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Mexican Studies: Finding Book Reviews

Guide to Resources for Research on Mexico at UCSD and the greater San Diego-Baja Region and beyond

Reasons to Consult Book Reviews

Book reviews, ranging from simple summaries to in-depth critical analyses and evaluations, provide useful information for readers and researchers. Read book reviews to:

  • Find out what others have said about the book
  • Identify controversies about the book
  • Find out how the book relates to other works
  • Find out what’s being published in your field of interest
  • Easily identify new books for future reading (or books to avoid!)

The databases listed below will help you find reviews published in scholarly journals, popular magazines, and newspapers. In general, search for book reviews in article databases using the “advanced search” mode and limit by publication type to “book review” or “review.”

Book Review Databases

Searching for Book Reviews

Searching

Book Reviews can be challenging to find by searching for an author or an incomplete title (especially a common one!),even in databases dedicated to them or in which you can narrow to “Book Reviews” or “Book Review Articles.”   This is because often the results of such a search will include book reviews written BY that author, rather than book reviews written ABOUT that author’s work.

For this reason, I suggest searching for as much of a particular title (Including the Subtitle) as possible, in ANY field, in quotation marks, and limiting to Book Reviews or Book Review Articles as in the facet/focus options on the left.

Running an initial search in UC Library Search is sometimes the fastest way to find book reviews, although other times it has limited results because this search engine has many more records to sift through than the databases listed below.  Nonetheless, this is a good first step.   Begin with a basic search (from the Library Home Page is fine) with the title in quotes.  Once those results come up, select the Reviews link on the left.

Interdisciplinary Databases Facilitating Book Review Searches

Subject Specific Databases Faciliating Book Review Searches

To search the databases below, follow the method recommended above, searching for the titles in quotes (and if this does not yield many results, without quotes, just in case, as with Project Muse) and selecting the relevant content, item, document, or type (or similar category!) 

 

ArtsArt Source | Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals | International Index to the Performing Arts | RILM Abstracts of Music Literature

BusinessBusiness Source Complete

CommunicationCommunication & Mass Media Complete | Film & Television Literature Index

EconomicsEconLit

EducationEducation Source

Environmental StudiesEnvironment Complete

Ethnic StudiesEthnic NewsWatch

Gender StudiesGenderWatch

HistoryAmerica: History and Life | Historical Abstracts

LiteratureABELL: Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature | Children's Literature Review | Literature Resource Center

Political ScienceWorldwide Political Science Abstracts

PsychologyPsycINFO

Religion & PhilosophyATLA Religion Database | Philosophers Index

Sciences: Applied Science & Technology Full Text | BIOSIS Previews | MathSciNet

Social Sciences, GeneralSocINDEX with Full Text | Social Sciences Full Text

SociologySociological Abstracts | Social Services Abstracts

Urban StudiesUrban Studies Abstracts

 

To find Reviews for Spanish and Portuguese publications, Scielo allows you to limit to Reviews (select advanced search and scroll down to "Tip de Literatura")