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Book Review Resources
Book Review Indexes
This guide will enable you to locate reviews books, which are generally reviewed in newspapers, journals and magazines. Most of the sources listed are indexes, which will provide citations to the reviews. Please keep in mind that Randall Library does not own every journal listed in these sources, to find out if the library does own a specific title perform a Journal Title search in the Library Catalog [http://library.uncw.edu].
Book Review Indexes
Many journals publish book reviews. Some journals are devoted only to reviewing books,
like Booklist,
Choice
and The New York Times Book
Review. However, longer and more critical reviews are often
included in subject specific journals. For example, each volume of The
Journal of American Studies contains reviews of books written about American
studies. To locate these book reviews, use the indexes below. For
help, ask at the reference desk.The Reference and Index Collection are located on the first floor, on your right as you
enter the building.
- Book Review Digest Index Collection Z1219 .C95 1906-
- Monthly review that "provides citations to and excerpts of reviews of current
juvenile and adult fiction and nonfiction in the English language."
Entries are listed in alphabetical order by primary author name. Subject and Title indexes
located at the end of each volume.
- Book Review Index Index Collection Z 1219 B6 1965-
- "Provides access to reviews of thousands of books, periodicals and books-on-tape.
Represents a wide range of popular, academic, and professional interests."
Entries arranged alphabetically by the primary author name or by book title if there is no
primary author.
- Children's Book Review Index Index Collection Z1037.A1 .C575 1985-
- "Provides access to reviews of thousands of children's books, periodicals and
books-on-tape." Entries arranged alphabetically by the primary author name or by book title if there is no
primary author.
- Magill's Literary Annual Reference Z1219 .M33 1969- CD-ROM for 1999 available at Reference Desk
- Essay-reviews of 200 outstanding books published in the United States each year.
- The New York Times Index Index Collection AI21 .N45 1851-
- Book reviews are listed alphabetically in the "Books and Literature" section of Index. The New York Times is also indexed and full text online (1982-) in Lexis-Nexis Academic.
- Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Index Collection AI3 .R48 1890-
- Book reviews listed in separate section in the back of the Index. Entries listed
alphabetically by author's last name.
- Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature Retrospective 1890-1982
Searching Library Databases for Reviews
When searching for book reviews in any of the Randall Library databases, perform a SUBJECT search using the term "book reviews" for a general listing of all reviews. When looking for a specific title, refer to the Search tips listed below for each individual database. View a complete database list from the Library Webpage by clicking "Databases & Articles."
- EBSCOhost
- Search tips: Select appropriate databases such as Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE Premier and Newspaper Source. All of these databases include many book reviews, and most will be in full text. To limit your search to book reviews, use the Advanced Search options to select the Document Type "book reviews" When searching a book title, entering it with quotation marks will ensure the database is searching the phrase and not just the words anywhere.
In addition to Academic Search Premier, MasterFILE Premier and Newspaper Source, EbscoHost provides several other databases that will also include review in specific subjects:
America: History and Life & Historical Abstracts
Search tips: Find book reviews using the following
search formats:
- If you have the title of the book: us the Title search box and type in the title of the book.
- Partial title words: Keyword search and in the Document Type search field enter Book Review
- Book reviews for a specific author: in the Author search field enter the author name (first name last name format) and in the Document Type search field enter Book Review.
ERIC - Educational Resources Information Center- Search tips: Choose the Advanced Search option and search by the title of the book using a Title search. For reviews on a topic or genre, Keyword search using this format: book reviews AND science fiction.
- MLA International Bibliography
- Search tips: Add "review-article" in the search box combined with a topic, author or genre. The format would appear like this: review-article and science fiction.
- Other databases that are rich with reviews:
- ChoiceReviews.Online Choice reviews significant current books and electronic resources of interest to those in higher education. Each year Choice publishes more than 6,500 reviews by subject experts. The online version dates back to 1988. The library also has Choice in the bound periodicals back to 1964.
- LexisNexis Academic
- Search tips: Full text of book reviews published in
newspapers, magazines and journals are available. Choose the
"News" option, then the "Book, Movie, Music, Play and Video Reviews " option under "Select sources ". In the Keyword: box type in the title of the book and in the next box type in book review.
LexisNexis includes full text (since June 1980) of the New York Times Book Review, to search just this title choose the "Sources" tab and type "New York Times" in the search box.
-
New York Times Archive Provides the full text of the New York Times from 1855 excluding the latest 3 years. The Book Review section has page numbers that start with BR.
- UNCW Students and Faculty
may access Databases from Home. If you are NOT on campus, you
MUST have a library PIN number.
AcqWeb Directory of Book Reviews on the WebLinks to all book reviews on all genre and in all formats.
Amazon and Barnes & Noble provide customer reviews and excerpts from published reviews.
Booklist The
online counterpart of the American Library Association's magazine devoted to
book reviews. The full-text of a current selection of reviews and a
cumulative index to the printed Booklist is available.
New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books' online counterpart which includes the free full-text of
book reviews published in themagazine since 1996. A fully searchable index is also available.
Social Networking for Books
Library Thing Allows you to catalog your favorite books and share comments.
Facebook Visual Bookshelf allows you to share comments with friends noting books you want to read, are reading or have read.
Last Update: September 29, 2008
This page maintained by:codys(at)uncw.edu