Reviews Research Guide

You'll find suggestions for locating books, articles, topical overviews, research tools, and factual information. If further assistance is needed, please contact the subject librarian for Reviews to arrange an appointment: Loretta Rielly, ph 737-2642, Loretta.Rielly@oregonstate.edu

Contents

Overview

Reviews (especially book reviews) are published in most scholarly journals and many popular magazines. Some publications, such as the American Historical Review, are devoted largely to critical reviews. A few, such as New Technical Books, Choice and Booklist are lists of selected titles, with short reviews.

There are ways of finding reviews without searching through individual periodicals. One can use:

  • indexes devoted exclusively to reviews
  • periodical indexes which index reviews
  • bibliographies which include reviews

This is a brief introduction to review sources. There are more. If you do not find these helpful, ask a reference librarian for aid in finding others. Finally, it might be necessary to go directly to periodicals to find reviews. Most journals and magazines have annual indexes and reviews are usually listed by the authors or products reviewed.

When consulting indexes and bibliographies begin with the first publication or copyright date of the book, play, film or product then search for two or three years afterward.

The following listing of review sources is not to be considered a "complete" listing, but should be used to begin a search for "review" information.

Most databases include various kinds of reviews (book, film, theater, TV, electronic resources, products, etc.) Some of the more popular databases for this type of information are:

There are printed indexes and abstracts available for earlier years that the electronic indexes do not cover. Ask at the Reference Desk for assistance in locating them.

Book Reviews

*Book Review Digest: REF: Z1219 .B6. Index to book reviews from approximately 100 periodicals published in the U. S., Canada, and Great Britain, covering over 7,000 adult and children's books each year. Includes English-language fiction and nonfiction books. Search by author, subject, book title or the source where the review was published. 1983 - present (FirstSearch) Print 1905-present

Book Review Index REF: Z1219 .B62. Good source of book reviews published in magazines and journals. One must know the author of a book and the year it was published to use this most effectively. 1965 - present

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974 REF: AI3 .C6521. This covers 459 scholarly journals in history, political science, and sociology.

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals. 1886-1974 REF: Z1035 .A1 C64. This provides access by authors, titles, and reviewers in over 150 humanities journals.

Current Book Review Citations, 1976-1982 REF: Z1219 .C94. Includes history, the fine arts, folklore, travel, and adventure in both scholarly and popular periodicals. Author index only.

Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities v.1-30, 1960-1989 REF: AI3 .I49. Reviews in over 1200 periodicals are indexed by author and title.

National Library Service Cumulative Book Review Index, 1904-1974 REF: Z1219 .C92. This reference work has over 560,000 citations and provides the capability of locating more than 1,000,000 reviews.

Film Reviews

Perhaps one of the best sources for contemporary Film Reviews in addition to the electronic databases listed above is the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature (AI3 .R4 1890-) Look under the subject Motion Pictures Reviews - Single Works (They are listed alphabetically. You look in the year that the film was produced and perhaps a year or two later.)

Film Review Index REF: PN1995 .F461 1986. v.1=1882-1949; v.2=1950-1985. Listing of film reviews, alphabetically by film with director, year produced, and country produced indexes.

Index to Critical Film Reviews in British and American Periodicals REF: PN1995 .B671 1974 v.l and v.2. Index to selected reviews primarily about theatrical productions and films, but also includes some documentary, experimental, short, and educational films of critical interest. Contains several indexes to its contents.

Film Criticism; an Index to Critics Anthologies REF: PN1995 .H47. Index to critical material on film in anthologies.

The Critical Index REF: PN1995 .G441 1974. A bibliography of articles on Film in English, 1946-1973, arranged by names and topics.

The New Film Index REF: PN1995 .M21 1974. A bibliography of magazine articles in English, 1930-1970.

New York Times Film Reviews REF: PN1995 .N4 (v.6) Appendix and Indexes for film reviews published in the New York Times 1913-1968.

"Other" Reviews

Many journals publish critical reviews about everything from products to services. Books, movies and plays seem to be among the more popular things to review, but reviews of restaurants, automobiles, software programs, video and computer games, etc. can also be found. Most indexes/abstracts that index such journals also index the reviews.

Newspapers, especially the "entertainment sections," tend to be good sources of "local" review information. The Valley Library subscribes to the major national and some international newspapers (The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor and The London Times) and the major Oregon papers (The Oregonian, The Statesman, The Register Guard and The Corvallis Gazette Times). The last few weeks or months of these papers are available in paper on the second floor, and earlier years are available on microform on the third floor.

Indexes to reviews in newspapers:
Note: Newspapers and their indexes are on microfilm on the 3rd floor of the Valley Library.

Lexis Nexis Academic.
Full text online. Most recent two years only. Use only if you can be very precise in your search or you will retrieve thousands of articles.

Christian Science Monitor, 1987-1995. AN .U5 C5
New York Times, 1851-present. AN .U5 N72
Times of London, 1790-present. AN .G7 T5 & An .G7 T495
Wall Street Journal, 1958-1994. HG1 .W21

An electronic index (current information) and an older card file index (retrospective information) is available for The Oregonian. Indexing for the other Oregon state papers may be somewhat sporadic. Inquire at the Reference Desk for assistance in finding newspaper information, if you have difficulty finding what you need.

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