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Finding Book Reviews

Introduction

To find a book review in an online source, you need to know:

1. The title of the book, and
2. The year the book was published.

To find a book review in a print source, you need to know the author's name also. If you lack this information:

1. Enter the part you know (title or author) in the online catalog.
2. If Jackson Library does not own the book, enter the title or author in the database WorldCat.

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General Popular and Scholarly Sources

Databases- search the title of the book, leaving out any initial articles ("A", "An", or "The") "and review". If the book title is also a common word or phrase, you can also add the author's last name as a keyword.

• Book Review Index: 1965 to date
• Academic Search Premier: Mid 1980s to date
• Academic OneFile (InfoTrac): 1980 to date
• JSTOR: focuses on scholarly works published earlier than the past 5 years.
• LexisNexis Academic: Mid 1980s to date
• Periodicals Index and Periodicals Archive Online: focuses on scholarly works prior to 1992
• ProQuest Research Library: 1971 to date
• Readers' Guide Retrospective: 1890-1982

Print Sources- Many of the print book review indexes are located on the "Book Review Index" shelves, which are located behind the college catalogs in the Reference Room. For assistance in finding these sources, ask us!

• Book Review Digest: 1905 to 2000. Provides some excerpts from reviews. To be included in BRD, a fiction title must have at least four reviews and nonfiction titles must have at least two reviews. Covers fewer, particularly scholarly, titles than BRI above.
  Location: Book Review Index Shelves, Reference Room

Newspapers- Newspapers often contain reviews of popular books. Print newspaper indexes are available in the Reference Room next to the Book Review Index shelves.

• New York Times: 1851 to date
• The Times (London): 1785-1985
• Washington Post: 1877 to 1988
• Christian Science Monitor Index: 1974-1996. Since 1987 book reviews have been listed under "Books-Authors" and "Books-Titles"; 1979-1978 and 1983-1986, under "Book Reviews-[general]"; prior to 1979 were listed only by subject and seemingly sporadically.
  Location: Newspaper Index Shelves, Reference Room
• Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution Index: 1983-1999. Since 1987 book reviews have been listed under "Books-Authors" and "Books-Titles"; prior to that, under "Book Reviews."
  Location: Newspaper Index Shelves, Reference Room
• Times Literary Supplement Index: 1902-1985. Lists reviews under title, author, and subject.
  Location: Newspaper Index Shelves, Reference Room

To search for book reviews in other newspapers, try Jackson Library's Newspapers Guide.

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Art and related areas (architecture, theater and costume design, film, etc.)

• Art Index: 1929 to date

• Education Index (combines Education Full Text and Education Index Retrospective): 1929 to date

• ABELL: 1920 to date

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History

• America: History and Life: 1964 to date
• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974: Provides author and title access to book reviews in history, political science and sociology journals.
  Location: Book Review Index Shelves, Reference Room
• Historical Abstracts: 1955 to date
  Provides book reviews from journals published outside North America.
• ITER: 1784 to date
  Indexes reviews on books relating to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700).

• Academic OneFile (InfoTrac): 1980 to date
• LexisNexis Academic: Early 1980's to date
  Choose "Legal Research" on the left, then select "Legal News".
• Index to Legal Periodicals: 1952-1982, separate listing in the back.
  Location: Stacks KF8 .I5 1

Library Science

• Library Literature & Information Science Full Text: 1980 to date
• Library Literature: 1978 to date, separate listing in the back; previously under the author, title, subject, and reviewer in the main section (also online 1981 to date.)
  Location: Stacks: Z666 .L69 3
• LISA: Library and Information Science Abstracts: 1969 to date

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Music

• RILM: 1969 to date
• Music Index: 1979 to date
• International Index to Music Periodicals Full Text: 1874 to date

Performing Arts and Theatre

• Arts and Humanities Search: 1980 to date
• International Bibliography of Theatre and Dance: 1984 to date
• American Literary and Drama Reviews: An Index to Late Nineteenth Century Periodicals. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984.
  Location: Reference Room PN2256 .M37 1984

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Philosophy

• Philosopher's Index: 1940 to date

Religion

• ATLA Religion Index: 1949 to date

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Sciences

• Web of Science: 1955 to date

Social Sciences

• Humanities & Social Sciences Retrospective: 1907-1984
• Web of Science: 1956 to date
• Sociological Abstracts: 1963 to date
• Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974: Provides author and title access to book reviews in history, political science and sociology journals.
  Location: Book Review Index Shelves, Reference Room

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Guides and Specialized Indexes

• A Guide to Book Review Citations: A Bibliography of Sources. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press, 1969.
  Location: Book Stacks Z1035 .A1G7
• Index to Book Reviews in England, 1749-1774. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1990. AND 1775-1800. London: British Library, 1997.
  Location: ref Z1035 .A1F67 1990

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Page Author: Nancy Fogarty
Maintained by: Amy Harris