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Library Instruction for Liberal Arts |
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Social SciencesSearching for Reviews of History BooksThis library guide will cover the process of searching for book reviews, with an emphasis on history books. More specifically, the guide will discuss which types of books are most likely to have been widely reviewed, describe library databases which can be used to help find reviews, discuss available print sources which index reviews, and list journals which regularly publish reviews of history books. Selecting a Reviewed Book One of the first things to keep in mind before beginning the process of searching for a book review on any topic is to be aware that not all books are reviewed, and others may only have one or two reviews. When selecting a title for an assignment which requires finding a review, it would be good to consider choosing a book that has one or more of the following characteristics: |
If you have been assigned a book, as opposed to making your own selection, the above suggestions may be of little help. However, whether you have been assigned a book or have selected one that does not seem to fit any of the above suggestions, the task of finding a book review is still quite feasible.
Library Databases
The following library databases can be useful in helping to find book reviews:
1. To search for a book review by the title of the book, click on the "Advanced" search button (see below):
2. Place a check mark in the box marked "Book Reviews." Next, type the title of the book in the box marked "Titles / Translations" (see below).
Books In Print can be useful for finding full text book reviews, as well as some book summaries. It should be noted, however, that this database does not provide a review of every book listed in the database.
Author or title searches may work best when using Books In Print to search for reviews. The illustration below shows how a searcher might use Books In Print to search for a review of The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln, by Phillip S. Paludan. Either the book title or author can be entered into the search box, but make sure that the appropriate title or author selection has been made to the left of the box. In the below example the search is conducted using the title. It should be noted that the end of the title has been entered, but does not appear because of the size limitation of the search box. In addition to changing the selection to the left of the search box from keyword to title, make sure that check marks are placed in the boxes next to Book, In Print, Out of Print, and Forthcoming. The reason for selecting Forthcoming is to try to catch any reviews of a book which is about to be reissued, or perhaps revised. The word The has been left off of the title in the search box, because in many databases the tends to be a stop word when it is the first word in the title. Generally, it is a good idea to exclude the word the in any database title search when it is the first word in a title.
When trying to determine which Books In Print entries include a review look for the star symbol, as seen below.
As can be seen below, two entries exist for this book, both of which include at least one book review as indicated by the star symbol.
To retrieve the reviews select the Title Reviews tab, which is the middle tab as seen below.
The below illustration is a portion of the first review which has been retrieved after clicking on Title Reviews.
When searching for book reviews on Wilson Web (Omnifile), be sure to change the "All-Smart Search" selection in the right hand box to read ""Books Reviewed". Then, enter the name of the author or book title in the search box to the right of the "Books Reviewed" selection (see below).
Print Indexes
The NSU Library owns a number of print resources which index history book reviews, including:
When using any book review index it is useful to keep in mind that review articles generally are indexed after the book has been on the market for a while. A book published in 1965 may not be reviewed or indexed until 1966, or even later. Therefore, when using an index to find a review for a book published in 1965, you may need to check the indexes for 1965, 1966, or possibly 1967 to find a citation.
Selected History Journals Which Publish Book Reviews
Sometimes it is difficult to find a specific review in a book review index. An additional option is to check the annual and cumulative indexes accompanying the paper history journals. Or, if it is a fairly recently published book, say one that was published a year or two ago, scanning the unbound issues of current and recent history journals might prove productive. Below is a selected list of history journals which typically include book reviews in each issue. All of these journals are owned by the NSU Library.
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