Westfield
State College Ely Library
Finding Book Reviews
Databases
Web Resources
Book Review Publication Dates: Reviews usually appear in magazines
within two months after the book’s publication, and usually appear in journals
within six months though many scholarly journals take longer to review.
Book Review Contents: A Book Review is an analytical, evaluative
account of a work’s literary merit (for fiction) and subject matter (for
non-fiction). Reviews offer evaluative opinion and cite evidence from the
book’s contents to support the critical judgements made.. Many reviews
offer some or all of the following: biographical information about the
book’s author, a comparison of the book with other works in the field or
works by the same author, an evaluation of the book in terms of the author’s
intended purpose.
Reviews of fiction usually focus upon plot development, the unity
of theme, the credibility of the characters, and the effect of the book
on the reader.
Reviews of non-fiction usually focus upon the accuracy of the
facts, the organization of the information, and the completeness of the
book’s bibliography and index.
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Key Information Required for Finding Book Reviews:
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Year of Publication (for the first edition). Later editions often are not
reviewed.
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Author’s Name,
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Title of the Book.
Sample Search Strategy:
1. Look in Book Review Digest (BRD) for the year of publication
under the author’s name. Or look in the Book Review Digest Cumulative
Author / Title Index 1905-1974. Check to be certain that the listing
is for the correct title. BRD is located on the Index Tables.
2. Search the year following publication as well since many books are
published late in the year.
3. Read the excerpts provided by BRD to determine whether you want
to see the full review.
4. Copy the Review Citation. It will be preceded by the word "REVIEW"
and look like this:
REVIEW: New Sci v144 p57 N 19 ’94 Malcolm Coe (420w) ·
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New Sci is an abbreviation of the journal’s title. At the front
of each BRD volume is a list that gives the full title for each abbreviation.·
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v144 is the volume number of the journal. ·
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p57 is the page number ·
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N 19 ’94 is an abbreviated date for November 19, 1994 ·
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Malcolm Coe is the reviewer. ·
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(420w) is an estimate of the review’s length - 420 words.
5. Check the Review Citation against Ely Library’s Periodical List.
This will identify whether we have a periodical and its format: print or
microfilm.
6. Retrieve the review if we have the periodical, or make an InterLibrary
Request at the Reference Desk if we do not have the periodical. Or ask
for assistance at the Reference Desk to determine whether a local library
has the periodical.
Periodical
Indexes to Consult for Book Reviews
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Book Review Digest: ·
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Citations to, and excerpts of, reviews of juvenile and adult fiction and
non-fiction in the English language. Types of books not reviewed include:
government publications, textbooks, and technical books in the sciences
and law. General science books are reviewed. ·
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Ely Library Holdings: 1905-present. Location: On Periodical shelves in
alphabetical order.
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Review Criteria: ·
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Book must have been Published in U.S. or Canada. ·
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Non-fiction must have been reviewed in two or more periodicals covered
by BRD. ·
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Fiction must have been reviewed in three periodicals covered by BRD. ·
Book Review Index: ·
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Citations to reviews of books, periodicals and books on tape appearing
in 600 journals. ·
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Reviews are listed under the Author’s name, or by title if the book has
no author. A Title Index is an aid if you lack the author’s name.
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Review Criteria: ·
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Any type of book at least 50 pages long. ·
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Electronic media are covered if they are presentations of previously published
books. ·
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Ely Library Holdings: 1965-present. Location: On Periodical shelves in
alphabetical order.
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New York Times Index: · (also available Electronically from
1851-1998)
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Lists all book reviews appearing in the New York Times under the heading
"Book Reviews" ·
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Ely Library Holdings: Sept. 1851-1994. Location: On Periodical shelves
in alphabetical order.
Other Printed Indexes with Book Reviews: Location:
On periodical shelves in alphabetical order. ·
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Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature (Ely Library Holdings: 1900-
present) ·
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Education Index (Ely Library Holdings: 1929 - present) ·
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Business Periodicals Index (Ely Library Holdings: Aug. 1976- present)
·
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Humanities Index (Ely Library Holdings: 1974 - present) ·
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These and other specialized periodical indexes list all reviews in a separate
section, "Book Reviews", at the end of each volume. Alphabetically, by
author’s name.
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Boston Globe Index (Ely Library Holdings:1974 - present
Electronic
Indexes with Book Reviews: These databases are accessible
via the Library's Home Page. They have citations to book reviews. Some
may have the full text of the reviews.
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Academic Search Premier 1975 - (Full text)
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Book Review Digest 1983- (via FirstSearch)
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Boston Globe 1980 -
(Full text)
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Business Source Premier 1980-
(Full text)
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Criminal Justice Abstracts 1968 -
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Criminal Justice Periodical Index 1981- (Full text)
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Education Abstracts June 1983- (via FirstSearch)
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Education Complete 1986-
(Full text)
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ERIC 1966 -
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Expanded Academic ASAP 1980 -
(Full text)
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General BusinessFile ASAP 1982-
(Full text)
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General Reference Center Gold (Magazine Index) 1980-
(Full text)
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General Science Abstracts May 1984- (via FirstSearch)
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GEOBASE 1980- (via FirstSearch)
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Health Reference Center Academic Last 4 years
(Full text)
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Health Source / Consumer Edition 1990-
(Full text)
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Health Source / Nursing 1990-
(Full text)
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Historical Abstracts 1954-
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Humanities Abstracts February 1984- (via FirstSearch)
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JSTOR Coverage period varies for these 160+ scholarly journals
(Full text)
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Lexis- Nexis Academic Universe 1980- (also
covers New York Times Book Reviews) (Full Text)
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MasterFile Premier 1990- (includes Magill's Book Reviews)
(Full text)
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MLA International Bibliography 1963 -
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PAIS International 1972-
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Periodical Abstracts 1972- (via FirstSearch)
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Project MUSE 1995-
(Full text)
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PsycINFO 1887-
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Reader's Guide Abstracts 1983- (via FirstSearch)
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Social Sciences Abstracts February 1983- (via FirstSearch)
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Social Work Abstracts Plus 1977-
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Sociological Abstracts 1963 -
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Wilson Business Abstracts June 1990- (via FirstSearch)
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New York Times 1851 - 1998 (Full text)
Maintained by B. Hubbard
Last updated 9-20-02