Book Reviews Research Guide
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Book reviews are descriptive evaluations that usually appear in magazines, journals, or newspapers
soon after or up to a few years after a book's publication. A book review is an evaluation of
a book, but it should not be confused with literary criticism. A book review discusses the contents
of a book; literary criticism examines aspects of a literary work such as themes, symbolism,
or characterization. Book reviews may be found in a number of places depending upon the subject
matter of the book. Reviews of books for the general reader, or popular books may be found in
sources which index general interest periodicals, while reviews of books written on specific
subjects may be found in sources which indicate more scholarly, or research, publications.
- It is useful when looking for book reviews to know:
- The author's full name.
- The book's complete title.
- The publication year of the book. Determine the publication date (or copyright date)
of the book's first edition and any subsequent editions. The date usually is on the
back of the title page or may be found by searching the
UCF Library Catalog or the
WorldCat database.
- If searching a print index, select the volume that corresponds to the publication date
of the book. Also check two to three years subsequent to the publication date as reviews
may be published several years after the book after the book is published.
- If searching a database, search on the book title. Many databases now offer "publication
type" limiters, so that you can limit the search to book reviews. In other cases, it may
be helpful to use the word "review" or the phrase "book review" in the search. Be sure that
the database includes the year the book was published; for example, the online version of
Book Review Index only covers the years from 1984 to current. Some databases listed
below are full text. Others require you to locate the periodical in the UCF Libraries.
Search the UCF Library Catalog for the
journal/magazine title to obtain the location of the journal.
- It is important that you choose appropriately the index(es) or database(s) for finding
the reviews. For instance, it probably would not be very useful to seek a review of a book
about American history in an index or database devoted to medical journals.
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General Sources
Please note: The following general sources also cover many subject-specific fields.
An interdisciplinary database offering both citations and full text of articles in a
variety of publications in nearly every area of academic study including: social sciences,
humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language
and linguistics, arts, medical sciences, ethnic studies, etc. To search for book reviews,
select the phrase "Book review" as a Document Type.
Alternative Press Index
Index AI 3 .A27 (1969+)
Provides an index to liberal, radical, alternative lifestyle, and "underground" periodicals,
most of which are not indexed elsewhere. To find book review citations in the online
version: In the Article Type Phrase box, limit to "Book Reviews." In the print version,
book review citations were originally listed under that heading in the main body of
the index, but now are listed in a separate section.
A growing full-text collection of American magazines and journals published between
1741-1940. APS Online features over 1,100 periodicals, including scholarly, scientific,
and popular magazines and journals. Derived from the American Periodicals Series
microform collection, the database is a work in progress and does not yet include all
the APS content; nonetheless, the database is useful for finding citations to the various
journals covered, which the UCF Libraries own on microfilm. To search for book reviews
in the database, use the word "Books" with quotation marks.
Book Review Digest
Index Z 1219 .C95 (1905+)
Useful for identifying reviews of popular fiction and nonfiction rather than scholarly
works. Provides citations to and excerpts of reviews of current juvenile and adult fiction
and nonfiction in the English language. To qualify for inclusion, the book must meet
several criteria: published or distributed in the U.S. or Canada; a nonfiction book
must receive reviews in two or more periodicals on the Digest selection list; a work
of fiction must receive reviews from at least three of the periodicals on the list;
reviews must appear within 18 months after the book was published. Generally no more
than three or four reviews are excerpted, though a more complete list of review citations
is included. The print edition has a subject-title index, which is cumulated annually
and in five year cumulations.
Book
Review Index
Index Z 1035 .A1 B6 (1965+)
Provides access to reviews of books, periodicals, and books-on-tape appearing in more
than 600 publications. Arranged alphabetically by author, with a supplementary title
index. Helpful in locating reviews of scholarly books.
The online version of Books in Print contains full-text reviews from several
publications, including Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School
Library Journal, CHOICE, Kirkus, Reference & Research Book
News, Sci-Tech Book News, University Press Book News, Horn
Book, Boston Book Review, and Quill and Quire.
An interdisciplinary database of journals, national news magazines, and the New
York Times (indexing for the Times is the last six months only). Provides
numerous book reviews; in a Keyword search, add the phrase "Book review."
Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities
Index CB 3 .I53 (1960-90)
Formerly a quarterly and later continued as an annual publication, this work indexed
about 600 primarily English-language general and scholarly periodicals in the broad
field of the "humanities," except for archaeology, religion, and theology. An asterisk
before a citation indicates that earlier volumes also reviewed the title. Provides helpful
access to publications not generally indexed elsewhere, including some non-English titles.
The term "humanities" was originally defined to include history and some social science
but beginning with the 1970 volume, the term was restricted to art, biography, personal
narratives and memoirs, drama and dance, folklore, language, literature, music, philosophy,
travel and adventure.
A full-text database providing access to a broad geographic range of newspapers and
journals, mostly published since the 1980s.
To find book reviews: select "Guided News Search," then "General News" (major English-language
periodicals) or "U.S. News" (American English-language periodicals) or "World News"
(international news sources) or "Foreign Language News" (sources in non-English languages);
type "book review" in the Headline, Lead Paragraph(s), Terms box. Especially useful
for finding the full text of reviews from the New York Times Book Review.
Provides access to the contents of over 300 popular English-language magazines and journals.
To find book reviews, select "Book Review" in the Document Type box. Preceded by the
print version,
Readers' Guide
to Periodical Literature (1900+).
Index AI 3 .R48 (1900+)
Currently indexes over 300 popular English-language periodicals. Citations to book reviews
are listed in a separate section at the back of each volume. The online version is
Readers' Guide Full Text (1983+).
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Subject-Specific Sources
Arts and Humanities
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL)
Microfiche PE 71 .M6 (1920-58)
Reference PE 71 .M6 (1964+)
Cites reviews for some books listed, unlike the MLA International Bibliography,
which does not include reviews.
In the Document Type box, limit to "Book Reviews."
In the Document Type box, limit to "Book Reviews."
The advanced search mode allows limiting to book reviews.
Click on the Browse Indexes button, then in the "IN:" drop-down box, select "Publication
Type Index," click on the Display button, then choose "Review"; then click on the Search
button.
In the Document Type box, limit to "Book Reviews." Preceded by the print version,
Humanities Index (1974+)
Index AI 3 .R493 (1974+)
Separate book review section, with entry under the author of the book reviewed. The
online version is
Humanities Full Text
(1983+).
The advanced search, under "Type," allows limiting to reviews.
Music Index
Index ML 118 .M84 (1949+)
Citations to book reviews are listed under that heading in the body of the index.
The Expert search mode allows limiting to "Printed Material Review" under Document Type.
Select "Index," then "Document Type," and then "Book Review"; you must then combine
that descriptor with an Anyword, Author, or Subject search.
Limit Document Type to "Review of book."
Business and Law
The guided search mode allows limiting by "Article Type" to book reviews.
Business Periodicals Index
Index HF 5001 .B86 (1958/59+)
Separate book review section, with entry under the author of the book reviewed.
Limit Document Type to "Book Review."
Allows limiting to "Book Review" under Publication Type.
Index K 9 .N75 (1926+)
Use the phrase "book reviews."
Education
In the Document Type box, limit to "Book Reviews." Preceded by the print version,
Education Index (1929/32+).
Index L 11 .E39 (1929/32+)Separate book review section, with entry under the author
of the book reviewed. The online version is
Education
Full Text (1983+).
In the Publication Type box on the Advanced Search screen, select "Information Analyses-Book/Product
Reviews."
In the Document Type box on the Advanced Search screen, select "Book Review."
Science and Engineering
Index T 1 .I54 (1958+)
Separate book review section, with entry under the author of the book reviewed. The
online version is
Applied Science Full Text
(1983+)
Biological and Agricultural Index
Index QH 301 .B378 (1964/65+)
In the online version: To find book reviews, select "Book Reviews" in the Document Type
box; in the print version, book reviews are cited in a separate section, with entry
under the author of the book reviewed.
In the Document Type Phrase box, limit to "Book Reviews." Preceded by the print version,
General Science Index (1978/79-1998/99,
1001/02+).
Index Q 1 .G46 (1978/79-1998/99, 2001/02+)
Separate book review section, with entry under the author of the book reviewed. The
online version is
General Science Full Text
(1983+)
The advanced search mode allows limiting to book reviews.
Social Sciences
Allows limiting to book reviews under Publication Type.
In the Article Type box, select "Book Review."
Criminal Justice Periodicals Index
Index HV 6001 .C754 (1975+)
In the online version: The guided search mode allows limiting by "Article Type" to book
reviews. In the print version: book reviews are listed under that heading in the Subject
Index.
Use the phrase "review article" as a keyword search to limit to book reviews.
Reviews in American History
General Collection E 178 .R49 (1973+)
Each issue presents in-depth reviews of over thirty of the newest books in American
history.
In the Document Type box, limit to "Book Reviews." Preceded by the print version,
Social Sciences Index (1974+).
Index AI 3 .R492 (1974+)
Separate book review section, with entry under the author of the book reviewed. The
online version is
Social Sciences Full Text
(1983+).
Sociological Abstracts (1963+)
Index HM 1 .S67(1953+)
In the online version: Click on the Browse Indexes button, then in the "IN:" drop-down
box, select "Publication Type Index," click on the Display button, then choose "Book
Review"; then click on the Search button. In the print version: citations to book reviews
are listed in a separate section "International Review of Publications in Sociology."
Women Studies Abstracts
Index HQ 1180 .W65 (1972+)
Book review citations are listed in a separate chapter in each issue.
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Internet Sources
A metasite that provides direct links to book reviews in a variety of newspapers and
journals.
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call the Reference Department at (407) 823-2562, or e-mail the Department at
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Last Updated:July 28, 2008
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