Book Reviews and Literary Criticism

1. Finding Book Reviews

Google Scholar has revolutionized this type of searching because it searches not only the 'open' Web but also can search down into some subscription databases.  You will find plenty of book reviews using Google Scholar, but we encourage you to round out any serious search by also using our subscription databases directly.

Know the date the book was published. Reviews typically appear in the academic press (in periodicals, i.e., journals) within one or two years following the publication of the book. Search in these indexes:

Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) Online from 1985 to present. Full text or citations to reviews in periodicals.
Book Review Digest (In Print near the Reference Desk) 1906- Sept. 1996 Excerpts and citations to reviews in periodicals.
Book Review Index 1965- current (In Print near the Reference Desk) . Citations to reviews in periodicals.

New York Times Historical.  Full page views (scanned images) from 1851 - 2004

JSTOR Online. Late 19th and Early 20th Century to within 3 –5 years of the present. Full text reviews from periodicals.
Lexis-Nexis  Full text book reviews from major newspapers and magazines, international, late 1970's to current.

Reader's Guide Retrospective Citations only for reviews from general interest periodicals; the Reader’s Guide Retrospective covers 1890 through 1982.

The Links above are all for resources, electronic or print, to which the Library subscribes. There are also “open Web” resources available.  The following  describe types of Web review sources you might find:

H-Net Reviews in the Humanities and Social Sciences (1993 to present) is an online scholarly review journal that publishes not only book reviews but also reviews of film, software, museum exhibits, and World Wide Web sites.  
 

Amazon.com has various types of reviews, including reviews from periodicals such as The New York Times Book Review, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. But Amazon also provides descriptions from the publishers (basically advertisement, not external reviews) and reader reviews by amateurs.

Be sure you know which type of review you are using for your academic assignments! The professional reviews are probably appropriate, but the publisher’s ads and amateur reviews are not.

2. Finding Literary Criticism

Search library catalogs using the author’s name (last name, first name) as a SUBJECT search. Books about the author and his/herworks will be found.

The center search box LINFIELD WORLDCAT on the library home page allows you to search in these three library systems for books and other library materials.  Use the drop-down menu to select from the following:

  • Linfield's library catalog
  • Summit  Northwest academic libraries (order books online: 3 - 5 day delivery).  Linfield's catalog is included in a Summit search.
  • Libraries Worldwide (order books online through ILL: approximately 5 - 7 day delivery). Linfield and all Summit libraries are included in the Libraries Worldwide search.

There is no charge to members of the Linfield community to order items via Summit or Libraries Worldwide.

Some of the same resources useful to find book reviews also lead to literary criticism as published in periodicals. Use these indexes:

Academic OneFile Full text or citations to periodical articles.  Files can be converted to MP3

Academic Search Premier Full text or citations to periodical articles. 

Humanities International Complete  Full text or citations to periodical articles.

JSTOR  Late 19th and Early 20th Century to within 3 –5 years of the present. Full text reviews from periodicals.

MLA Bibliography 1963 to present. Citations to reviews and criticism in periodicals and books.

Literary Criticism is also available through specialized Reference resources, both electronic and in print.

Literature Resource Center (online)

The long-standing classic resources Contemporary Literature Criticism, Contemporary Authors, and the Dictionary of Literary Biography, have been adapted to electronic format. In addition, the Literature Resouce Center includes sections from these companion resources: Children's Literature Review, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Drama Criticism, Drama for Students, Literature from 1400 to 1800, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Literature of Developing Nations for Students, Literature and Its Times, Novels for Students, Poetry Criticism, Poetry for Students, Shakespearean Criticism, Shakespeare for Students, Short Story Criticism, Short Stories for Students, and Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism.

 Reference Books

    • American Writers Ref PS 129 .A55
    • Ancient Writers Ref PA 3002.A5
    • Asian American Women Writers Ref PS 153 .A84 A83
    • British Writers Ref PA 85.B688
    • European Writers Ref PN 501 .E9
    • Library of Literary Criticism Ref PR 83 .M73
    • Research Guide to Biography and Criticism Ref PR 85 .R4
    • Etc. …

Generally, peruse the Reference Room books with call numbers from PN – PT.

Online Reference

There are many electronic reference sources similar in content to the Reference Books.  Go to the library home page and select "Quick Facts - Online Reference".  Select by discipline.  For a sampling of reference sources relevant for Language and Literature, try these from the Credo Reference Suite.

 

 

jsc 11/04/09