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Book Reviews
A book review is a critical analysis of a book that is usually published in a periodical. Reviews are written by a critic or journalist and reflect the personal opinions of the reviewer. Book reviews generally provide comments on the book's style, content, appeal and significance. They are written as soon as a book is published and serve as a great, evaluative tool. Reviews can vary in length from a short paragraph to an essay.
Book reviews can be located using print or online resources. Print indexes/abstracts are published annually. To locate reviews using a print index or abstract, you should know the book's title, author, and date of publication. Look up the volume that corresponds to the year the book was published. On occasion, it may be necessary to check volumes that appear a year or two after the book was published as there could be a time lag between the publication of the book and the publication of the review. A print index provides only the citation, not the review. Find the citation to the review by using the author/title index. An abstract will provide a summary of the review. To access the full review, check Journal Locator on the library home page to determine if we subscribe to the periodical in which the review appears. If the library does not have the periodical you can request the article through interlibrary loan.
In addition to print indexes, book reviews can be located using bibliographies and guides, databases, and web sites. The databases appear in alphabetical order on the database page. This guide lists general book review resources that can be used for finding book reviews in all subject disciplines followed by a subject specific section that lists print and online resources for each major discipline.
Contents
Alternative Press Index (1987-present)
This print publication indexes nearly 300 alternative, radical and left periodicals, newspapers and magazines. Book reviews are indexed by author/title of the book. Also includes art, concert, dance, multimedia and pamphlet reviews.
Book Review Digest (1905-present)
Book Review Digest is an annual print index that provides abstracts or summaries of book reviews. Searching is mainly by title or author. Each annual volume must be searched separately so the year the book was published must be known. We have print volumes dating back to 1905. Book Review Digest is also available online
Book Review Index (1965-2006)
Book Review Index (BRI) is an annual author/title index that provides citations to reviews published in popular periodicals, scholarly journals, and newspapers. It is important to know when the book was published in order to locate the citation for a review in BRI.
Essay and General Literature Index (1900-present)
Essay & General Literature Index indexes chapters in more than 300 English language essay collections and anthologies. Both humanities and social sciences topics are covered, including economics, political science, history, philosophy, religion, and criticism of literary works, drama, and films. Book reviews appear in a separate section at the back of each volume.
An Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities (1965-1990)
This index covers journals published internationally. Entries are arranged alphabetically by author. A list of journals indexed appears at the front of each volume.
Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (1802-1906)
Poole's is a major excellent index for articles published in British and American periodicals in the nineteenth century. Reviews of fiction, poetry and drama appear under the author's name. Reviews of non-fiction books are classified by subject.
Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (1900-present)
The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature is a print index of mostly popular periodical literature. This series, in print, extends back to 1900. Indexing is primarily by author and subject in one continuous alphabet. Beginning with the 1976-77 volume, books reviews are gathered in a separate section at the end of each annual volume; this section is then indexed by author, or by title if the author is unknown.
A guide to book review citations; a bibliography of sources
This is a bibliography of serial bibliographies and indexes, and other works (through the mid-1960s) that cite reviews from more than one periodical. Entries are organized by author or title. The section on modern languages, philology and literature is subdivided by language (the chapter on English literature is organized by period). Includes indexes.
High Interest Books for Teens: A Guide to Book Reviews and Biographical Sources
This book is arranged alphabetically by author and contains reviews and biographical citations of periodicals by title. Entries are recommended by librarians, teachers, publishers, reviewers and critics.
This scholarly database provides journal coverage for most academic subjects including arts and literature, biological sciences, communications, computer sciences, economics, engineering, language and linguistics, medical sciences and women's studies. Coverage dates back to 1965 for certain titles. Academic Search Premier also contains book reviews, many of which are available full-text. To access book reviews, select Advanced Search. Type the title of the work within quotations in the search box and for document type, select Book Review.
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This database contains information on over 3.8 million book titles in a wide range of formats with more than 800,000 full-text searchable reviews from sources such as Library Journal, CHOICE, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly. To find books with reviews, type the title of the book in the Find box in Basic Search and check the box that appears next to Contains Review.
Book Review Digest (1983-present)
The records in Book Review Digest provide summaries or abstracts of book reviews. Book reviews are from journals in the humanities, sciences and social sciences and generally cover more popular rather than scholarly titles. For reviews prior to 1983, check the print volumes.
Books in Print is a database of bibliographic records for books and media published by various publishers in North America. The titles covered are those that are currently available in print or those that are recently out of print or those that are forthcoming. Reviews from well-known resources are included when available and titles that have reviews are indicated by a star.
Essay & General Literature Index (1985-present)
To search for book reviews select the Advanced Search option. In the first box type the title of the book and choose Title from the drop down menu. In the second box type review. For reviews published before 1985, check the print indexes.This database indexes scholarly journals, news magazines and newspapers covering all academic disciplines. Many of the articles are full-text and contain images. Coverage dates back to more than 25 years. The best way to access book reviews is to select Advanced Search. Enter the book's title in keyword search. In the second search box type book review.
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InfoTrac OneFile indexes numerous periodicals many of which are full text. When searching for reviews type the title or words from the title in the search box. You can add the word review or reviews to narrow your search. You may also use the search strategy listed for Expanded Academic Index. (See above).
Humanities International Complete
Humanities International Complete provides cover-to-cover indexing and abstracting for over 1,900 titles, and full text of hundreds of journals books and other publications. The database includes citations and abstracts for articles, essays and reviews, as well as original creative works including poems, fiction, photographs, paintings and illustrations.
JSTORJSTOR is a journal storage project which provides coverage right to the very first issue of every journal that the database contains. JSTOR is an archival project and does not contain current issues of journals. Please see a librarian for assistance with current issues of journals indexed in JSTOR. To find book reviews, select the Advanced Search option, enter words from the title in the search box and limit your search by selecting Review from the options provided. If too many titles appear, you can modify the search by entering the author's name in the second search box.
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Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe contains full-text articles from many newspapers and journals.
Coverage varies by title and dates back to the sixties.To find book reviews, under Step One, select Arts and Sports News. Under Step Two, select Book, Movie, Music and Play Reviews. Enter search terms (title) in Step Three and select time frame or enter date range in Step Four.
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NoveList is a reader's advisory database for readers of all ages. It features over 147,000 titles, 100,000 searchable reviews, book discussion guides, annotated thematic bibliographies, award lists, genre and theme-based lists, book talks, and customized classroom content for students and teachers.
Project Muse covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and other areas.
Coverage varies by title and goes as far back as 1998. When looking for a book review, you can limit your search within Author reviewed or Title reviewed which are options available under All Fields w/text in Basic Search or select Advanced Search and enter the title of the work in the search box. From the pull-down menu in the box next to in select Title Reviewed. Then limit your search to Review from the pull-down menu next to By Type.
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Proquest Newspapers provides full-text coverage of seven major newspapers - Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, The Hartford Courant, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. coverage dates back to 1980 but we have access to The Historical Hartford Courant from 1923 to the present, and to the Historical New York Times from 1851 to the present. To search for book reviews select the Advanced Search option. In the first box, enter the author or the title of the book and choose Citation and abstract. In the next box type book review and choose Document Type from the drop down menu.
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(1965-present)
Web of Science consists of Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index. The library subscribes to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index and the Social Sciences Citation Index. These multidisciplinary databases index thousands of articles. To search for book reviews, select Advanced Search and highlight Book Review in the pull-down menu under Restrict search by languages and document type. In addition to book reviews, you can find reviews of art exhibits, dance performances, databases, films, hardware, music performances, music scores, records, software, TV and radio, and theater.
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WilsonSelectPlus (1994-present)
WilsonSelectPlus provides full text articles in science, humanities, education and business. Articles appear in professional publications, academic journals, and trade magazines. To search for reviews, select Advanced Search. Enter title or keywords from title in the search box. From the pull-down menu next to Record Type Phrase, select Book Review.
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AcqWeb's Directory of Book Reviews on the Web
This is a site primarily for those who select and buy books in libraries of all types and sizes. "This page links primarily to actively maintained sites done by experienced reviewers or subject experts".
This search engine classifies books according to plot, setting, characters, writing style, theme and genre.
This is a free, commercial site that sells books on all subjects and sometimes provides its own editorial reviews as well as reviews from other sources such as The New York Times Book Review and Booklist.
Biblioreview.com serves as a gateway to online book reviews and author interviews. Provides listings from major publishers as well as smaller, lesser known sources, with the aim to provide "an eclectic mix" and a large variety of titles. Includes audio recordings of interviews and reviews of web sites.
BookMuse.com
This contains book reviews, author interviews, literary prize lists, and discussion guides and tips for book groups. Titles are searchable by genre in both the adult and special "Kids Corner," which also allows searching by reading level. The user can also sign up for an e-mail newsletter and submit reviews. Profiles are provided for the board and for authors of individual reviews.BookPage is a monthly book review publication distributed to readers through subscribing bookstores and public libraries. Founded in 1988 and located in Nashville, Tennessee, BookPage serves as a broad-based selection guide to the best new books published every month. The tone is upbeat and literate, focusing on bestsellers as well as new discoveries.
BookSpot features bestseller lists, book awards and reviews, electronic texts, online booksellers, antique books, author and publisher information, literary criticism, book news and events, and much more.
This is a site devoted to the book industry and provides links to several major review publications, including Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, and The Book Report.
This site offers reviews of books that have recently been published or republished and featured in the news. Contains links to publishers' sites from all around the world.
H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences is an online scholarly review resource that publishes reviews of books, films, software, museum exhibits, and web sites. Reviews can be searched by year of publication. Reviewers, authors and readers engage in discussions of the reviews online.
Contains reviews of books published after 2002. Any book included here must have at least three reviews in major online media web sites and the reviews and should be available free of charge.
Reviews of women's books by women; includes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.
Book reviews in the Yahoo directory are categorized as follows: Children's books, comic books, computer books, magazines, newspaper reviews, non-fiction, science-fiction/fantasy/horror, young adult fiction and web published fiction. Readers can also browse a wide selection of recommendations.
Anthropology
Online
Anthropological Literature covers articles published from the late 19th century to the present. Includes book reviews.
Developed by the American Anthropological Association (AAA), AnthroSource brings 100 years of anthropological material online to scholars and the public. Contains book reviews.
Art
Art Index (1929-present)
Book reviews appear in a separate section at the back of each print volume.
Online
Art Abstracts (1984-present)
Art Abstracts covers topics such as advertising art, antiques, architecture, computers, fashion, graphics, industrial design, photography, sculpture, television, and textiles. The database also contains reviews of art books.
Business
ARBA In-depth: Economics and Business
Business Periodicals Index (1976-1999)
The Ultimate Business Library : 50 Books that Shaped Management Thinking
Online
ABI/Inform (Global) (1971-present)
ABI/Inform indexes and abstracts articles from nearly 1800 worldwide business periodicals covering business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory, and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more.
Business Source Premier Indexes journals as far back as 1922.
Business Source Premier is a business research database, providing full text for more than 2,300 journals in all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Includes book reviews.
Business Book Review is a web resource that provides thorough but concise summaries of the best business books.
EconLit (1969-present)
EconLit includes references to articles in economics journals from all over the world, most of which are in English or with English summaries. Book Reviews from Journal of Economic Literature are indexed here. Select Book Review under Document Type Phrase in Advanced Search.
Ultimate Business Library: The Greatest Books That Made Management (2003)
Communication/Communication Disorders
Online
The database contains information on books, journals, dissertations, scholars, institutions, and web resources in the area of communication disorders. Also includes information about professional societies and conferences. Includes book reviews.
Communication and Mass Media Complete
Communication & Mass Media Complete provides information related to communication and mass media. Includes book reviews. Coverage varies by title and goes as far back as 1915.
Computer Science
Online
The ACM Digital Library (approximately 1964-present)
Provides citations and full-text of articles from Association for Computing Machinery journals, magazines, and transactions. Includes book reviews.
IEEE Digital Library (1988-present for most titles)
The IEEE Computer Society Digital Library provides online access to 25 society magazines and transactions, and more than 1,700 selected conference proceedings. Includes book reviews.
Education
Child Development Abstracts and Bibliography (1927-2001)
Book reviews are arranged alphabetically by author since 1954 in section entitled "Book Notices".
Education Index (1929 -present)
Includes a separate section for book reviews at the end of each volume.
In and Out of Books: Reviews and Other Polemics on Special Education (1984)
Online
Education Research Complete is the definitive online resource for education research. It provides indexing and abstracts for more than 1,500 journals, as well as full text for more than 750 journals, and includes full text for more than 100 books and monographs, and for numerous education-related conference papers. Coverage varies for each title. Includes book reviews.
ERIC (1966-present)
ERIC contains reviews of books relating to education as well as reviews of children's books.
Exercise Science
Physical Education Index (1978-present)
Online
SPORTDiscus with Full Text (1975-present)
This database provides international coverage of sports and fitness literature, including physical education, sports medicine, exercise psychology, biomechanics, training, coaching, fitness, leisure, play, games, dance, and more. Contains book reviews.
Geography
Online
GEOBASE (1980-present)
This database indexes worldwide literature on geography, geology, ecology and related disciplines. Includes book reviews.
GeoRef (1785-present)
GeoRef, produced by the American Geological Institute, is a comprehensive geosciences database that indexes books, maps, government reports, conference papers, theses and dissertations. Includes book reviews.
Health Sciences
Online
CINAHL Plus with Full Text is the definitive research tool for all areas of nursing and allied health literature with more than 600,000 full-text articles dating back to 1937.
Health and Wellness Resource Center (1980-present)
This database contains health information for nursing and allied health students, as well as consumer health research. Provides book reviews.
Medline (1966-present)
MEDLINE, created by the National Library of Medicine, provides authoritative medical information on medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, the health care system, pre-clinical sciences, and much more.
History
Online
America: History and Life (1964-present)
Provides reviews for books and media on United States and Canadian History in academic journals. Use Advanced Search and type review in the Document Type search box.
Historical Abstracts (1954-present)
Provides citations to articles, books, and dissertations on world history since 1450. Includes book reviews.
Law
Online
Writ is a free legal magazine that is available on the FindLaw site. The contributors are mostly legal academics who argue, explain and debate legal issues of topical interest. Writ contains reviews of recent law books.
Contains reviews of books dealing with law and politics.
Library Science
ARBA Guide to Library Science Literature, 1970-1983
Library and Information Science Abstracts - LISA (1969-present)
LISA provides bibliographic information about past and present developments in librarianship, information science, online retrieval, publishing and information technology. it is international in scope and includes book reviews.
Library Literature (1921-1997)
The print index has a separate section for book reviews at the back of each volume.
Online
Library and Information Science Abstracts (1969-pressent)
Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts (1960s to the present)
Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts (LISTA) indexes more than 600 periodicals, plus books, research reports and proceedings. Subject coverage includes librarianship, classification, cataloging, bibliometrics, online information retrieval, information management and more.
Library Literature (1980-present)
Includes records for selected library journals, books (more than 600 a year), conference proceedings, library school theses, pamphlets, and book reviews
Literature
A Guide to Critical Reviews of United States Fiction, 1870-1910
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (Also available through LION)
Asian American Literature : Reviews and Criticism of Works by American Writers of Asian Descent
Profiles 45 important Asian American authors of novels, short stories, essays, plays, and poetry, and provides excerpts from critical essays examining their works, as well as reviews.
The Best in Children's Books: The University of Chicago Guide to Children's Literature, 1979-1984
Book Reviews (African American Authors)
The Bookfinder : a Guide to Children's Literature About the Needs and Problems of Youth Aged 2-15
A Guide to Critical Reviews of United States Fiction, 1870-1910
Humanities Index (1974-present)
Literary Reviews and Essays, on American, English, and French literature
Online
LION (Literature Online)
Literature Online is the world's largest cross-searchable database of literature and criticism.
Literary Reference Center (LRC) is a completely full-text database that combines information from over 1,000 books and monographs, major literary encyclopedias and reference works, hundreds of literary journals, and unique sources not available anywhere else. Book reviews are included.
Literature Resource Center from Gale provides biographical information, overviews, full-text literary criticism and reviews on nearly 130,000 writers in all disciplines, from all time periods and from around the world. To find book reviews, select Advanced Search.
Math
Online
MathSciNet (1940-pressent)
MathSciNet offers reviews, abstracts and bibliographic information for literature relating to Math. Contains information from Mathematical Reviews and Current Mathematical Publications.
Music
Online
IMP International Index to Music Periodicals
This is a music journal resource with more than half a million indexed articles, plus detailed abstracts and full text from 1874 to the present, covering the scholarly to the popular. Contains book reviews.
Published by Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale, RLIM covers articles, books, bibliographies, catalogues, conference proceedings, discographies, dissertations, ethnographic recordings, Festschriften, films, and iconographies from 1967 to the present. To find book reviews search keywords in the title of the book and limit Document Type to Reviews
Philosophy
The Philosopher's Index (1988-present)
The Philosopher's Index provides indexing and abstracts from books and journals of philosophy and related fields. It covers the areas of ethics, aesthetics, social philosophy, political philosophy, epistemology, and metaphysic logic as well as material on the philosophy of law, religion, science, history, education, and language. Book reviews appear in a separate section at the back of each volume.
Online
The Philosopher's Index (1940-present)
Psychology
Mental Measurements Yearbook (1940-present)
Mental Measurements Yearbook, produced by the Buros Institute at the University of Nebraska, provides users with a comprehensive guide to over 2,000 contemporary testing instruments. It also contains reviews of books on psychological tests.
Online
Provides users with critical reviews of tests.
PsycInfo (1800s-present)
PsycInfo Indexes 1,300 scholarly journals along with books, dissertations and book chapters in psychology, educational psychology, and behavioral sciences. Includes book reviews.
Religion
Online
ATLA (1949-present)
ATLA is produced by the American Theological Library Association and is the premier database for religion and theology. It indexes, articles, book reviews, essays and works back to 1949. ATLA also indexes multi-author works and conference proceedings.
Sciences
Applied Science and Technology Index (1958-1984)
This is a print index that covers 350 English language journals in the fields of engineering, computers, chemistry, applied mathematics, energy, and other applied sciences. Starting with the 1976 volume the last section of each issue has book reviews.
Biological and Agricultural Index (1964-1996)
Biological & Agricultural Index provides indexes periodicals in biology and agriculture. Covers feature articles, biographical sketches, reports of symposia and conferences, review articles, abstracts and summaries of papers, selected letters to the editor, special issues or monographic supplements, and book reviews.
Online
ASTA Applied Science and Technology Abstracts (1983-present
)Provides information on management, careers and employment, and financial trends in the scientific and technological fields. Cites book reviews.
Provides access to full-text bioscience research journals focused on the biological, ecological and environmental sciences. Includes book reviews.
Provides full text/full image access to approximately 1,500 journals published by Elsevier Science. Indexes and abstracts articles from over 1,000 journals in the life, physical, medical, technical, and social sciences. Search by author and/or title and Book Review in Full Text.
Social Sciences
Required Reading: Sociology's Most Influential Books
Social Sciences Index (1974-preent)
Social Sciences Index is published annually and contains citations to periodical articles in anthropology, area studies, criminal justice and criminology, economics, family studies, gerontology, international relations, law, public administration, policy sciences, political science, social work, sociology, public welfare, urban studies and related subjects. Citations to book reviews appear in a separate section at the back of each volume.
Sociological Abstracts (1955-present)
Indexes books and dissertations in the field of sociology and related disciplines. To access citations to book reviews, type book review in the keyword or phrase section and then add the author or book title to your search. Or you can click on the Limit Your Search button on the main screen and select the " book review" option from the Publication Type on the pull-down menu.
Online
SSCI is an indexing and abstracting service for close to 2000 scholarly journals in all areas of the social sciences. It provides citation information that indicates where and how often an author or article has been cited in the literature. Includes book reviews.
SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. The database contains full text for 397 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1895, and 150 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for more than 720 books and monographs, and full text for 6,743 conference papers.
CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,800+ serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers.
Theater
Online
International Bibliography of Theater and Dance with Full Text (1982-present)
International Bibliography of Theatre & Dance with Full Text is the definitive research tool for the study of theatre and the performing arts. It contains full text for more than 100 periodicals and more than 100 books & monographs and includes book reviews.
Women's Studies
Choice Reviews in Women's Studies
Women Studies Abstracts (1974-present)
Online
GenderWatch (1970-present)
GenderWatch is a women's and gender issues database with full-text coverage of most journals. Provides reviews of books relating to women.
Winnie Shyam
Reference Librarian
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