To find reviews of scholarly books,

1. Search the following databases.
2. Go to one of the subject pages listed at the bottom of this page and search a subject-specific index.

• Academic Search Premier
  (1975 to present) Includes citations to reviews in popular periodicals, some scholarly journals, and several national newspapers.
  To find book reviews:
  • Enter key words from the title of the book and then add the phrase "book review"
  Search syntax:
  • Truncation: use an asterisk *
  • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "
  • Wildcard: use a question mark ?

• JSTOR
  Provides the full text of older issues of scholarly journals; does not include articles from the most recent 3-5 years.
  To find book reviews:
  • Enter key words from the title of the book
  • Select appropriate disciplines or journals
  • At the bottom of the search page, under the heading "Refine your search," limit by the type "Reviews."

• OmniFile Full Text Mega
  (1982 to present) Indexes articles from over 3,000 scholarly and popular periodicals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences; also includes the full text of selected articles from over 1,650 of these periodicals.
  Note: OmniFile contains all of the information (1982 to present) in six Wilson databases: Education Abstracts, General Science Abstracts, Humanities Abstracts, Readers' Guide Abstracts, Social Sciences Abstracts, and Wilson Business Abstracts.
  If you need to find a review of a humanities or social sciences book published before the early 1980s, search the full Humanities Abstracts or Social Sciences Abstracts databases, which go back to 1907.
  To find book reviews:
  • In the first entry box, enter key words from the title of the book; keep the default search type "All - Smart Search."
  • In the second entry box, type "book review" and choose "document type" from the drop-down menu.
  Search syntax:
  • Truncation: unnecessary when using "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use an asterisk *
  • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks ""
  • Wildcard: do not use with "All - Smart Search"; otherwise, use a question mark ?

• Periodicals Index Online
  (c. 1665-1995) Includes book reviews and criticism.
  To find book reviews:
  • Enter the title of the book
  • At the right-hand side of the search page, select the "book reviews" radio button and deselect the "articles" radio button
  Search syntax:
  • Truncation: use an asterisk *
  • Phrase searching: automatic.

Depending on the topic, you may also wish to try:

• Project Muse
  (c. mid-1990s to present) Contains full-text book reviews from a collection of journals published by university and scholarly presses.
  To find book reviews:
  • Enter key words from the title of the book and then, towards the bottom of the search page, limit your search by the type "Review."
  Search Syntax:
  • Truncation: use an asterisk *
  • Phrase searching: use double quotation marks " "