Research Guide for Book Reviews

Contact: Jack Levine , Acquisitions Librarian

Getting Started

To locate a book review you need to know the author, title, and date of publication of the book. This information can be obtained in several ways: directly from the book, from the Reed or Summit catalog, or from WorldCat. If you cannot find your title consult a reference librarian for assistance.

When you have the necessary information about the book consult the sources listed below to find a review of it. A useful strategy is to start with the general indexes and then proceed to the subject indexes. If you use a print index start by checking the year in which the book was published and continue to check for several years after the original publication date.


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General Sources

The indexes below are devoted exclusively to the listing of book reviews. The publications covered by each of the indexes vary; consult the introduction to determine if the index is appropriate to your work. If you need additional reviews consult the subject indexes.

Book Review Digest (1906 - 1982)
Ref Z1219 .B72

Author/Title Index (1905 - 1974)
Ref Z1219 .C96

Author/Title Index (1975 - 1984)
Ref Z1219 .C97

Book Review Index: A Master Cumulation (1965 - 1984)
Ref Z1035 .A1 B62

Choice Reviews Online
Reviews of academic books, electronic media, and Internet resources of interest to those in higher education.

An Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities (1960 - 64, 1966 - 1990)
Ref Z1035 .A1 I63

The New York Review of Books (and Archive)

New York Times Book Reviews (1981 - present)
Web resource; free registration required.

Times Literary Supplement Centenary Archive (1902 - 1990).

 

The following sources are devoted primarily to the listing of articles on a topic, but in addition they list book reviews.

Academic Search Premier
A multi-disciplinary fulltext database containing fulltext for more than 4,600 scholarly publications. In addition to the fulltext, the database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 8,000 journals.

JSTOR
Access and searching capability for the fulltext of the complete runs of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences and sciences.

Lexis-Nexis Academic
Coverage of 5,600 news, business, legal, medical, and reference publications.

Nation Digital Archive (1865 - present)

New York Times Index (1914 - 1999)
Ref AI21 .N57
Also available online as The New York Times Historical (1851 - 3 years before present) and Lexis-Nexis Academic (1980s - current).

Periodicals Index Online (1665 - varies by title)
An index to millions of articles in more than 4,600 scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences. International in scope, PCI covers journals going back over 300 years.

Proquest Historical Newspapers

Readers' Guide Index (1983 - present) and Readers' Guide Retrospective (1890 - 1982)
Book reviews indexed beginning 1976/77. Available in print as Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (Ref AI3 .R1) from 1900 - 1961/63.


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Subject Sources

The following indexes are devoted primarily to the listing of articles on a subject, but in addition they list book reviews. Some have special book review sections; others include book reviews within the main listing of periodical articles. Consult a librarian for help in locating book reviews in these indexes.

ATLA Religion Database (1949 - present)

America: History and Life (1964 - present)

Art Abstracts (1984-present) and Art Index Retrospective (1929 - 1984)

EconLit (1969 - present)

Gender Studies Database
(1972 or earlier - present)

Historical Abstracts (1954 - present)

Humanities Abstracts (1984 - present) and Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective (1907 - 1984)
An author and subject index to more than 300 English language periodicals.

Philosopher's Index (1940 - present)

Social Sciences Index (1983 - present) and Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective (1907 - 1984)
Book reviews indexed beginning 1974/75. 

Sociological Abstracts (1952 - present).

Web of Science
Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 - present)
Science Citation Index (1900 - present)
Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 - present)


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