How Do I?

Book Reviews

Electronic Resources

Audiopolis
From Audiofile Magazine, this site features clips of the audio book.
http://www.audiofilemagazine.com/audiopolis/

Education Review
Publishes reviews of recent books in education, covering the entire range of education scholarship and practice. Sponsored Arizona State University College of Education.
http://www.ed.asu.edu/edrev/

Full Text Reviews from Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe [Penn State users only]
To access full text book reviews from some of the nation's larger newspapers, select the News category from the main screen and then select Arts & Sports because it contains Reviews as well as entertainment & sports news. Select book, movie, music, & play reviews from the source pull down menu. Date ranges for the search can be adjusted, as the search requires.
http://www.lias.psu.edu/dball.html#LEXIS

Review Citations from Library Literature
Another good database for tracking down citations of book reviews is Library Literature, found on the E-Resource list. Go to Library Literature and search using the keyword command for book review and your topic, e.g., book review and special education or book review and schools. Once you find the citations you need, go back to the CAT to find out if Penn State owns the Journal in question.

Review Citations from Web of Science
Another review citation database for book reviews is the Web of Science, which indexes over 8000 academic journals, and is comprised of the Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, and Arts & Humanities Citation Index. Select the Full Search option from the main screen. Select any or all years from 1986 to the current year and any combination of the three broad subject citation indexes.

Then click on cited reference search. From the cited reference search page, enter the name of the cited author (the book author) and the cited work (book title is limited to an abbreviated 20 characters). It is important to note that an author's entire name is not indexed. Usually, only the author's last name and first initial are indexed, though in some instances the middle initial is also included. Once you get results from your search, the next step is to limit the search set to book reviews only. On the screen, under Step 2: Cited Reference Section, you will see the option to Set Limits and Sort. Click on that option. On the next screen, you will be allowed to restrict your search by language and document type. Under the document type limit, you will see the option for book review. Highlight it, and then click on the search button. Once you find the citations you need, go back to the CAT to find out if Penn State owns the Journals in question.

Print Resources

Book Review Digest
Access to this nearly century old print source is by author, title, and subject. Excerpts of the reviews are included. It should be noted that the majority of the reviews indexed do not come from scholarly, academic journals.
Z1219.C96 Pattee, Arts & Humanities Reference - Stacks 2A
From volume 1 (1905)-To Date

Book Review Index
The Book Review Index culls reviews from over 500 periodicals. Author and title indexes are provided. No excerpts or ratings of the reviews are provided.
Z1035.A1B6 Pattee, Arts & Humanities Reference - Stacks 2A
(Latest 20 Year in Pattee, Arts & Humanities Indexes - 2nd Floor, W206)
From volume 1 (1965)-To Date