How-Do-I   Find Book Reviews
  
A book review is a descriptive, evaluative discussion of a book that appears in a journal, magazine, or newspaper, usually a short time after the book's publication date.  Note that a review differs from a critical study that may appear in any printed form, at any time, and is generally not focused on a specific book but rather on some aspect of a writer's style, themes, or critical reputation.

Go straight to the tools described below, or begin with: A STEP-BY-STEP OVERVIEW
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  Find Stuff   Major Book Review Indexes
These indexes are specifically designed to tell you where to find book reviews in various publications.  They are online (with hot link) or in print on library shelves (with call number).  See also Specialized Book Review Finding Tools or Retrospective Book Review Finding Tools, below.
 
   Find Stuff   General Indexes to Periodicals (that include Book Reviews)
 These indexes are designed to tell you where to find journal, magazine, or newspaper articles in a wide variety of publications.  The publications also contain book reviews that are indexed along with all other articles.  The indexes are online (with hot link) or in print on library shelves (with call number).
  
   Find Stuff   Subject-Specific Indexes (for Humanities, Sciences, etc.)
Collected under their subject umbrella are selected indexes especially well suited to locate book reviews.  Listed are both book review indexes and subject-specific indexes to find periodical articles, including book reviews.  As a rule, any index designed for researching periodical articles in a particular subject discipline may be a source for references to book reviews.  Therefore, see also WSU Libraries Electronic Databases: By Subject for links to databases for your subject discipline.
 
   Find Stuff   On the Web (Special Indexes or Full-Text Book Reviews)
These are free, reliable resources on the Web.  They are finding tools or well-regarded online publications that contain book reviews.
 
   Find Stuff   Specialized Indexes (for Children's Books, Reference Books, etc.)
 These indexes either provide reviews themselves or tell you where to find book reviews in various publications.  They are specialized, however, and are rarely the first place to look for reviews, unless you have a very special focus (e.g., children's books).
  
   Find Stuff   Retrospective Book Review Indexes
These finding tools were created years after the publications they index.  Therefore, they are useful for finding reviews for older books.
 
   Find Stuff   Retrospective General Indexes to Periodicals (that include Book Reviews)
These are indexes designed to tell you where to find journal, magazine, or newspaper articles in a wide variety of publications from the 1800s and early 1900s.  The publications also contain book reviews that are indexed along with all other articles.  The indexes are in print on library shelves (with call number).
 
   Find Stuff   Other Libraries' Guides
 These guides provide additional help for finding book reviews, particularly for very old books or books in languages other than English.
 
 

Major Book Review Indexes 

  • Book Review Digest (covers 1983 to date)
    Provides citations and abstracts for book reviews from 90 widely-circulated journals; some links to full text of review.
     

  • Book Review Digest (covers 1905 to 2002 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    Reference Index Table 12 and older years in Reference Stacks (Z1219 .C96)
    Lists and selectively excerpts reviews from same sources as online tool, immediately above.  Entries are arranged by last name of author of book.  Contains noteworthy subject index, including, under the heading "Fiction," a detailed listing by theme.
     

  • Book Review Index (covers 1965 to date)
    Reference Index Table 12 (Z1035 .A1 B6)
    Lists citations to reviews from over 400 scholarly journals, popular magazines, and newspapers.

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General Indexes to Periodicals (that include Book Reviews)

  • Alternative Press Index (covers 1969 to 2003 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    General Stacks (AI3 .A27)
    Indexes alternative and radical publications; lists book reviews by author/title.
     

  • Expanded Academic ASAP (coverage as early as 1980 to date)
    Provides citations and abstracts to over 900 wide-ranging scholarly journals, popular magazines, and newspapers; some links to full text of review.
     
    Enter the query: review! and "Name of Book" (in quotation marks)
     

  • JSTOR (coverage as early as 1800s, ending up to 3-5 years ago, with "rolling wall")
    Multi-discipline archive of scholarly journals.  All articles are available as full-text images.  Coverage goes back to first issues of the publications included in the archive.
     

  • LexisNexis Academic (coverage as early as 1970s to date)
    Provides access to thousands of full-text news, business, and legal sources.

    To search for book and other reviews, including those that appear in The New York Times, click on "Quick Info."  Choose the "Guided Search" interface.  Under "Select a news category" select "Arts & Sports News."  Then, under "Select a news source," select "Book, movie, music, & play reviews."  For "Search terms" enter the book's title, author, and/or subject.  (Note that you can search for book reviews in a specific newspaper or journal by entering its name [e.g., The New York Times] in the last search box called "Search this publication title[s].")
     

  • New York Times Index (covers 1914 to 2001 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    Reference Stacks (AI21 .N44)
    Look under the index entry "book reviews."
     

  • Project Muse (coverage as early as 1993 to date)
    Provides access to full-text journals in humanities and social sciences.
     

  • Readers' Guide Abstracts (covers 1983 to date)
    Indexes articles from popular general-interest magazines in the United States and Canada.
     
    Search for the book's author, title, and/or subject.  Under "Document Type" select "Book review."
     

  • Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (covers 1900 to 1994 in WSU holdings)
    Reference Stacks (AI3 .R48)
    Indexes articles from popular general-interest magazines, including same sources as online tool, immediately above.  Since 1976, separate "Book Reviews" section at end of volume.

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Subject-Specific Indexes (for Humanities, Sciences, etc.)                                              See WSU Libraries Electronic Databases: By Subject for full selection of sources.

      EDUCATION

  • ERIC [through SilverPlatter] (covers 1966 to date)
    To search for reviews of books related to education, first select "Change" in the limit box and under "Document Type," select "Book-Review" and click "OK."  Then do a search for the book's author, title, and/or subject.

      HUMANITIES

  • America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts (cover 1964 to date and 1954 to date, respectively)
    To search for reviews of books addressing historical topics do a keyword search for the author, title, and/or subject; select "Document Type" and enter "Book Review."
     

  • Art Index Retrospective and Art Abstracts (cover 1929 to 1984 and 1984 to date, respectively)
    To search for reviews of books about art, architecture, interior design, photography, select both "Art Abstracts" and "Art Retrospective," and do a keyword search for the author, title, and/or subject; select "Document Type" and enter "Book Review."
     

  • Humanities Index (covers 1974 to 1994 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    General Stacks (AI3 .R495x)
    Contains a book review section at the back of each volume.
     

  • An Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities (covers 1960 to 1990)
    Reference Stacks (Z1035 .A1I63)
    Entries are by author of book being reviewed.  This is said to be a good index for hard-to-find reviews.
     

  • MLA Bibliography (covers 1963 to date)
    To search for reviews of books about literature, classics, language, linguistics, folklore, and film, do a keyword search for the book title and/or the author.
     

  • Philosopher's Index (covers 1940 to date)
    To search for reviews of books of philosophy, first select "Change" in the limit box and under "Document Type," select "Book-Review," and click "OK."  Then do a search for the book's title, author, and/or subject.  Note that coverage for book reviews begins as of 1994.
     

  • The Philosopher's Index (covers 1967 to 1998 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    General Stacks (Z7127 .P5x)
    Contains a book review section at the back of each volume, starting in 1970.

      SCIENCES

  • Computer Database (coverage as early as 1980 to date)
     Use to find computer-related product introductions, news and reviews in areas such as hardware, software, electronics, engineering, communications and the application of technology; some links to full text of review.
     
    Enter the query: review! and "Name of Book" (in quotation marks)
     

  • General Science Index (1978 to 1994 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    General Stacks (Z7401 .G46)
    Contains a book review section at the back of each volume.
     

  • IEEE Xplore (covers 1998 to date)
    Provides the full text access to all IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) journals and magazines, which include book reviews.

    Enter the query: book review and Name of Book

      SOCIAL SCIENCES

  • Index to Legal Periodicals and Index to Legal Periodicals and Books (cover 1926 to 1994 and 1994 to 2003, respectively, in WSU Libraries holdings)
    Reference Index Table 11 and older years in General Stacks (KF8 .I5x)
    Since 1940, contains a book review section at the back of each volume; entries arranged by author.
     

  • LexisNexis Academic (coverage for law reviews as early as 1982 to date)
    To search for book reviews published in law reviews, click on "Legal Research, then "Law Reviews."  Choose the "Guided Search" interface.
     
    From the pull down menu choose "Title" as the field to search, and enter the query: "book review" and "Name of Book" (both phrases in quotation marks).  Be sure you are searching "All available dates" unless you are certain about the book's publication date.
     

  • Social Sciences Abstracts (covers 1984 to date)
    To find reviews of books related to the social sciences, do a keyword search for the author, title, and/or subject; under "Document Type" select "Book review."
     

  • Social Sciences Index (covers 1974 to 1994 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    General Stacks (AI3 .R496x)
    Contains a book review section at the back of each volume.
     

  • Sociological Abstracts (covers 1974 to date)
    To find reviews of books related to sociology, do an "Advanced Search."  Type "review" in the search field "Publication Type (PT=)," and then the author, title, and/or subject of the book in the search field "Keywords (KW=)."
     

  • Sociological Abstracts (covers 1952 to 1996 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    General Stacks (HM1 .S67)
    Six issues per year and annual index.

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On the Web (Special Indexes or Full-Text Book Reviews)

Specialized Indexes (for Children's Books, Reference Books, etc.)

  • ARBA Online (covers 1997 to date)
    Authoritative source of full text reviews of print and electronic reference resources
     

  • Children's Book Review Index: Master Cumulation, 1969-1981 (limited WSU holdings)
    General Stacks (Z1037 .A1C452)
     

  • Children's Literature Review (covers 1976 to 1982 in WSU Libraries holdings)
    Reference Stacks (Z1037 .A1C5)

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Retrospective Book Review Indexes

  • Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974
    Reference Stacks (Z1035 .A1C6)
    This is a 15-volume index to over one million book reviews that have appeared in 459 scholarly journals in history, political science, and sociology.  Volumes 1-12 provide author access, and volumes 13-15 provide title access.
     

  • Current Book Review Citations (covers 1976 to 1982)
    General Stacks (Z1035 .A1C86)
    This is an author and title index to book reviews appearing in over 100 periodicals.  Part 1 of each volume is arranged according to author; Part 2 is arranged according to title.
     

  • National Library Service Cumulative Book Review Index, 1905-1974
    Reference Stacks (Z1035 .A1N35 1975)
    This is a cumulative index to all titles reviewed in Library Journal (for the years 1907-1974), Saturday Review (for the years 1924-1974), and Choice (for the years 1964-1974), as well as all the titles listed in Book Review Digest (for the years 1905-1974).

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Retrospective General Indexes to Periodicals

  • Nineteenth Century Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature, l890-1899 (also includes "Supplementary Indexing" for 1900-1922)
    Reference Stacks (AI3 .R47)
    This is two-volume author, subject and illustrator index to 51 periodicals, predominantly of general or literary interest, published from 1890 to 1899.  Supplements     Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (above).
     

  • Poole's Index to Periodical Literature (covers 1802 to 1881; with supplements for 1882 to 1906; also with cumulative author index for 1802 to 1906)
    Reference Stacks (AI3 .P7 1963; also AI3 .P72x)
    Virtually the only periodical index for the time period covered.  Entries for book reviews are difficult to find because they are indexed under the subject.  Reviews of poetry, drama, fiction, or any work that does not have a "subject" are indexed under the author's name.

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Other Libraries' Guides

Developed by:
Richard J. Matthews
 
Dated: December 31, 2004



SOURCE MATERIAL AND ATTRIBUTIONS:
 
This guide incorporates both excerpts (without use of quotation marks) and slightly modified text drawn from the following web pages developed by other libraries:
“Book Reviews,” New York University Libraries, http://library.nyu.edu/research/rg35.html
“Finding Book Reviews,” University of California-Berkeley, http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/BookReviews.html
“Finding Book Reviews,” Widener Library of the Harvard College Library, http://hcl.harvard.edu/widener/services/research/bookreviews/
                                                                                                                   bookreview1a.html
“Finding Book Reviews, Research Tips,” Earlham Libraries, http://www.earlham.edu/~libr/courses/bookreviews.htm
“Find Book Reviews, How Do I …,“ Boston College Libraries, http://www.bc.edu/libraries/research/howdoi/s-findbookreviews
 
All sites visited: December 31, 2004
 

 
 


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