the diversity feature, it sounds like a really good way to make sure I’m continually expanding my horizons when it comes to reading diversely 📚❤️ X x x

January 14, 2021 at 3:32 PM

Finally gotten around to downloading this and making my own copy! Since I don’t have a set platform yet, some sheets are still unused. If I do get around to wishing or requesting ARCs, at least the database is ready yay! I added the column “Sources of Recommendation” to keep track of where I’ve first heard about the book. So far, I come across books through author Twitter giveaways, bookish people-organized readathons, and links to blog posts. Hope it inspires you to keep hyping books on Twitter!

January 7, 2021 at 3:41 PM

This is fab, Shealea. This year I have shifted to Notion to track my reading and all, but I’ll definitely use this sheet as a reference to create my tracker in Notion 🙂

January 3, 2021 at 5:23 AM

I absolutely LOVE your spreadsheet version, Shealea! It tracks things I’m interested in but left out of my own template because it’s a freaking beast, so I’ll be using this and playing around with my own personal sheet a bit.

Thank you for including a link to my template as well, you are so sweet to do so! <3 I've updated my 2021 spreadsheet post to include a link here as well, because yours is definitely better suited for casual readers – who would need to delete/hide a good amount off of mine.

January 1, 2021 at 12:03 PM

Whoa, this is excellent! Thanks!

December 29, 2020 at 9:25 AM

This is so incredibly thorough Shealea! I started getting more into spreadsheets with Goodreadance this year and was a bit stumped on how to organize everything so this is super helpful! Thank you so much!

December 29, 2020 at 6:50 AM

You had me at lazy, low-maintenance readers haha.

Typically, my go-to method of organising my reading was through my monthly bullet journal spread/google drive docs. Not the best method at all since I’d often forget to update it. I’m very much a go with the flow mood reader, but I would like to have some structure next year so the simplicity of this spreadsheet is ideal.

Thank you for taking the time to create it.

December 29, 2020 at 3:34 AM

This is fab! Thank you 😁

December 28, 2020 at 11:23 PM

Impressed isn’t even enough of a word, this is really great! I arrange all of my reading stuff mainly on Notion (before it was literally scattered between excel sheets and Google Drive), and of course Goodreads to keep track of reading status, reviews, shelves, etc.

I’m definitely adding some these to my Notion and especially the publishing contacts directory. Really helpful so thank you!

Storygraph is slowly gaining popularity among the bookish community, and I wanted to ask you if you’ve ever tried it out? I’m interested to know your thoughts and opinions!

December 28, 2020 at 10:43 PM

This is awesome, thank you!

[…] 3 years ago, I initially launched the 2020 Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet. This was designed to conveniently organize all aspects of bookish life — from buying to […]

[…] more low-maintenance readers, check out Shealea’s Ultimate Reader Spreadsheet! This spreadsheet doesn’t dive as deep into stats and charts but allows you to track […]

[…] For more low-maintenance readers, check out Shealea’s Ultimate Reader Spreadsheet! […]

[…] Shealea’s Must-Have Reader Spreadsheet Template […]

[…] Everly / Marshmallow Harmonies / Starlight Strands / Drizzle and Hurricane Books / The Quite Pond / Shut Up, Shealea / Word WondersFavorite booktubers: Chloe from Books With Chloe / Fadwa from Word Wonders / Myonna […]

Share your thoughts! Cancel reply

she is sunflowers & thunderstorms

Help Typhoon Victims 🇵🇭

Other important causes.

• Contact sales

Start free trial

25 Must-Have Project Management Excel Templates and Spreadsheets

Still using spreadsheets to manage your projects? Revolutionize your projects with ProjectManager. Plan, track and report with automated tools.

Before you can plan your project, you need the right tools to collect the necessary data to formulate a strategy—and project management Excel templates are a great place to start.

Best Project Management Templates for Excel

Visit our project management templates page and you’ll find Excel and Word templates for creating all the project documents you need to manage your project. But, if you just need free Excel project management templates and spreadsheets, then look no further.

Here are 25 essential project management Excel templates you can download and use right now. Transform your bland Excel spreadsheets into expertly-designed project management templates , and take your project management Excel processes to the next level.

1. Gantt Chart Template

A Gantt chart is a visual tool that helps you see at a glance the scheduling of tasks and their dependencies over the project timeline. That makes it an ideal project planner template.

While it’s true that a Gantt chart template can be overly complex in Excel spreadsheets, especially when you need of more advanced scheduling features like task dependencies and resource allocation, they remain a vital part of any project manager’s toolkit. That’s why we recommend using online Gantt chart software to help plan tasks and projects collaboratively with your team.

Online Gantt chart tools integrate into project management & planning software, so they update in real time. This allows for easy drag-and-drop changes and can be color-coded to customize as you need. ProjectManager is a project management software that does this and more. Try it for yourself today!

But to quickly make a Gantt chart from your task lists, download this free Gantt chart Excel template, also known as a project timeline template, for an easy way to create a project schedule. Simply add tasks and deadlines to this Excel spreadsheet and visualize how long your project will take.

2. Project Management Dashboard Template

The project dashboard is what keeps you in the driver’s seat as you travel through the lifecycle of the project. It allows you to monitor the project, tracking the task status, budget and more in one place.

From this free project management dashboard for Excel, you create graphs and charts that give you a visual and easily digestible look at your task and workload management, as well as cost. It’s a sure way to stay on top of a project generally and know where you have to drill down into specifics.

You can add more power to your PM dashboards when you use online project management software . That way, when team members are updating task statuses, the dashboards populate with real-time data.

3. Project Status Report Template

The need for a project status report is obvious. If you don’t have good intel on what’s happening in the project, then you’re managing blindly. You have no idea if you’re on track or if resources are being blocked.

With this free Excel project status report template, you have a tool to greatly improve your project communications, both with stakeholders when you’re delivering a presentation, but also with team members.

It’s up to you to decide on the frequency of the reports. But with a project status report template, a lot of the busy work that can pull you away from a project is already done, giving you greater access to the information you need.

4. Action Plan Template

A project is initiated to complete the realization of a goal. But achieving that objective requires a strategy and the steps to implement that strategy successfully. In short, projects require an action plan .

Projects are pragmatic and the action plan is a framework to collect your thoughts about executing the project plan in an effective and efficient way. With our free action plan template, you can fill in the blanks to ensure that you’ve covered all bases and make your project start on the right foot. It’s a great companion template to an overall project plan and project charter.

From prioritizing tasks to assigning and noting the status, timeline and resources, we have you covered. And, again, the action plan can be uploaded seamlessly into ProjectManager , so you can then use all our great features to visualize workflow with kanban boards and monitor progress with our real-time dashboard.

5. Project Tracker & Task List Template

Tracking the project is crucial to ensure that it remains on schedule. That means also keeping tabs on the work at a task level.

This project tracker & task list template can help as a task to-do list, and it includes columns for the planned and actual duration of the project to determine what’s working and what needs more attention.

Once you integrate your project and task tracking template into a project management software system, you can then produce Gantt charts to get a clear visual on the project timeline, as well as get that data delivered to your dashboard to note project progress in real time. And, of course, you can import your Excel and Microsoft Project files seamlessly into ProjectManager. Our software can transform your static Excel files into stunning, dynamic project management tools.

6. Project Budget Template

A project can have a great plan, but without the financial backing to pay for it, nothing can happen. That’s why a project budget, as tedious as it might be, is one of the most important phases of getting a project on track to successful completion.

With this free Excel project budget template, you can literally see when you’re in the red because it’s color-coded. And this document, more than just one that’s crucial to the start of a project, is also a way to track that budget across the lifecycle of the project.

This template has room to cover all your costs, from easy ones to collect — such as labor and materials — to ones that change or carry over from project to project. Budgets are estimates, but with this free template, those numbers will be more accurate.

7. Kanban Board Template

Kanban boards come from the Toyota factory floor, developed by Taiichi Ohno, an industrial engineer and businessman, as a planning system to manage and control work and inventory. Since being introduced as physical boards with columns representing phases in production and tasks that are displayed as cards that move across the board, they’ve evolved into digital tools.

When you download our free kanban board template for Excel, you’ll get five columns and multiple cards, all of which are fully customizable so you can make adjustments to reflect the production cycle of your project. We’ve set up the kanban board to have five columns: backlog, to-do, doing, in review and done.

Cards are color-coded to show the priority level, from high (red) to medium (green) and low (blue). On each card is the name and description of the task, who it’s assigned to and what the due date is. Again, you can add as much or as little information to the card as you like. Of course, you can also use a project management template in ProjectManager and get access to dashboards, reports, resource management features and much more.

8. To-Do List Template

A to-do list gets things done. Whether it’s the grocery list you stick on the door of your refrigerator or a task list for a project, being able to collect and prioritize work ensures that you don’t forget anything important and tackle the most important tasks first. Plus, it’s a lot of fun crossing off tasks once you’ve done them.

This free project management Excel template can list as many tasks as you have, each with a start date, due date and even a column that shows the percentage complete of each task. There’s also a column to note the process, for example, to indicate if the task is done. Finally, a column is set aside for notes to capture anything you need to add.

The to-do list template is a simple tool that can be used to make more complex tasks manageable. It helps motivate you to do the work because it’s no longer overwhelming, but doable. It’s a rudimentary plan, and everyone knows planning is everything.

9. Project Risk Template

Risk is a part of managing a project. The job involves being able to anticipate what risks are likely to occur and then formulating a response to get the project back on track. That’s where this free Excel risk-tracking template comes in.

First, it allows you to list all the possible risks you believe may happen over the course of the project. Next, you can define how it’ll impact the project. You determine the level of the risk and assign it to an owner so that someone is responsible to keep an eye on it.

Now you have a plan in place to resolve that risk quickly, and a document that can be shared so the risk is never given a chance to blindside a project.

10. Project Timesheet Spreadsheet

Team members need to have a way to track their work through the tasks they are assigned, and a simple timesheet can provide an easy way to keep them on schedule as well as give them the needed information to know where they are in their tasks.

The free Excel timesheet can calculate cost per hour and includes vacation and overtime columns, to accurately note the time spent on and off the project. But project timesheets are useful for a number of different purposes, so this is a handy tool.

When you manage timesheets with online project management software , then the rubber hits the road. You’ll be able to filter columns and customize reports, easily sharing them in an email, PDF or Excel and CSV file. Plus your team can submit timesheets based on actual tasks in the system, and you’ll get alerted by email when they do.

11. Work Breakdown Structure Template

A project is made up of deliverables and those deliverables are created by tasks. The work breakdown structure (WBS) is a way to visualize the project deliverables, the tasks, and the subtasks, which are necessary to make them.

ProjectManager has a free WBS template that structures the process of breaking down the large project into smaller and smaller tasks, in a hierarchical visual that allows you to see the entire scope of the project work.

This is a key element of project planning, but it’s also critical to estimating project costs and setting up a realistic schedule. Better still, because our WBS free template is an Excel spreadsheet, it can then be uploaded into the ProjectManager software to initiate a project, assign tasks to team members and monitor and track progress once the project is executed.

12. Project Plan Template

A project plan template has everything you need to map out your project once it’s been approved. It has space for you to define your project goals, activities and tasks as well as all the resources you’ll need to execute the work. You can begin to schedule your activities , tasks and the duration of each across a project timeline. There’s even a place to identify task dependencies.

Project plans are tailored around your project and no two are the same. That’s why this project management template has a place to add appendices.  Here is where you can attach a scope, cost and schedule management plan or a work breakdown structure (WBS) as well as your business case, feasibility study and project charter. The more detailed your project plan, the more you position yourself and your team for success when the project is executed.

13. Project Estimate Template

This free project estimate template for Excel will help you forecast a more accurate budget and realistic schedule. Before you can plan a project, you need to identify all the costs that will be associated with it. This free project management spreadsheet allows you to do a more detailed collection of what you’ll need to spend on your labor, materials and project resources.

From a job description to estimate details, this project template is a great way not only to figure out your budget but collect the various vendors and contractors you’ll be employing to help you execute the project. Create as many project phases as you require. Each is subtotaled and those subtotals are then tallied automatically for a final sum. Change is impossible to avoid when managing a project, but the more accurate your estimate, the more likely you’ll deliver on time and within budget.

14. RACI Matrix Template

Using a RACI matrix template is an essential tool for organizing projects. Projects can be confusing, and if people aren’t sure of their roles, problems are going to occur. The RACI template for Excel is a free tool to identify and define the various roles and responsibilities of everyone involved with the project.

This project management Excel template is broken up by project phase on the left and across the top all the various project positions are listed. Then in the corresponding box beneath the title is filled in with R, A, C or I to explain their relation to that specific point in the project. RACI stands for responsible, accountable, consulted and informed. Defining these roles with this Excel spreadsheet leads to smoother operations.

15. Issue Tracker Template

Issues are when something is happening right now in your project. So, what do you do when this happens? You track those issues and resolve them with the help of this free issue tracker template.

The first thing, of course, is identifying those issues as they occur. This is the document in which you can collect that information. The issue tracking template serves you by making sure every step of the way, from identifying to resolving the issue, is documented.

Of course, you’ll want to share the issue tracker template, and you can with this free Excel template, but only as a static document. With project management software , that information is easy to collect and share, as well as edit in real time.

16. Resource Plan Template

Resources are anything you need for a project. Our free resource plan template for Excel is the first step to managing your team and resources. You can use it to identify, list and organize all your project resources as well as figure out how much of each you’ll need and what that’ll cost. You can use this project Excel template to integrate with your schedule and budget to track costs as you execute the project.

While you’ll want to start your resource plan during the planning phase of your project, it should be a living document that’s regularly updated as things change over the life cycle of the project. Once the project has been completed, you can save the template and use it when you’re planning resources for future projects that are similar. Using this free project management template for Excel keeps everyone informed, which leads to a smoother project.

17. Multiple Project Tracking Template

If you’re managing a program or a portfolio of projects, then you need our free multiple-project tracking template for Excel. When you download this free project management Excel template, you have the tool you need to monitor the progress of many projects at once.

This free template provides a high-level overview of your projects, including all relevant information, all in one place. You can track tasks, dependencies, schedules and costs, which allows you to make more informed decisions when allocating resources across all your projects and helps you identify issues quickly.

Whether you’re a program manager, portfolio manager or work for a PMO, our free multiple project tracking template is going to make your job easier. It will serve you throughout the life cycle of all the projects you’re managing for resource management, communicating with stakeholders and more.

18. Production Schedule Template

In order to balance supply and demand when producing any commodity, you have to have a production schedule. It tracks the production of your product over a specific time period. No manufacturer is going to make anything without one. Download our free production schedule template for Excel.

Use our free production schedule as part of your larger supply chain management to manage resources, help your sales team and get your goods to customers on time without negatively impacting quality. Our template helps you to make more accurate production plans and manage your inventory.

You can manage both your workers and your materials, workstations and processes, as well as track your targets, manage deliveries and more. Our free template is a must-have document when you’re in production planning.

19. Punch List Template

A punch list captures the work that still needs to be done on a construction site. The job isn’t complete until that punch list is completed. The punch list is also a great way to capture tasks that fall outside the contract and track their progress. These are only some reasons why you need to download our free punch list template for Excel.

Our free punch list template lists all the items on the punch list, including a description and who has been assigned to do that work. There’s also space to add a date for when it was first identified and when it was approved. You can also add the estimated duration for doing the work.

This is a special template, too, in that you can use it as an Excel document or open up the template in ProjectManager. If you use our software, then you’ll have access to kanban boards to visualize workflow, a real-time dashboard for a high-level view of your progress and performance as well as Gantt charts, timesheets, workload charts and much more.

20. Weekly Work Schedule Spreadsheet

If you need help handling your human resources, get our free weekly work schedule spreadsheet for Excel. You can use it to manage your team’s weekly work and the project’s workflow. Note the days your team can work and collect the rate of pay and hours they work on their tasks. This flexible employee work schedule can apply to the regular nine-to-five work week or a more hybrid model.

Use this project management template for Excel to get info on your team members and their work schedule. You can add their name, tasks assigned to them and the project on which they’re working. There’s space to list all the days they’ll be working. This Excel template is a great place to capture data, but it’s a static document. If you want to update it, you have to do that manually. It can take time and pull you away from managing the project and your team’s work.

21. Change Log Tracking Spreadsheet

Try our free change log template for Excel and create a successful change management process. Change is going to happen in every project, whether due to requests from stakeholders or from external forces, such as weather or supply chain issues. Being prepared for change and how to respond to it is going to make or break your project.

This project management Excel spreadsheet allows you to number changes that you identify in the project to track them easier. There’s a place to capture when the change was first discovered, who owns it and who is tasked with dealing with that change. There’s even space to note its status and set the priority so you know which changes should be dealt with first. Having a change log means you can manage change and not allow change to negatively impact your project.

22. Change Request Form Template

One thing that’s constant in any project is change. Those changes, however, must be managed. That’s where the change request form comes in.

Our free change request form template gives you the structure to identify, track and resolve those changes when they arise in a project. The free template has space to note what the change is, give a team member ownership to lead the task of resolving it and then get it signed off on.

When used in conjunction with ProjectManager, the change request form is more dynamic. It can act as a collaborative platform in which team members can communicate and attach relevant documents, even hand-offs and sign-offs. Keeping everything under one roof is something you’ll not want to change.

Related: How to Run MS Project on your Mac Step by Step!

23. Gap Analysis Template

If you’re looking to improve your business and stay innovative, then you need this gap analysis template for Excel. It’s one of the tools you can use to get a strategic analysis of where you are now and how to get to where you want to be in the future. This project management spreadsheet will help you devise an action plan to move you from your current state of affairs to wherever you plan to take your organization in the future, whether that’s an increase in market share or getting a product to market quickly.

This free Excel template has everything you need to start meeting your goals, from general information and the current state of your business to the future state you’re aiming to achieve, what the gap percentage is and the actions necessary to close that gap. You can identify who in the organization can lead the initiative and even track the status. You have to start somewhere and a gap analysis is where it all comes together.

24. Stakeholder Analysis Spreadsheet

Stakeholders are invested in the project and project managers have to keep them updated and manage their expectations. That’s where this free stakeholder analysis template for Excel comes in. It helps you identify and manage all the stakeholders in your project. This free template is a cornerstone of any thorough stakeholder management plan.

The stakeholder analysis template gets you started with a project overview, which is followed by a list of all the stakeholders involved with the project. There’s a dropdown menu to note if that particular stakeholder is of high, medium or low influence. That means, how much power they have to impact the project. That information is crucial to how to manage them. Then you identify each stakeholder in the spreadsheet as they relate to the project. Note the frequency you need to communicate with each stakeholder and more to manage them and keep the project moving forward.

25. Cost Benefit Analysis Spreadsheet

Crunch the numbers to learn if your project is worth pursuing with our free cost-benefit analysis template for Excel. You can see if the project can be delivered within a specific time frame and reasonable cost. This Microsoft Excel template allows you to compare what you expect to spend against the benefits or opportunities the project might provide. From a cost perspective, you can see if the project is viable.

Whether a personal or professional project, our free cost-benefit analysis template is a powerful and flexible tool. It can be used over and over again, collecting the project information, quantitative costs (indirect, intangible and opportunity) and quantitative benefits (direct benefits, indirect benefits, intangible benefits and competitive benefits). Adding up the three cost sections and the four benefits sections of the template provides a total cost to compare against total benefits. It’s an essential analysis to undertake before committing to any project.

Using Excel for Project Management

Think of all the things you have to process along the way to a successful project—scheduling, resource planning, defining tasks and milestones, etc. The days of Post-It notes and notebooks filled with scraps of paper are long gone. Thankfully, today project managers can use Microsoft Excel templates for project management.

Microsoft Excel does a lot of things well: mathematics, analysis and organization. But, it’s not intuitive for project management due to its blank spreadsheet format. So, without using pre-built project management spreadsheets or templates, it’s hard to execute project management on Excel.

Go Beyond Excel Project Management Templates & Spreadsheets With ProjectManager

Project management software can take you way further than Excel templates for project management ever could. ProjectManager , an award-winning project management software, is a comprehensive platform that lets you plan, track and report on your projects online. Because it’s an online tool, you get live visibility into your project team and their tasks.

Plan your projects from start to finish with our Gantt chart feature. This feature allows you to map your project tasks in phases and assign them to team members. You can even create dependencies and set milestones. Plus, you can import Excel files and Microsoft Project files into the Gantt chart, bringing your static templates to life. In addition, ProjectManager integrates with over 1,000 third-party apps such as Google Drive, Slack and Microsoft Office 365 so that you can share your project with everybody on your team.

Team members (and managers) can choose to manage their own tasks in either the task list or kanban view. The kanban view is a favorite for visual workers who are involved in many projects. The customizable columns on a kanban board allow a user to easily see their progress, or sort their tasks by project or department. Of course, every view, whether it’s the Gantt, list or board, allows you to collaborate with other team members and get more work done than you ever thought possible. You’ll wonder why you ever used project management Excel processes.

Related Excel Project Management Content

While Excel is not a project management software, it can still be a very helpful for managing various aspects of your projects. That’s why we’ve created dozens of blogs, templates and guides to help you use Excel for project management.

• Essential Excel Report Templates
• Free Manufacturing Excel Templates
• Free Excel Construction Templates
• Free Word & Excel Templates for Business
• Excel Spreadsheet Templates for Tracking Tasks, Costs and Time
• How to Create a Project Timeline in Excel (Free Template Included)
• How to Make a Gantt Chart In Excel Step-By-Step (Template Included)

Get all the features of these Excel project management templates and more when you use ProjectManager . All of these tools are available in our award-winning project management software to help you plan, track and report on your project in real time. See what it can do for you by taking a free 30-day trial run .

Deliver your projects on time and on budget

Start planning your projects.

• Kindergarten
• Holidays/Seasonal
• Cursive Letters
• Coloring Pages

Book Review Template for Kids

Are you looking for a book review template for older kids? This simple book review template is ideal for grown-up children. Prompt your child to write a book review each time after finishing a book. It will encourage them to brainstorm and share their viewpoint.

Reading books and writing reviews also aids in developing good literacy skills. Other than writing reviews, you can also ask your child questions about the book. Not only they will learn how to analyze and evaluate, but it will also start a healthy conversation with them.

Book Review Format

Book reviews are not just a summary of the plot; they are your ticket to sharing your thoughts, opinions, and insights about a literary work with the world. Crafting an engaging book review requires more than just enthusiasm – it demands a well-structured format that brings out the essence of the book and your perspective on it. Here’s a simple format guide to help you master the art of writing a captivating book review if you are writing one for young kids or want your kids to master it.

• Introduction: Introduce the author, the book’s title, and provide some context about the book’s significance. Then, kick off with a catchy sentence that makes us want to read more. How about a sneak peek into the most exciting part?
• Peek into the Plot: Give us a taste of the story without giving away all the secrets. Who are the main characters? What’s the adventure they’re going on? But remember, no spoilers are allowed! Keep it engaging and intriguing to pique the reader’s curiosity.
• Characters’ Corner: Let’s talk about the characters. Did you find a friend in one of them? Who made you laugh the most? Share your thoughts and tell us what you liked about them. Dive into the characters’ personalities, motivations, and development throughout the story.
• Story Themes and Lessons: What did the book teach you? Did it make you see things differently? Maybe it had a big message hidden in the story. Tell us what cool things you learned.
• Style Spotlight: Describe how the author writes. Is it funny and clever? Does it feel like magic? Let us know if the words painted pictures in your mind as you read.
• Twists and Turns: Discuss any plot twists, surprises, or turning points that added excitement or depth to the story. Did the story have any surprises that made you gasp? Maybe a twist that you never saw coming? Spill the beans on those exciting moments!
• Your Feelings Matter: Did the book make you smile, cry, or laugh out loud? Share how the story made you feel and why those emotions were bubbling up.
• The Big Finish: Wrap up your review by sharing your final thoughts. Did you absolutely love the book? Would you tell your friends to read it? Tell us if this adventure is a must-read or not, and why you think so.

Remember, a book review is your chance to share your thoughts and feelings. There’s no right or wrong – it’s all about your unique perspective. Your review could help another young reader find their next favourite book. So, have fun writing, and let your excitement shine through!

Related:   Fun Kids Resources

Book Review & Report Templates

This book review template for kids includes the following questions:

What was the title of the book? Who was the author of the book? What did you like best/least about this book? Would you recommend this book to your friends? Why or why not? Which characters in this book did you like the best? Describe their traits What happened in the story? What was your favourite part?

Print the pdf file by clicking the pictures below or the download button.

Simple One-Page Book Review Template

Book Report Template for KS1, KS2 and KS3 Kids

Click the below book report template for ks1 ks2 and ks3 kids to download.

Fun Simple Book Review Template

Click the below book review template for ks2 kids to download.

Book Report Template Worksheet

Click the below book report template for ks1, ks2 kids to download

In-depth Book Review Template

Click the below extensive book report template bundle to download.

Also, Check:   Quiz Questions for Kids

What is the purpose of a book review?

A book review serves the purpose of providing potential readers with insights and information about a book. It offers an evaluation of the book’s content, style, and overall quality. Additionally, book reviews help readers decide whether the book aligns with their interests and whether it’s worth investing their time in reading it.

What is the format of a book review?

A typical book review follows a structured format that includes an introduction, a brief summary of the book’s content and context, an analysis of its strengths and weaknesses, a discussion of characters and themes, and a concluding evaluation. The introduction engages the reader, the summary offers a snapshot of the book, the analysis delves into its various aspects, and the conclusion provides a final recommendation or judgment. This format ensures a comprehensive and organized review that informs readers while conveying the reviewer’s perspective effectively.

Why is it important to include a brief summary of the book in a book review?

Including a brief summary of the book in a review helps readers understand the context and premise of the book. This summary provides essential background information, introduces key characters and plot elements, and ensures that readers have a basic understanding of what the book is about before delving into the reviewer’s analysis and opinions.

In a book review format, what does the “Introduction” section typically include?

The “Introduction” section of a book review typically provides a hook to capture the reader’s interest. It may contain background information about the author, the book’s genre, and its relevance. The introduction also sets the tone for the review and often includes a thesis statement that gives a hint of the reviewer’s overall opinion.

What key information should be covered when discussing characters in a book review?

When discussing characters in a book review, key information to cover includes their names, roles, and significance within the story. It’s important to analyze their development, motivations, and how they contribute to the plot’s progression. Mentioning whether the characters are relatable or well-crafted adds depth to the review.

Why is sharing your personal feelings and opinions important in a book review?

Sharing personal feelings and opinions in a book review adds a subjective element to the analysis. Readers often connect with reviewers who express genuine emotions, and this can help potential readers determine if their tastes align with the reviewers. However, it’s crucial to balance personal opinions with objective analysis to provide a well-rounded evaluation of the book’s merits and drawbacks.

Can I share this resource?

You can surely share the link to this resource post so other people can also download it from here. This is for personal or personal classroom use only. To share, please share a link to this page, not the file. You cannot include these worksheets in your product or upload them to your site and have people download them from there because that would be copyright violations .

This may not be hosted or stored on any other site (including Facebook, Dropbox, etc.)

Share this resource and write a review below. Please like and follow our  Facebook  & Instagram pages to stay updated. Thank You!

3 thoughts on “Book Review Template for Kids”

Excellent blog post. I certainly appreciate this site. Stick with it!

Hi Mahlikka, I am glad you found this post useful 🙂 Thanks for your appreciation.

Your insights are a valuable contribution to the discussion.NaN

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Related Posts

Extensive Book review writing template bundle

Book Report Template for Ks1, Ks2 and Ks3 Kids | Book Review

Book Review Frame for kids – Great Reading & Writing Activity

Book Report Template | My Book Report Writing

All About Book Reviews – How to write a book report

Popular Posts

• Daily Schedule for Kids - Free Cute Editable Timetable Template
• Timetable for kids | Weekly Timetable Template | Free Printable
• Alphabet Worksheets for Kids | Alphabet Free Activities for Kindergarten
• Weekly planner for kids - Timetable for kids | FREE Printable

About Shining Brains

Takedown Policy

©2023 shiningbrains.com  All Rights Reserved. 

All Formats

17+ Book Review Templates

Book review writing is not always easy. There are many aspects of review writing which should be taken care of. In order to learn all about the book review writing task, you need to do research. However, the better option for a perfect review writing is downloading book review templates. These templates will work as Performance Review Templates . They will allow you to learn your mistakes and enhance the accuracy in your reviews.

Poetry Book Review Template

Book Review Template For Kids

Book Review Template University

Book Review Template For Adults

Book Review Template For Ks2

Book Review Template Ks3

Book Review Template For Ks1

Book Review Template

Free Book Review Template For Kids

Book Review Template for Middle School

Round Table Book Review Template

Fiction Book Review Template

Free Non-Fiction Book Review Template

Academic Book Review Template

4th Grade Book Review Template

Printable Personal Book Review Template

Free Business Book Review Template

Why do you Need Book Review Templates?

Free medical book review template.

Benefits of the Book Review Templates

More in forms, review blog graphic template, simple book review template, transport and logistics financial forecast review template, tenure review bio template, professional book review template, student book review template.

• FREE 10+ Research Data Collection Form Templates in MS Word | PDF
• 15+ Sample Registration Form Templates
• 12+ Emergency Contact Forms
• 6+ Social Work Referral Form Templates in PDF | MS Word
• 10+ Reference Check Form Templates in Google Docs | PDF | MS Word | Pages
• 5+ Recruitment Authorisation Form Templates in PDF | MS Word
• 8+ Recruitment Evaluation Form Templates in MS Word | PDF
• 10+ Recruitment Application Form Templates in PDF | MS Word
• 11+ Logistics Form Templates in PDF | MS Word
• 15+ Requisition Form Templates
• 14+ Sample Printable Registration Form Templates
• 12+ Teacher Evaluation Forms in Word | Apple Pages | PDF
• 14+ Student Enrollment Form Templates PDF | DOC
• 9+ Offboarding Workflow Templates in PDF | Word | Pages | Google Docs
• 10+ Onboarding Process Templates in Excel | Word | Numbers | Pages | PDF | Google Docs

File Formats

Word templates, google docs templates, excel templates, powerpoint templates, google sheets templates, google slides templates, pdf templates, publisher templates, psd templates, indesign templates, illustrator templates, pages templates, keynote templates, numbers templates, outlook templates.

Excel Templates

Professional and tested spreadsheet templates for free!

Book Collection List

You like to read and read often? Then you certainly (just like me) have a large stock of books and like to lose the overview. Exactly for this case I have created an Excel template, which should remedy the situation: Enter all your books in one file in a book list!

You can note the following:

• Book title,
• purchase date,
• reading status,
• Media type (eBook, book, audio book),
• Description or own opinion to the book.

To make capturing even easier, the Genre, Media Type and Status areas are provided with a drop-down menu. This allows you to easily select the appropriate entry.

Personally, the list is particularly important to me for the book titles that I read electronically or with my Kindle. Since I don’t hold them in my hand analogously, it’s hard for me to make a reference to them. Again and again I find myself hesitant when searching for new reading material, whether I already know the book or not. With normal books this does not or only rarely happen to me.

Screenshots of the book-collection for Excel

Download your free Excel-template “book inventory list”

Here you will find the download links for the book directory

• as an Excel file (.xlsx)
• as an Excel template file (.xltx)
• NEW: as file for Apple-Numbers (.numbers)
• all files in a Zip

This list in german .

More bookcollectionlists in the world wide web

• Book collection templates from Microsoft

3 thoughts on “Book Collection List”

Why can I not print the Booklist with the content I have added? Do I have to save it with a different extension? Or what? Thanks for your help.

normally printing is no problem and not prohibited by my tempate. There must be another problem maybe with the printer..

Cheers Philipp

can you scan barcodes (ISBN) and retrieve input directly into cells? I’m trying to catalogue about a thousand books on various subjects, some old, some new. Don’t want to manually input ones already able to be directly downloadable. Have enough pre-ISBN to input. Thanks

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Never miss a new template.

Just signup for my monthly newsletter.

Nearly done!

To finally join my subscriber list check your email and confirm your email-address.

Support excel-template.net

Excel-template.net is a free resource, but it costs money to keep the site running.

Your donation will help to:

• Pay for the cost of hosting the site
• Cover the cost of developing new templates
• Improve the existing templates
• And much more!

Donate today!

Making a donation to excel-template.net is easy and secure. You can donate via PayPal using the button below.

If you don’t use paypal click on one of the creditcard symbols

Thank you for your support!

Excel Performance Review Templates: 10 Best Templates To Look Through!

by Emre Ok December 29, 2022, 12:24 pm updated May 13, 2024, 8:33 pm 25.6k Views

Excel performance review templates: If we have to be honest, we are not their biggest fans. We do, however, know that they are a massive part of how a lot of organizations go through their performance review cycles.

Even though we find the use of Excel performance review templates to be a cumbersome process that puts a lot of unnecessary burden on the backs of both reviewers and reviewees alike, we do know that there is a lot of demand for helpful Excel performance review templates.

Since we here at the Teamflect blog are nothing but eager to please, we scoured the worldwide interwebz for some of the best Excel performance review templates and we are glad to say that we have found 5 distinct performance review templates that can really help you out in your review cycles.

That being said, we do have to state that there is a much better way of doing things, as opposed to using an Excel performance review template. We have discovered that the more steps you include in your performance review process, the more employees dislike performance reviews as a whole!

There is nothing wrong with performance reviews as a process! Performance reviews should be a part of every organization’s operations! We recommend that you should conduct performance reviews as often as once every quarter! In fact, check out our article on performance review frequency !

Table of Contents

Best Way To Use Performance Review Templates

If you are using Excel performance review templates instead of performance review templates designed and provided by the best performance review software out there, then you will surely run into some troubles in your performance review process.

We are normally never this straightforward when it comes to picking sides on which practice is best but the fact that we still see people leaders wrestling with spreadsheets on spreadsheets of Excel performance review templates breaks our hearts.

So we made sure you can try our customizable performance review templates inside Microsoft Teams for absolutely free! Our solution, Teamflect keeps the entire performance review process inside Microsoft Teams, letting you send out and analyze all manner of performance review templates in only a matter of a few clicks.

That being said, we have listed the 10 Excel performance review templates we could find to help you out with all your performance review needs! Good luck!

10 Helpful Excel Performance Review Templates

Excel performance review template 1.

While this excel performance review template may look a bit complicated at first glance, we are a fan of how they’ve highlighted some very specific criteria, divided those criteria into groups with sub-sections, and also assigned maximum points, providing both reviewee and reviewer some helpful structure!

Excel Performance Review Template 2

We wanted to list these two excel performance review templates back to back because we honestly believe that as much as we like complex and detailed templates that bombard us with information and data, we are also huge fans of customizable, and simplistic templates with lots of holes that we as the user can fill. We believe that his template can work very well as a blank slate for you to customize.

Excel Performance Review Template 3

This Excel performance review template is a lovely mixture of the two templates we’ve seen above, being simple, yet providing its users with enough guidance to go through a single performance review with what it gives them. The simple 5-tiered rating scale and sleek green design all make this a solid Excel performance review template.

Excel Performance Review Template 4

We wanted to include an Excel performance review template fit for group evaluations on this list and here it is. This nifty template lets you go through the performance evaluations you mean to complete in bulk rather easily, and has well-planned equations in it to give its users’ department averages.

Excel Performance Review Template 5

This excel performance review template has the right idea and includes a self-review section. We here at Teamflect are massive believers in the power of self-reviews within performance reviews.

That being said, the self-review section really gets lost in all the chaos of the Excel spreadsheet. Just like all of the templates above, we think that while this template was designed with some good ideas, it is far from perfect.

Excel Performance Review Template 6

With this Excel performance review template, you can approach your evaluations comprehensively as it includes various dimensions to assess employee performance. This Excel review template first captures the basic employee information and then focuses on performance goals. Lastly, it deepens into employee capabilities like initiative, professional development, and teamwork.

Excel Performance Review Template 7

We have another employee performance tracking template for Excel that is a great choice for annual reviews. This template has a 360-degree approach to performance reviews and has 1-5 scaling with questions from different areas.

Excel Performance Review Template 8

Our eighth employee performance metrics template is one of the simpler ones with basic evaluation categories with 4 different scaling options. You can use this template for a quick review for your new employees, or when you just want an overview of the overall performance and nothing too deep.

Excel Performance Review Template 9

This employee performance tracking template excels at combining the two best features of a performance evaluation: being simple yet competent. Also, you can set new goals for the next evaluation period using this template!

Excel Performance Review Template 10

Last but not least, we have a 30-day employee performance review template that you can use for your new hires. We believe that the first 30 day of an employee is a great indicator of their performance, and you should conduct this performance review.

Pick Your Poison! We’ll Digitize It!

While we encourage you to scroll down and find out more about how you can use performance review software to conduct your performance reviews much more easily, if you have gone through the templates above and decided to use one of them, we are still here to help!

Once you’ve picked your performance review template out of the ten options we’ve provided above, feel free to reach us! We can help you digitize those performance review templates and truly take your performance review game, to the next level!

Whatever template it is that you are using, feel free to reach us right here: [email protected]

We’ll help you digitize that performance review template and give you the means to get better results!

Advantages of Using Performance Review Software

When it comes to performance reviews, using specialized performance review software has a number of advantages over using more traditional tools such as Excel performance review templates.

By using performance review software, companies are able to automate processes, streamline employee feedback, and increase accuracy.

1. Automated Performance Review Cycles

The first advantage of using performance review software is automated processes. Performance review software allows companies to create performance review templates that they can use over and over again.

This helps to automate the process of collecting employee feedback and ensures that everyone is following the same guidelines. It also simplifies the process of creating performance reviews, which can save companies time and money.

2. Streamlined Process

The second advantage of performance review software is streamlined employee feedback. Because performance review software is designed specifically for performance reviews, it is easier for employees to give feedback in an organized, structured way.

This makes it easier for managers to review performance reviews and help employees improve their performance.

Performance review software also typically includes features such as comment fields, rating scales, and feedback forms to help make the process of giving feedback more organized and efficient.

3. Increased Accuracy

The third advantage of performance review software is increased accuracy. Performance review software can be used to track employee performance in real-time, which helps to ensure that performance reviews are accurate.

Performance review software also typically includes features such as data analysis tools, which can help managers and HR professionals to identify trends in performance reviews and make more informed decisions.

4. Overall Benefits

Using performance review software is a great way for companies to streamline the process of performance reviews and ensure that employee feedback is accurate and organized.

By using performance review software, companies can save time and money, while also improving the quality of their performance reviews.

Performance review software can also be used to create performance review templates that can be used over and over again, which can help to automate the process of collecting employee feedback.

In addition, performance review software typically includes features such as comment fields, rating scales, and feedback forms, which can help to ensure that performance reviews are accurate and organized.

Disadvantages Of Using Excel Performance Review Templates

When it comes to performance reviews, the traditional way of using Excel, pdf, and Word documents to track employee performance is no longer the best option.

Excel, PDF, and Word documents are not designed for performance reviews, and as a result, they have several disadvantages that make them unattractive to businesses.

1. Lack of real-time tracking

One of the biggest disadvantages of using Excel, pdf, and Word for performance reviews is the lack of real-time tracking. With Excel, PDF, and Word, it is difficult to track employee performance in real-time, as information must be manually entered into the system.

This makes it difficult to get an accurate and up-to-date picture of employee performance. The lack of real-time tracking also makes it difficult to identify problems quickly and react accordingly.

2. Difficulty in organizing data

Another disadvantage of using excel performance review templates is the difficulty in organizing data. Excel, PDF, and Word documents are not designed to store and organize large amounts of data.

Therefore, it can be difficult to track performance over time and compare performance across different employees. Additionally, it can be time-consuming to track performance using Excel, PDF, and Word, as it requires manual entry of data and sorting through multiple documents.

3. More room for error

Finally, there is a potential for bias when using Excel, PDF, and Word for performance reviews. Without the proper tools, it can be difficult to ensure that all employees are evaluated in an objective and consistent way. Manual entry of data can lead to errors or mistakes, which can further contribute to bias in performance reviews.

What To Look For In Performance Review Software?

Performance review software is an invaluable resource for businesses of all sizes. It helps to ensure that employees are properly evaluated and that their performance is assessed in an objective and consistent manner.

Performance review software should provide a comprehensive suite of tools and features to make the performance review process easier, faster, and more effective. Here are some key things to look for when evaluating performance review software:

1. 360-Degree Feedback

360-degree feedback is an important component of the performance review process. It allows managers and colleagues to provide constructive feedback from multiple perspectives.

This feedback can be used to provide employees with an accurate assessment of their performance, identify areas for improvement, and create action plans for development. Look for performance review software that allows for 360-degree feedback to be collected and analyzed quickly and easily.

2. Performance Review Templates

Many performance review software solutions provide pre-built templates that allow managers to quickly and easily create performance reviews.

These templates should be customizable, allowing managers to tailor the review form to their specific needs. Look for performance review software that provides a wide range of templates and allows for easy customization.

3. Integration

Performance review software should be able to integrate easily with other systems, such as HR software and applicant tracking systems. This will enable employees and managers to access performance reviews quickly and easily and will allow for performance data to be tracked and analyzed across multiple systems.

Look for performance review software that offers robust integration capabilities. Teamflect’s complete integration into Microsoft Teams can be seen as an example to this.

Performance review software is a powerful tool for assessing employee performance and providing feedback. When evaluating performance review software, make sure to look for features such as 360-degree feedback, performance review templates, and integration capabilities.

By doing so, you can ensure that your business is able to create effective performance reviews and get the most out of the performance review process.

Key Components of an Excel Performance Review Template

If you want to create your own performance review template in Excel, there are some key components you need to include in your Excel review template. So here are some must-have sections of performance appraisal templates.

1. Participant Details

Begin your template with a section dedicated to capturing essential information about the employee under review. This should include details like the employee’s name, job title, department, and the specific period the review covers.

Having this information at the forefront helps contextualize the evaluation and organizes your records efficiently.

2. Objectives and Performance Outcomes

Including OKRs in performance appraisals is absolutely necessary. Your Excel performance appraisal template should have a section dedicated to all the goals owned by the reviewee within the review period.

This section shouldn’t just include the goals themselves but the progress the employee being reviewed made throughout the review period. While this may be particularly difficult to integrate in an Excel performance evaluation template, it is relatively simple with performance review software.

3. Strengths and Improvement Opportunities

Employee strengths and weaknesses play an integral role in performance appraisals. Your Excel review template should include a section on the employees’ strengths as well as the areas through which they can improve.

Acknowledging their capabilities and providing constructive feedback on areas they can enhance fosters professional growth and motivates continued excellence.

4. Future Development and Learning

Setting employee development goals at the tail end of a performance appraisal is always a great idea. This only works, however, if you revisit them in the next appraisal.

Employee development plans shouldn’t be confused with the goals for the upcoming review period. These should be all about the growth and development of the employee being reviewed.

5. Employee Reflection and Dialogue

Allocate space for employees to share their feedback, challenges, successes, and goals. Performance reviews should never be a one-way interaction. Fostering dialogue and encouraging participation helps all parties involved with the review grow. Your Excel review template should reflect this approach as well.

6. Next Period Objectives

Setting clear, achievable goals for the upcoming review period is essential for guiding the employee’s efforts and expectations. These objectives should be aligned with the organization’s broader goals and the employee’s career development plans .

Final Assessment and Summary Comments

Conclude with a section for the reviewer’s overarching comments and a summary assessment of the employee’s performance. This summary should encapsulate the key points discussed throughout the template, offering a concise yet comprehensive overview of the employee’s contributions and areas for growth.

Related Posts:

Written by emre ok.

Emre is a content writer at Teamflect who aims to share fun and unique insight into the world of performance management.

Best Remote Working Tools: 10 Best Collaboration Tools For Remote Teams

Microsoft Teams Security Best Practices: How You Can Use Microsoft Teams Securely In 2024