How to Do Library Research

This page shows how to search resources for subject specific book reviews.

America, History & Life. 1954- . Z 1236 .A48 Movable Shelves (1954-1994). 1964- available online via "E-Resources & Databases" page (over 133,000 citations). 

In the print version, look up the last name of the author of the book in the subject index. General bibliographical articles (section) has citations to book reviews, although the titles of the individual books may not be named in the abstract ("reviews recent publications in . . .").

To locate book reviews online, select the document type book review  Type the title of the book in search box. For precision when a title's words appear in multiple book titles, add the name of the author/editor/reviewer to a second search box.

For book reviews of books by an author, type the author's last name in the "Author/Editor" field. This will bring up records of book reviews written by that person, as well as reviews of that person's books.

If you are looking for books on a topic, type in your key terms in the search box.

If you are looking for book reviews for books on a topic that were published in certain years, put those years in the "Publication Date" field. Search results may include records from later years, but the books under review will have publication dates from the years specified.

Applied Science & Technology Index. 1958- .  Z 7913 .A6 Reference. 1983-1997.

Index covers 350 English language journals in the fields of engineering, computers, chemistry, applied mathematics, energy, and a wide variety of applied sciences. The last section of each issue or volume has book reviews beginning with 1976.

Art Index. Nov 1986-Oct 1998 (Scattered years 1932-68).  Z 5937 .A78 Reference. September 1984- also electronic under Art Abstracts.

300+ key international English-language arts publications. Includes periodicals, interviews, film reviews, and more. The last section of each issue or volume has book reviews.

Business Periodicals Index. 1958- . Aug 1990-Jan 1999 on Reference South. Earlier years in Moveable Shelves.  Z 7164 .C81 B983 Reference

300 International English-language business magazines, covering accounting, finance, management, and small business. The last section of each issue or volume has book reviews beginning with August 1976.

Education Index. 1935/1938,1947/1950,1957/1959-1967/1968,1969/1970,1971/1972,1973/1974,1977/1978,1979/1980-1997/1998.  Z 5813 .E23 Movable Shelves. 

400 English-language periodicals and yearbooks published in the U.S. and elsewhere. Subjects include administration, teaching methods and curriculum, literacy, government funding, and more. The last section of each issue or volume has book reviews.

Historical Abstracts 1775-1945. 1955-1970.  D 299 .H5 Reference Shelves

Look up the last name of the author of the book in the subject index. General bibliographical articles (section) has citations to book reviews, although the titles of the individual books may not be named in the abstract ("reviews recent publications in . . ."). The bibliographical news section contains short book reviews in the abstract itself. Split in two starting with 1971 (see directly below).

Historical Abstracts Part A: Modern History Abstracts 1775-1914. 1971-1994.
Historical Abstracts Part B: Twentieth Century Abstracts 1914- . 1971-1994.  D 299 .H51 Reference Shelves. 1954- available online via "A-Z Databases" page.

See America: History & Life above for using the print and online versions, although be careful to go from the index to the correct part (A or B) of the abstract in the print volumes.

Humanities Index. 1974-March1999.  AI 3 .I495 Reference

Monthly index to scholarly British and American journals. The last section of each issue or volume consists of books review citations. Includes history titles. See also Literary Criticism titles for critical reviews and criticism of literature.

JSTOR 

Covered subject areas include: African American Studies, Anthropology, Asian Studies, Ecology, Economics, Education, Finance, General Science, History, Literature, Mathematics, Philosophy, Political Science, Population Studies, Sociology, and Statistics.  To locate book reviews, click on the box next to "reviews" under "Include only." You will probably need to deselect "articles." Also, be sure to select the type of journals you want searched.

MLA International Bibliography of Books and Articles on the Modern Languages and Literatures. 1921- .  Z 6519 .M53 Moveable Shelves 1921-1991. 1963- electronic under MLA Bibliography

Indexes literary sources. Book reviews often in the form of "criticism" or "critical review." Use original language of title to ensure identification of all materials about a book (e.g. search Cien a�os de soledad instead of One Hundred Years of Solitude). This is less critical than in the past, but it is a good habit to acquire anyway.

Social Sciences Index. April 1974-March 1999. Recent years electronic.  AI 3 .I 496 Reference

Monthly index to scholarly British and American journals. The last section of each issue or volume consists of book review citations. Note: history titles are not generally included but appear in the Humanities Index.

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974. 10 vols.  Z1035.A1 C62 1982 Reference

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974. 15 vols.  Z1035.A1 C64 Reference