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A Guide to Reviews (Books, Film & Theatre)

Book Reviews

A book review is a critical analysis of a book published in a periodical, such as a journal or magazine within 2-3 years of the book's publication date.

You may choose to look at magazine and newspaper reviews which are short in length and not necessarily written by a knowledgeable reviewer.

Another source option is a book review publication which is written by a specialist and longer in length than reviews published in popular magazines and newspapers.

Yet, of most value to you as a university student will be scholarly reviews, these reviews are written by specialists in the field and will offer a much more thorough analysis of a scholarly publication.

Select Sources

Book Review Index (1965 to present)

A comprehensive online guide to book reviews with over five million review citations from thousands of scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers in many disciplines.

Booklist (1993 to present)

A journal for librarians that publishes reviews of recommended library materials. Offers advance reviews of books, reference resources, and media for children, young adults, and adults. 

Humanities Abstracts (1984 to present)

Broad coverage of all humanities disciplines including scholarly articles, book reviews, reviews of motion pictures, plays, and radio and television programs.

New York Review of Books (1963 to present)

“The premier literary-intellectual magazine in the English language.” Discusses current books and issues in depth.

Social Sciences Abstracts (1983 to present)

Searchable abstracts of 750,000+ articles from more than 518 English-language periodicals in both applied and theoretical aspects of the social sciences.

Web of Science (1976 to present)

Indexing over 12,000 scholarly journals (including open-access titles) and over 160,000 conference proceedings, the Web of Science contains bibliographic information on all types of documents appearing in journals including articles, citations, letters, corrections, additions, excerpts, editorials and reviews.

CBCA (Canadian Business and Current Affairs) (1982 to present)

Canadian newspapers, newswires, newsmagazines, as well as television and radio transcripts are indexed.

Lexis-Nexis Academic (dates vary by publication title)
This database indexes reviews from numerous magazines and newspapers.

New York Times Book Review (1896 to present)

A weekly magazine and website featuring book reviews, feature articles, author interviews and book excerpts.

Times Literary Supplement (1902 to 2013)

A leading international literary journal examining culture and reviewing books that matter.

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