Reviews of novels, poems, short stories, plays, and movies are published in a wide variety of magazines, journals, and newspapers, but some publications provide reviews that are of a higher quality, and are more credible, than others.
Here are some general interest publications that typcially offer reviews written by well-respected scholars and critics of literarture and movies:
To find published reviews, you need to know the year that the version of the movie you are researching was released, or the year that the book was published. While the dates in this chart are not true for every situation, they can be used as starting points to determine whether to use print indexes or online databases to located published reviews.
Use this chart to help decide where to start looking for reviews:
|
To find reviews of |
Release date |
In this type of publication |
Use this Type of Index |
Index or Database Example |
|
Movies |
Before 1985 |
Magazines and journals |
Print index |
Readers’ Guide to Periodical
Literature |
|
|
|
Newspapers |
|
New York Times Index |
|
|
After 1985 |
Magazines and journals |
Database |
Academic Search Complete
Ebsco Masterfile Premiere
ProQuest Platinum |
|
|
|
Newspapers |
|
Custom Newspapers
Newspaper Source Plus |
|
Literature |
Before 1985 |
Magazines and journals |
Print Index |
Readers’ Guide to Periodical
Literature
Book Review Digest |
|
|
|
Newspapers |
|
New York Times Index |
|
|
After 1985 |
Magazines and Journals |
Database |
Literature Resources from Gale
Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature |
|
|
|
|
|
Newspaper Source Plus Lexis Nexis |
|
|
|
|
|
|