Webster’s Third New International Dictionary defines a book review: n 1:
a descriptive and critical or evaluative account of a book.
Critical and evaluative are the key words that
describe a book review. These two words
distinguish a review from a report, which often is little more than a plot
outline.
A book review may be favorable, unfavorable, or
mixed. A mixed review is usually a
favorable review that expresses reservations.
Try to select a book on a subject about which you have some knowledge. If you have limited knowledge of the subject, then choose what interests you because you may have to do some background reading in reference encyclopedias or handbooks in order to be able to judge how adequately the author of the book you are reviewing has covered the topic.
Although you should always ask your instructor about
which format to follow and the desired length of the review, here are some
general guidelines that may be helpful.
Be brief.
The average book review ranges from 100 to 500 words. Even the most scholarly reviews rarely
exceed 1,500 words. Remember, you are
writing a review, not a report.
Structure your review into a series of
paragraphs. Each paragraph should deal
with a single aspect of your criticism.
Open your review by summarizing the subject matter
of the book. Note the author’s scope in
treating the subject matter.
In your next paragraph, present the main point, or
thesis, that the author is making in the book.
What is the author saying about the subject and why did the author write
this book?
Follow this with several paragraphs that expand on
the arguments the author advances to support the thesis. Here you will want to give detailed evidence
by quoting pertinent examples. Are the
author’s facts correct?
Place the book within a context. Have others written about this subject? To what extent does the author of the book
you are reviewing accept or reject what others have said about the topic? Has the author offered new evidence, or has
the author offered a new interpretation of the same evidence used by
others? Are the author’s judgments
about the evidence sound? Does the
author’s work fill a gap in the existing literature about the subject?
Conclude your review by balancing the book’s
strengths and weaknesses, achievements and failures, ending with something
about the author’s qualification to write on this subject.
Until you become an experienced reviewer or
authority on the subject matter of the book you have selected to review, by all
means look at other reviews for help in getting started.
Be sure to acknowledge and credit properly any
reviews that you use, especially those from which you quote directly.
Establish the publication date of the book for which
you are seeking to find a review. Book
reviews generally appear within the year in which the book was published.
If the book you are reviewing has been published
within the past ten to fifteen years, you may be able to locate the complete
text of a review in an electronic source.
Unless otherwise stated these sources are located in the Article
Resources section of the library’s home page:
Jstor (http://www.jstor.org/)
provides access to the full text, including book
reviews of the back files of
academic journals in several disciplines.
Tip: Type the book’s
title in quotation marks on the space provided
Execute the search in “full text”
Scroll down to “Search in:” and click on the appropriate category
Move over to “Include only” and check “reviews”
Project Muse (http://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/)
Offers full text access to current issues of leading
academic journals in many disciplines, including history. There is little if any overlap with Jstor.
Tip: Click
on “Search”
Enter the title of the book within quotation
marks in the Search For space
Leave the default at “All Fields”
A
cooperative venture of several historical associations and university presses
that
provides full text access to the most recent issues of a number of history journals.
Other important resources for reviews of history
books that often, but not always, provide the review as a full text document
are:
Tip:
Type the title of the book within quotation marks, leaving the default as
set.
CPI.Q 1988-
(http://infotrac.galegroup.com/menu)
Tip: Click on “CPI.Q”
Full text coverage of
periodical articles 1995- and newspaper articles 1997-
Canadian and International
content
Selectively full text
Tip: Change the default to “Keyword
Search”
Make
sure that the button for “in title, citation,
Abstract” is checked
Type the title of the book in the space provided
Tip: Mark the space in front of “PA
Library” on the ProQuest opening page
Type
the title of the book in the “Search” space
Web sources for current reviews of the most recent
history books include:
H-Net Reviews (http://www2.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/)
The New York Review of Books
(http://www.nybooks.com)
Page 4
Web sites affiliated with the book
trade include:
BookPage (http://www.bookpage.com/)
BookWeb (http://www.ambook.org/)
BookWire (http://www.bookwire.com/bookwire/)
Newspaper book review sections online include:
Book World (http://www.washingtonpost.com)
Charges to display full text
of archived reviews, but Book World is a section of
the Sunday Washington Post
which the library owns on microfilm N30.
Chicago Tribune Books (http://www.chicagotribune.com)
Charges to display full text
of archived reviews. Use the Chicago
Tribune
Microfilm edition (microfilm N26).
Los Angeles Times Books (http://www.calendarlive.com/)
Academic Universe.
New York Times Books (http://www.nytimes.com/)
Select “Books” in the left
column. Reviews are archived back to
1996.
Note that the Library also has online full text
access to the New York Times
(1856-1999). Connect to this title through the Article
Resources section of
theLibrary’s home page. Current online full text access to the New
York
Times is available through Newspaper
Abstracts 1989-present, also in the
Article Resources
section of the Library’s home page.
Book Review Indexes
What follows is a selective listing
of sources that index book reviews, some of
which provide abstracts but none of
which provide the review
full text. Unless otherwise noted, these sources are available in the
Article Resources section of
the
library’s home page.
America: History and Life 1964-
(http://etextb.ohiolink.edu/bin/gate.exe?f=search&state=hqlg6e.1.1)
Tip: United
States and Canadian history only
Arts and Humanities Citation Index
1980- and Social Sciences Citation Index
1980-
(http://cite.ohiolink.edu/isi/CIW.cgi)
Tip: 1966-1980 Social Sciences Citation
Index in paper format (Ref
Z7161.S65)
Book Review Digest 1983-
(http://olc5.ohiolink.edu/bin/gate.exe?f=search&state=2do6do.1.1)
Tip: 1905-1982 available in
print format (Ref Z1219.B77)
Book Review Index 1965-
(Ref 1035.A1B6)
Combined Retrospective Index to Book
Reviews in Scholarly Journals 1886-1974
(Ref Z1035.A1C6)
Historical Abstracts 1955-
(http://etextb.ohiolink.edu/bin/gate.exe?f=search&state=d7t4lp.1.1)
Tip: World history 1450 to
present, exclusive of US and Canada
Index to Book Reviews in the
Humanities 1960-1990
(Ref Z1035.A1I55)
IBR: International Bibliography of
Book Reviews 1985- (http://gso.gbv.de/DB=2.14/LNG=EN/SRT=RLV/IMPLAND=Y/?COOKIE=E8a49f693,U8395,D2.14,I0,C++++++++++,B8356++++++,SY,A,NLANGSAM+LIBRARY,,+OHIO&MESSAGE=&REFERER=)
TIP: Access by searching “IBR” as a title
in Uclid.
National Library Service Cumulative
Book Review Index, 1905-1974
(Ref Z1035.A1N35)
New York Times Book Review Index,
1896-1970
(Ref Z1007.N5 1896-1970)
Tip: Use the historical New York Times (1856-1999) for
online full text reviews
and Newspaper
Abstracts 1989-present for more recent online full text
reviews. In the historical New York Times
(1856-1999) structure
your search like this: sec
(book reviews) and (title of book).
In
Newspaper Abstracts 1989-present structure your
search like this:
“Title of Book” and AT
(review). You may also use this
print source:
New York Times Book
Reviews 2000- (Ref Z1007.N49)
Newspaper Abstracts 1989-
(http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?RQT=407&TS=1049757286)
Tip: Mark “ProQuest Newspapers” on the
ProQuest home page. Structure
your search: “Title of Book” and
AT (review).
Social
Sciences Index 1983- (http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/shared/shared_main.jhtml;jsessionid=ANSKWFLJELSKBQA3DIKSFFQ?_requestid=146387)
Tip:
April 1974-March 1983 separate book review section. Use print volumes (Ref
AI3.R473)
Times Index
(Ref
AN4.L6T516)
Tip:
Use “Book Reviews” or the name of the author
Additional Suggestion:
Consult the “Selected Internet Resources
on Book Reviews” web site in the “Explore
OhioLINK Databases by Subject” section of the OhioLINK
home page.
Sally Moffitt
History Bibliographer
401 Langsam Library
Office
hours by appointment
email: Sally.Moffitt@uc.edu
tel:556-1860
Revised and updated October 2003