Find Book Reviews

Step Two: Select a Resource to Conduct Your Search
Now that you have the information you need, you are ready to conduct your search. You can conduct your search for book reviews in:

• Print indexes (good sources for older reviews)

• Print periodicals (great for browsing for recently published reviews)

• Online indexes/databases (useful for some older publications and newer releases; some have full text)

SEARCH TIP:  Make sure to record the complete citation for the book review you are trying to locate.

Book Reviews in Print Indexes
Find these print indexes in the Reference Room on the library’s first floor. Use the volume for the year in which the book was first published or the years immediately before and after the initial publication date.

Book Review Digest
Reference Room Z1035.A1 B6
1905-present. Lists and provides excerpts of book reviews in the humanities, social sciences, and general periodicals from the U.S., Canada, and Great Britain. Entries are under author's last name. A short description of the book, a full citation to locate the full text, and excerpts from 3-4 book reviews appear under each entry.

Book Review Index
Reference Room Z1035.A1 B5
1965-present. Provides citations to reviews of books, periodicals, and books-on-tape from over 600 general interest and scholarly publications. Arranged alphabetically by author’s last name; there is no subject approach. No summaries or excerpts of the reviews are included.

The New York Times Index
Reference Room AI21 .N44
1851-2001. Includes citations to all reviews in The New York Times Book Review section; listed in the index alphabetically by title under the Book Reviews subject heading. Search Tip: An online index and access to full text articles for The New York Times are also available in ProQuest Newspapers (1995-present) and Academic Universe (1980-present).

Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature (see Readers' Guide Full Text for coverage from 1983-present)
Reference Room AI3 .R48
1900-2003. Lists book reviews alphabetically by author. Starting in 1976, book reviews are listed separately at the back of each volume.

Book Reviews in Print Periodicals
Browse through these print periodicals found on the second floor of the library to find reviews of recently published books:

Book Reviews in Online Indexes/Databases
The databases listed below are good places to start when looking for book reviews in online resources. To access the following databases, simply click on the hyperlink, or go to the "Find Article Databases" link from the Library Homepage to search for the name of the databases listed below.

ABI/INFORM Global
Contains business periodicals covering business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory, and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, taxation, computers, and more. Search Tip: Click on More Search Options to expose additional selections; select Book Review from the Article Type drop-down menu.

Academic Search Elite
Multi-disciplinary database offers full text to many of it 2,000+ scholarly/general journals/magazines; 1,500 of these are peer-reviewed. Full-text coverage dates back as far as 1985. Search Tip: Use the Advanced Search screen; select Book Review as Document Type.

Academic Universe
The News search form can be used to locate reviews. Search Tip: Use the Guided News Search. Select Arts & Sports News as the News Category, select Book, movie, music, & play reviews as the News Source, and enter the title of the book in the search box. Change the date range, as appropriate.

America: History and Life
Find citations for reviews of books in the field of American history. Search Tip: Use the Advanced Search screen; select Book Review as Document Type.

Ethnic News Watch
Covers the ethnic, minority and Native American press. Search Tip: Use the Advanced Search screen. Click on More Search Options to expose additional selections; select Book Review from the Article Type drop-down menu.

Humanities Full Text
Full text plus abstracts and bibliographic indexing of the most noted scholarly sources in the humanities, as well as numerous lesser-known but important specialized magazines. Search Tip: Limit search to book reviews by selecting Book review as the Document Type.

JSTOR
Provides electronic access to back issues of core journals in the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. Useful for finding book reviews of older publications. Search Tip: Scroll down the search screen to Limit by Type and select reviews.

MathSciNet

Reviews in mathematics, statistics, engineering, and the physical sciences. Search Tip: Select Current Awareness: Books from the left navigation bar. Select date range, click on Book Reviews Entered, and select a classification to search.

Project MUSE

Full-text access to the scholarly journals of several university presses. Search Tip: Use the Advanced Search screen; select Author Reviewed or Title Reviewed in the drop-down menu that appears next to the Search For box. You can also select Review in the By Type box.

Readers' Guide Full Text

Covers 1983 to present. Provides access to the contents of a wide variety of popular English-language magazines and journals. Search Tip: Limit search to book reviews by selecting Book review as the Document Type.

Religion Database (ATLA)
Provides information on topics such as biblical studies, world religions, church history, and religion in social issues. Search Tip: Use the Basic or Advanced Search screen; select Review as Publication Type.  

Science Citation Index
Index to the key scholarly journals in the sciences. Coverage goes back as far as 1945 is some cases. Search Tip: Use the General Search; set document types to Book Review.

Social Sciences Full Text
Bibliographic database to articles from more than 415 English-language periodicals published in the United States and elsewhere plus the full text of over 115 of those periodicals. Search Tip: Limit search to book reviews by selecting Book review as the Document Type. 

Step Three: Locating the Publication with Your Book Review

If the resource you have used does not offer the full text of the book review, use the citation you found in Step Two to determine if the UWSP library holds a copy of the publication in which your book review appears.  

1. Go to the "Journal titles A-Z List" from the Library Homepage and enter the name of the journal in the Find box to determine if the library holds the publication in print or electronically.

1. Your search result may include links to online databases or information about the journal in Current Periodicals, Microfilm Periodicals, Bound Periodicals, or Compact Storage.

2. If your search result indicates that the journal is not found in our collection, you can request the book review using the library’s online interlibrary loan (ILL) system.

2. If the publication is available online:

1. Look at the resources that appear in the Journals result list. Select a resource that includes a date range appropriate for your citation. 

2. The online resource you select launches in a separate window. Often you will be presented with a list of available issues. Check your citation, scan the list of issues, and click the link for the correct issue.

3. Scan the issue’s contents for your book review. Some databases organize issue contents in page number order, while others present the issue’s contents in alphabetical order by article title.

3. If the publication is available in print or microfilm:

1. Use the date of the issue in which the book review appears to determine if you will find the issue in Current Periodicals, Microfilm Periodicals, Bound Periodicals, or Compact Storage.

2. Go to the periodicals department on the second floor of the library to locate the issue. Photocopiers are available in the periodicals department or you may check out the issue:

• Undergraduates: All categories of print periodicals have a 24-hour checkout period with no renewals; microfilm cannot be checked out.

• Graduate students: Current periodicals have a 24-hour checkout period; bound and compact periodicals can be checked out for three days (no renewals); microfilm cannot be checked out.