Using Goodreads.com Part 2: How To Review Books and Set Up Your Shelves

For the second part of my how to use Goodreads.com in your classroom series, I will show you how to add books to your shelf, make multiples shelves, and how to rate and review books.

1. Once you are logged in to Goodreads, on the main page, you can search for a book to add by typing the name of the book in the search box.

2. When you have found the book you want to add, move the arrow over "Add to my books" and click on the appropriate button.

3. Now the book is on your shelf. In the view that comes up, you can give the book stars based upon how much you liked the book (if it's something you previously read), you can also type in your review of the book in this box that comes up, and there are advanced setting if you would like to enter when you read the book and other information.

Now, that is how you review a book. You will, by default, have three shelves to add books to. The primary shelves to add your books to are "read" (books you have already completed), "currently-reading," and "to-read" (a good option for books that you want to read later). Now, in the options at the top of the page, if you click on the MY BOOKS link, your shelf view will come up. The image here is what my shelf view looks like. If you click edit, then go to the bottom, you can add shelves. What I suggest here is adding shelves that you can then sort your books by. You can add books into multiple shelves, and if you have your students using this option, they can have different categories, which helps in terms of organization.

So this is a basic beginners guide on starting off with Goodreads. By following the two posts I where I have outlined the Goodreads experience, you should be a pro in no time. Good luck!