Secondary Sources for Literature
Fast Fact
What are Secondary Sources?
"The function of these is to interpret primary sources, and so can be described as at least one step removed from the event or phenomenon under review. Secondary source materials, then, interpret, assign values to, conjecture upon, and draw conclusions about the events reported in primary sources. These are usually in the form of published works such as journal articles or books, but may include radio or television documentaries, or conference proceedings."
from Essay Today
For a more detailed discusion of primary and secondary sources see this Wikipedia article.
Secondary Sources are required components of ISU English assignments. The resources below should help find quality book reviews. When using a regular search engine like Google, it's a good idea to include the word "review" or phrase "book review" in your search along with keywords from the title and author.
INFOTRAC
Select the sub-databases Expanded Academic ASAP, Student Edition, Academic OneFile, General OneFile and CPI.Q. (see librarian for password)
EBSCO
Select the sub-databases NoveList, EBSCOhost Web, Literary Reference Centre and Student Research Centre. (see librarian for password)
New York Times Book Reviews
One of the most respected book review sources, the reviews are usually written by experts in the field or other writers.
JURN (New)
Deep Web search of almost 2,000 scholarly / intellectual ejournals in the arts and humanities. Includes good critiques of books.
ReviewOfBooks.com (New)
This site provides "in house" reviews of new books and links to book reviews in other respectable sources.
Quill and Quire
This is the searchable online version of Q & Q, one of Canada's preeminent book reviewers. Most useful for Canadian books and authors.
Canadian Literature
The journal Canadian Literature provides short reviews of many Canadian books.
Google Books
The Google Book Search provides links to quality reviews and includes links to other resources that may be useful.
The Complete Review
This site is not easily searched and has a limited number of reviews, but there are links to other quality reviews.
enotes
A free version of a commercial database of literary criticism. Useful for general critical overviews of the author. Full access can be purchased for $9.95 US per month.