Finding book reviews

Use this guide when ...

  • reviewing or critiquing book titles for assignments
  • evaluating book titles for possible request via document delivery (academic staff/honours/postgraduate students only)
  • selecting new book titles for subject reading lists (academic staff only) or suggesting titles for the wider Library collection 

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Multidisciplinary resources

Databases

First try these fulltext sources:

  • New York Review of Books - Fulltext reviews from New York Review of Books (1963+). Click on 'Archives' link at top to search back issues
  • Expanded Academic Index - Reviews from journals and magazines, many fulltext (1980+)
  • Factiva - Fulltext reviews from the Sydney Morning Herald (1986+) and The Australian (1996+), plus a wide range of other Australian and international newspapers
  • Global Books in Print - Includes fulltext 'Title reviews' from journals in the publishing trade (inclusion of reviews is indicated by a star symbol next to the book title)
  • Proquest 5000 - Reviews from journals and magazines, many fulltext (Dates vary)

Then try these:

  • APAFT/APAIS - Indexes reviews from Australian journals (1978+)
  • Australian Key Journals Index - Indexes reviews from older Australian journals, including the Australian Book Review (up to 1990).  Search by keywords, limit to 'Book Reviews only'
  • Current Contents Connect - Indexes reviews from scholarly journals (latest 5 years)
  • Infoquick - Indexes reviews from the Sydney Morning Herald (1988-2005)
  • OzLife - Indexes reviews from major Australian newspapers (2000-2002)

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Print indexes

Useful for locating reviews of older titles, especially for books published prior to the 1980s. (These indexes are located in the 2nd Floor Compactus.)

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Subject/discipline specific resources

Arts, humanities and social sciences

  • Austlit - Indexes reviews and literary articles from major Australian journals and newspapers (1800s+)
  • MLA - Indexes reviews and literary criticisms (1966+)
  • Project Muse - Fulltext reviews from scholarly journals in the arts, humanities and social sciences (1993+)
  • Sociological Abstracts - Abstracts of reviews in sociology and related fields (1974+)
  • Web of Science - Indexes reviews cited in journals covered by the Social Sciences Citation Index (1965+) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (1975+)
  • Try other databases via the Library's Databases by Faculty pages

Science and technology

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Search tips

1. Knowing your facts

When was the book published?

Reviews are most likely to be written soon after that time.

Where was it published?

Reviews of Australian books are more likely to appear in Australian sources.

Hint: A book's date and place of publication usually appear on, or just after, the title page. Details about the author may also be provided at the end of the book. 

2. Searching databases

To narrow your search:

  • Type the book title within quotation marks to search for it as a phrase. eg. "oscar and lucinda"
  • Combine the book title with the author's name. eg. bliss and "peter carey"
  • Add the words book or novel if search results also include film reviews of the same title

To broaden your search:

  • Use the relevant truncation symbol to search for variations of the words review, reviews, reviewed and criticism, critique. eg. "oscar and lucinda" and (review* or criti*)

3. Locating reviews that are not fulltext

Some databases and indexes only provide the citation (reference) for a review, and perhaps an excerpt or summary. For help with finding the whole review either:

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Still can't find a review?

Try the links provided on AcqWeb's Directory of Book Reviews on the Web.

Also try links such as Amazon.com under Bookshops on the Library's Resources by Topic page. A word of warning! The quality of reviews on commercial sites can vary widely - from editorial reviews (taken from magazines and newspapers) to customer reviews.

Need further help?

Contact Research Help staff (Ph: 02 4221 3548).

 

Content by Arts Faculty Librarian.

Last reviewed: 24 June, 2009

       

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