Book Review Sources in the Humanities & Social Sciences

Introduction

To find a book review you need to know the author, title, and date the book was published. You can find this information:
• in the book
• in the Library Catalogue

If you cannot find the title, ask at a Research Help Desk for further assistance.When you have the necessary information about the book, use the selected sources below to find reviews. Begin your search using the general indexes. If your search is unsuccessful, proceed to the subject indexes. When using a print source, begin with the year in which the book was originally published and check for several years beyond that date.Once you have found a book review citation, record the name of the journal as well as the volume, page and date. Do a journal title search on the Library Catalogue to see if McMaster subscribes to the journal. Copy down the call number and proceed to the appropriate location.

---

General Sources

Book Review Digest Plus
Book Review Index (1965 to present) A comprehensive online guide to book reviews with over five million review citations from thousands of scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers in many disciplines.	via the Library Catalogue
Humanities Abstracts (1984 to present)	via the Library Catalogue	via the Library Catalogue
IBR - Internationale Bibliographie de Rezensionen Wissenschaftlecher literatur - International Bibliography of Book Reviews of Scholarly Literature (1971-1992) Comprehensive, international source of scholarly book reviews. In German, with cross-references from English and French subject words.		via the Library Catalogue
Lexis-Nexis Academic (dates vary by publication title) This database indexes reviews from numerous magazines and newspapers. Select the "News" category and then the "All News" source. In the search box,  type in the author's name and words form the title of the book. In the "Limit To:" section, select "Book Reviews"	via the Library Catalogue
Social Sciences Abstracts (1983 to present)	via the Library Catalogue	via the Library Catalogue
Web of Science (1976 to present) Click on the Full Search button and select the database required. Click on the Cited Ref Search button. Enter the Cited Author (author of book) e.g. Alan Walker is entered as walker a*. Enter the name of the Cited Work (book title). This is limited to 20 characters, so abbreviate the title (e.g. Franz Liszt, v.3 could re entered as franz*) Click on the Lookup button, then check the boxes for the citations you want. Select Book Review from the Set Search Limits box, and click on the Search button. From the results list, click on the title to see the record.	via the Library Catalogue	Arts & Humanities Citation Index Science Citation Index Social Sciences Citation Index

 

General Sources: Retrospective

via the Library Catalogue
Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974 A source for retrospective book reviews in history, political science and sociology, citing over a million reviews. There are twelve author volumes and three title volumes. Author volumes are arranged alphabetically by the author's last name. The title index volumes are arranged alphabetically by the first significant word in the title, and refer the user back to the main author index for the complete citation.		via the Library Catalogue
Index to Book Reviews in England, 1749-1774; 1775-1800 Contains reviews of poetry, drama and fiction found in 27 periodicals.		1749-1774 1775-1800

 

Sources: American

via the Library Catalogue

via the Library Catalogue

 

Sources: British

via the
Library Catalogue

 

Sources: Canadian

via the Library Catalogue

via the Library Catalogue
CBCA (Canadian Business and Current Affairs) (1982 to present)	via the Library Catalogue	Canadian Newspaper Index Canadian Magazine Index Canadian Business Index
CPI.Q (Canadian Periodical Index Online) (1988 to present) Book review citations appear under the subject heading "Book Reviews." Citations may also be found throughout the index by author of book.	via the Library Catalogue	via the Library Catalogue

 

Art & Archaeology

via the Library Catalogue

 

Economics

via the
Library Catalogue

 

Film

via the Library Catalogue

 

Geography

via the
Library Catalogue

via the Library Catalogue

 

Gerontology

via the
Library
Catalogue

 

History

via the Library Catalogue

H-Net Reviews (1993 to the present) This internet site provides online reviews of current books in History. The archives can be searched by author, title, and keyword or browsed by year of publication.	via the Library Catalogue
Historical Abstracts (1954 to present) A database indexing history periodicals covering European and world history. Using the Advanced Search screen, type "review article" in the keyword box and the title of the book in the Title/Translation box.	via the Library Catalogue

 

Music

via the Library Catalogue

via the Library Catalogue

 

Philosophy

via the
Library
Catalogue

 

Physical Education

via the
Library
Catalogue

 

Psychology

via the
Library Catalogue

via the Library Catalogue

 

Religion

via the
Library Catalogue

 

Sociology

via the
Library Catalogue