Library Guides: A Guide to Reference Sources: Book Reviews

How to Find Book Reviews

Listed below are two important factors to take into account when searching for book reviews:

1. Use Keywords

The best way to search for book reviews is by using keywords. The best keywords are the book title, the author and the word review or book review. For example: review and "Grapes of Wrath" and "John Steinbeck".

2. Know the Publication Date

Most book reviews are written close to the original publication date of the book. For example, the first edition of David Egger's Zeitoun was published in July 2009. Therefore, the majority of book reviews were written between July 2009 and December 2009.

Current Book Review Resources

Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window
Our broadest, most general full-text database that includes both popular and scholarly periodicals. It covers virtually all academic areas of study, including social sciences, sciences, and humanities.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window
Features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790—with an intuitive interface that offers quick discovery across all content types, personalization features such as Alerts and saved searches and a collaborative workspace with shared folders and annotated documents. NOTE: Before searching, please change the default previous 2 years to all available dates.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive (TLS) This link opens in a new window
Coverage: 1902 to 2011. A literary weekly offering deep coverage not just of the latest and most important publications, in every subject, in several languages – but also current theatre, opera, exhibitions and film.

Historical, Scholarly and Other Book Review Resources

Literature Online Full Text - LION This link opens in a new window
Leading online resource for literature in English. Includes texts of over 355,000 literary works, as well as key criticism and reference resources. Includes a growing library of full-text journals and author biographies. Includes access to ABELL (Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature).
America: History & Life This link opens in a new window
Scholarship on the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present day.
Historical Abstracts This link opens in a new window
Scholarship on the history of the world (excluding the US and Canada) from 1450 to the present. Includes world history, military history, women's history, history of education, and more.
JSTOR Advanced Search This link opens in a new window
A trusted archive of scholarly journals, primary sources, and books. Content spans many disciplines, primarily in the humanities and social sciences. The most recent 3-5 years of journals are generally not available; this is known as a "moving wall."
Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection This link opens in a new window
The Psychology + Behavioral Sciences Collection is a comprehensive database with nearly 470 full text titles. This database covers information concerning topics in emotional and behavioral characteristics, psychiatry + psychology, mental processes, anthropology, and observational and experimental methods.
Web of Science Core This link opens in a new window
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Interdisciplinary database includes: Arts and Humanities Citation Index, Science Citation Index Expanded, and Social Sciences Citation Index, Journal Citation Reports. Includes citation searching (see how many times a paper has been cited). Coverage: 1976 - present. NOTE: Use your Web of Science/Endnote username and password or create a new username and password to access InCites, Journal Citation Reports, and/or EndNotes from Web of Science.

Reference Reviews Europe Online
Provides over 2000 European reference book reviews online and full-text searchable.