Find Book Reviews
Reading book reviews and criticism will help you analyze the book from a critical perspective and generate your own viewpoint. Books are usually reviewed within a year or two of publication, so keep the date of publication in mind when you choose which resource to use to find a review.
Databases
Use the following databases to find book reviews. Some contain the full text of the book review, and others will give you a citation which you can use to find the review in print in the library.
- Academic Search Complete, 1990-present.
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Use this database to find book reviews from across disciplines from both scholarly and popular sources.
Enter the title of the book and limit the Document Type to “Book Review.”
- Academic OneFile.
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Use this database to find book reviews from across disciplines from both scholarly and popular sources.
Search for the title or author and add the word “review”.
[eg. Fast Food Nation and review]
- Lexis-Nexis Academic, dates of coverage vary.
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Find reviews from newspapers and some magazines, including the New York Times and Publisher's Weekly.
- Choose News from the tabs at the top of the screen.
- Enter the title of the book and author, if known, connected by “AND.”
- Sources: Choose “Book, Movie, Music, Play, and Video Reviews.”
- Specify Date: Choose the date range that includes the date the book was published. Notice that the default date range is only the previous 3 months.
- ABELL, 1920-present.
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Find scholarly reviews of English and American literature. Includes full-text. Search by title keyword and limit to “Reviews.”
- Periodical Archives Online, 1770-1995.
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Find reviews of scholarly books from across disciplines. This database is especially useful for older books published as far back as 1770. Includes full-text. Do an Article Search and under Search Options, select only Book Reviews.
- Proquest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times, 1851-2003
- Find book reviews from the New York Times. Type a book or author name in the first box. In the second box, type “Review” and change the search to “Document Type.” For more targeted searching, enter the date range when the book was published.
Websites
- H-Net Reviews, 1993-present
- Find book reviews from scholarly journals for books in the humanities and social sciences.
FAQs
- How do I check when a book was published?
- Books are usually reviewed when they are first published so it is important to find the original publication date. Look on the inside cover of the book to find the year. Use the earliest date if more than one is listed. If you do not have a copy of the book with you, ask a librarian for help.
- How do I find a book review published before 1980?
- Three databases that cover older books are Periodical Archives Online and ABELL and ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The New York Times.
