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APA Citation Guide (7th edition) CGS

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Book Review From Library Database (No Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Name of Journal ,  Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi.org/DOI-number  (if given)

For more information on how to cite Book Reviews in APA 7, refer to pages 334-335 of the Publication Manual of the APA located at the circulation desk.

Book Review from a Website (with Title)

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of Review. [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Title of Website , URL

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Book Reviews

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On This Page: Book Reviews

Book review - no title, book review - title refers to book being reviewed, book review - title doesn't refer to book being reviewed, abbreviating months.

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Author's Last Name, First Name. Review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Name Last Name.  Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number.  Name of Database . https://doi.org/DOI Number if Given.

 Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source after the name of the book's author.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number.  Name of Database . https://doi.org/DOI Number if Given.

 Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Review of  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any,  by Book Author's First Name Last Name .   Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . https://doi.org/DOI Number if Given. 

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Organizing Research for Arts and Humanities Papers and Theses

• General Guide Information
• Developing a Topic
• What are Primary and Secondary Sources
• What are Scholarly and Non-Scholarly Sources
• Writing an Abstract
• Writing Academic Book Reviews
• Writing A Literature Review
• Using Images and other Media

Purpose of a Book Review

Note: This information is geared toward researchers in the arts and humanities. For a detailed guide on writing book reviews in the social sciences, please check the USC Libraries guide to  Writing and Organizing Research in the Social Sciences , authored by Dr. Robert Labaree.

When writing an academic book review, start with a bibliographic citation of the book you are reviewing [e.g., author, title, publication information, length]. Adhere to a particular citation style, such as Chicago, MLA, or APA.  Put your name at the very end of the book review text.

The basic purpose of a book review is to convey and evaluate the following:

a.     what the book is about;

b.     the expertise of the author(s);

c.     how well the book covers its topic(s) and whether it breaks new ground;

d.     the author’s viewpoint, methodology, or perspective;

e.     the appropriateness of the evidence to the topical scope of the book;

f.      the intended audience;

g.     the arrangement of the book (chapters, illustrations) and the quality of the scholarly apparatus, such as notes and bibliographies.

Point "c. how well the book covers its topics and whether it breaks new ground" requires your engagement with the book, and can be approached in a variety of ways. The question of whether the book breaks new ground does not necessarily refer to some radical or overarching notion of originality in the author’s argument. A lot of contemporary scholarship in the arts or humanities is not about completely reorienting the discipline, nor is it usually about arguing a thesis that has never been argued before. If an author does that, that's wonderful, and you, as a book reviewer, must look at the validity of the methods that contextualize the author's new argument.

It is more likely that the author of a scholarly book will look at the existing evidence with a finer eye for detail, and use that detail to amplify and add to existing scholarship. The author may present new evidence or a new "reading" of the existing evidence, in order to refine scholarship and to contribute to current debate. Or the author may approach existing scholarship, events, and prevailing ideas from a more nuanced perspective, thus re-framing the debate within the discipline.

The task of the book reviewer is to “tease out” the book’s themes, explain them in the review, and apply a well-argued judgment on the appropriateness of the book’s argument(s) to the existing scholarship in the field.

For example, you are reviewing a book on the history of the development of public libraries in nineteenth century America. The book includes a chapter on the role of patronage by affluent women in endowing public libraries in the mid-to-late-1800s. In this chapter, the author argues that the role of women was overlooked in previous scholarship because most of them were widows who made their financial bequests to libraries in the names of their husbands. The author argues that the history of public library patronage, and moreover, of cultural patronage, should be re-read and possibly re-framed given the evidence presented in this chapter. As a book reviewer you will be expected to evaluate this argument and the underlying scholarship.

There are two common types of academic book reviews: short summary reviews, which are descriptive, and essay-length critical reviews. Both types are described further down.

[Parenthetically, writing an academic/scholarly book review may present an opportunity to get published.]

Short summary book reviews

For a short, descriptive review, include at least the following elements:

a.     the bibliographic citation for the book;

b.     the purpose of the book;

c.     a summary of main theme(s) or key points;

d.     if there is space, a brief description of the book’s relationship to other books on the same topic or to pertinent scholarship in the field.

e.     note the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);

f.     your name and affiliation.

Critical or essay-length book reviews

For a critical, essay-length book review consider including the following elements, depending on their relevance to your assignment:

b.     an opening statement that ought to peak the reader’s interest in the book under review

c.     a section that points to the author’s main intentions;

d.     a section that discusses the author’s ideas and the book’s thesis within a scholarly perspective. This should be a critical assessment of the book within the larger scholarly discourse;

e.     if you found errors in the book, point the major ones and explain their significance. Explain whether they detract from the thesis and the arguments made in the book;

f.     state the book's place within a strand of scholarship and summarize its importance to the discipline;

g.    include information about the author's affiliation and authority, as well as the physical content of the book, such as visual materials (photographs, illustrations, graphs) and the presence of scholarly apparatus (table of contents, index, bibliography, footnotes, endnotes, credit for visual materials);

h.     indicate the intended readership of the book and whether the author succeeds in engaging the audience on the appropriate level;

i.     your name and affiliation.

Good examples of essay-length reviews may be found in the scholarly journals included in the JSTOR collection, in the New York Review of Books , and similar types of publications, and in cultural publications like the New Yorker magazine.

Remember to keep track of your sources, regardless of the stage of your research. The USC Libraries have an excellent guide to  citation styles  and to  citation management software . 

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Chicago Manual of Style (17th ed.)

• Single Author
• Editor or Translator Instead of Author
• Mutiple Authors/Editors/Translators
• Authors plus Editor or Translator
• Chapter in an Edited Book
• Chapter in a Single Author Book
• Chapter Originally Published Elsewhere
• Book in a Series
• Book with Multiple Editions
• Book with Volumes
• Online Book
• Electronic Book
• Co-Publishers
• Preface, Afterword, Foreword, or Introduction
• Corporate Author
• Electronic Journal Article
• Multiple Authors
• Magazine Article
• Newspaper Article
• Regular Column
• Letter to the Editor

Book Review

• Website Content
• Social Media
• Well-Known Dictionary or Encyclopedia
• Lesser-Known Dictionary or Encyclopedia
• Heavily Authored Dictionary or Encyclopedia
• Online Dictionary or Encyclopedia
• Published or Broadcast Interview
• Personal Communication
• Online Video
• Online Recording of Speech or Performance
• Musical Recording
• DVD or Videocassette
• Scriptural Reference
• Classical Reference
• Legal and Public Documents

( Chicago Manual of Style 14.202)

Author, review of  Book Title , by Author of Book, Publication, Date of publication, DOI/URL(if online).

1. Christine M. Kreiser, review of Six Women of Salem: The Untold Story of the Accused and Their Accusers in the Salem Witch Trials , by Marilynne K. Roach, American History , April 2014, http://navigator-ship.passhe.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ahl&AN=94092898&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

Helpful Hints

When citing a book review, first include the author, then the book title with its authors or editors. Then continue to cite following the guidelines for the specific type of periodical it is in. For example, this review is from a magazine, so there is no bibliographic entry.

I using an electronic version of an article a DOI is preferred to a URL, but if using a URL, you must use the address that appears when you are viewing the article, unless there is a shorter more stable one available. (See 14.6-14.8 for more).

Note that there is a space following the colon before the page numbers.

See 14.18 for more information on where to put line breaks for URLs or DOIs.

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MLA Citation Guide (9th Edition): Book Reviews

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On This Page

Book review - no title.

• Title Refers to Book being Reviewed
• Title Doesn't Refer to Book being Reviewed

Note : For your Works Cited list, all citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Author's Last Name, First Name. Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.

Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source after the name of the book's author.

Khovanova, Tanya. Review of  Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality , by Edward Frenkel.  The College Mathematics Journal , vol. 45, no. 3, May 2014, pp. 230-231. JSTOR . doi: www.jstor.org/stable/10.4169/college.math.j.45.3.230.

(Author's Last Name Page Number)

Example: (Khovanova 230)

Learn more: See the  MLA Handbook , pp. 28-29

Book Review - Title Refers to Book being Reviewed

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given.

Note : If the book review is from a source other than an article in the library's database, view the appropriate section on the MLA guide to determine how to cite the source.

Grosholz, Emily R. "Book Review: Realizing Reason: A Narrative of Truth and Knowledge by Danielle Macbeth." Journal of Humanistic Mathematics , vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 263-275, Academic Search Complete . doi: 10.5642/jhummath.20170120.

Example: (Grosholz 264)

Book Review - Title Doesn't Refer to Book being Reviewed

Author's Last Name, First Name. "Title of Review." Review of Title of Book: Subtitle if Any by Book Author's First Name Last Name. Name of Journal , vol. Volume Number, no. Issue Number, Date of Publication, pp. First Page Number-Last Page Number. Name of Database . doi: DOI Number if Given. 

Rodriques, Elias. "Lonesome for our Home." Review of Barraccon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo", by Zora Neale Hurston. Nation , vol. 306, no. 18, 18 June 2018, pp. 35-39. MAS Ultra - School Edition .

Example: (Rodriques 35)

MLA Handbook

Abbreviating Months

In your works cited list, abbreviate months as follows: 

January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Spell out months fully in the body of your paper. 

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Using the Library

• Library Catalogue

Subject Guides

Project guides, digital resources, reading lists, quick access.

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Chicago 17th edition notes and bibliography

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Book review

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APA Citation Style 7th Edition: Book Reviews

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On This Page: Book Reviews

Book review from library database (no title), book review from a website (with title).

Hanging Indents:

All citations should be double spaced and have a hanging indent in a Reference List.

A "hanging indent" means that each subsequent line after the first line of your citation should be indented by 0.5 inches.

Hyperlinks:

Both blue underlined (live) hyperlinks and black without underlining are both acceptable.

All hyperlinks must include https://

Do not put a period after DOIs or hyperlinks.

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name].  Name of Journal , Volume Number (Issue Number), first page number-last page number. https://doi number if given

For more information on how to cite Book Reviews in APA 7, refer to pages 334-335 of the Publication Manual of the APA located at the circulation desk.

Author of Review's Last Name, First Initial. (Year of Publication). Title of Review. [Review of the book  Title of Book: Subtitle if Any , by Book Author's First Initial. Second Initial if Given Last Name]. Title of Website , URL

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• Study and research support
• Referencing
• Leeds Harvard referencing examples

Book review

Leeds harvard: book review, reference examples.

If referencing a book review that has been published in a journal or magazine, use the following format:

Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of book review. Journal Title . Volume (issue number), page numbers.

Smith, G. 2014. A second anthology by Kathy Lette. Yorkshire Review . 51 (1), pp.88-89.

If the book review has been published in a book, use the following format:

Family name, INITIAL(S). Year. Title of book review. In: Family name, INITIAL(S) (of editor). ed(s). Title of book . Place of publication: Publisher, page numbers.

Smith, G. 2014. A second anthology by Kathy Lette. In: Jones, B. ed. The bumper book of reviews . Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, pp.3-14.

Citation examples

In the citation use the name of the author of the book review.

When the author name is not mentioned in the text, the citation consists of the author’s name and the year of publication in brackets.

Lette's anthology received praise for including a diverse range of authors (Smith, 2014).

If you have already named the author in the text, only the publication year needs to be mentioned in brackets.

Smith (2014) praised Lette’s anthology for including a diverse range of authors.

When to include page numbers

You should include page numbers in your citation if you quote directly from the text, paraphrase specific ideas or explanations, or use an image, diagram, table, etc. from a source.

"It was emphasised that citations in a text should be consistent" (Jones, 2017, p.24).

When referencing a single page, you should use p. For a range of pages, use pp.

p.7 or pp.20-29.

If the page numbers are in Roman numerals, do not include p. before them.

(Amis, 1958, iv)

Common issues

When you're referencing with Leeds Harvard you may come across issues with missing details, multiple authors, edited books, references to another author's work or online items, to name a few. Here are some tips on how to deal with some common issues when using Leeds Harvard.

Skip straight to the issue that affects you:

• Online items
• URL web addresses
• Multiple authors
• Corporate author(s) or organisation(s)
• Multiple publisher details
• Editions and reprints
• Missing details
• Multiple sources with different authors
• Sources written by the same author in the same year
• Sources with the same author in different years
• Two authors with the same surname in the same year
• The work of one author referred to by another
• Anonymising sources for confidentiality
• Identifying the authors’ family name (surname)

Citation Help for MLA, 8th Edition: Book Review

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Month Abbreviations

According to p. 95 of the MLA Handbook  8th ed. Spell out months in the body of your paper and abbreviate as follows in your works cited list: January = Jan. February = Feb. March = Mar. April = Apr. May = May June = June July = July August = Aug. September = Sept. October = Oct. November = Nov. December = Dec.

Multiple Authors?

Example: McGill, Ivan, John Kurt Glenn, and Alice  Brockbank. The Action Learning Handbook: Powerful Techniques for Education . Rutledge Falmer, 2014.

Explanation: List the first author last name first followed by the first and middle names followed by a comma. All other authors are listed first name followed by the last name. Insert the word "and" and a comma before the last author. Note: If there are more than three authors, just list the first one followed by et al., which is Latin for and others . There is a period after al but not et. Example: Nelson, Karl, et al. Fish Is for Everyone . Penguin Press, 2016. 

Bell, Madison Smartt. "Are You My Mother?" Review of Let the Northern Lights Erase Your       Name , by Vendela Vida. The New York Times Book Review, 31 Dec. 2016, p. 10.

Explanation

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Book Reviews: A Finding Guide: Online Resources

• Introduction

Online Resources

• Print Resources
• Resources by Date
• Need Help? Ask A Librarian
• Academic Search Premier (EBSCO) Covers 1975 to date with some earlier coverage. Academic Search Premier indexes more than 13,000 journals and magazines with the full text of 4,700 titles. To limit your search to reviews, on the Advanced Search page, under Document Type, you can choose Book Reviews.
• Amazon Free online resource. Date coverage unknown. Primarily a bookselling site, Amazon.com sometimes includes the full text of some published book reviews--"Editorial reviews". Their "Search inside the book" function allows viewing of selected, scanned pages--usually the covers, table of contents, index, and an excerpt from the main text. Also includes user reviews, of highly variable quality and usefulness. Overall, a very useful site for evaluating recent trade and academic books. Access to the scanned table of contents and index is very useful for nonfiction titles.
• America: History & Life Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. Covers 1954 to date. Book reviews in U.S. and Canadian history only. Indexes about 6,000 book and media reviews from over one hundred academic journals. NB: there are no reviews in the sister database, Historical Abstracts. To limit your search to reviews, enter the book title in quotes in the default Advanced Search box.
• Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature (ABELL) (Part of ProQuest One Literature ) Covers 1920 to date. "ABELL, which can be accessed via the Criticism screen in Literature Online's Search: Criticism and Reference, contains more than 860,000 records covering monographs, periodical articles, critical editions of literary works, book reviews , collections of essays and doctoral dissertations published anywhere in the world; unpublished doctoral dissertations are covered for the period 1920-1999. The bibliography consists of 77 volumes, beginning in 1920 and issued annually; a number of items published between 1892 and 1919 have been indexed retrospectively. All aspects and periods of English literature are covered, from Anglo-Saxon times to the present day. British, American and Commonwealth writing are all represented. Coverage is international.
• Articles & Full Text This powerful search engine works across many databases and pulls together a wide variety of resources. Enter a book title in the search box to find reviews.
• ATLA Religion Database [S.l.]: American Theological Library Association. Covers 1949 to date. Book reviews in religion only. Incorporates the printed Index to Book Reviews in Religion (IBRR). Primarily academic titles. Book Review Digest Plus is canceled. For online searching, use Academic Search Premier's Advanced Search and choose Book Reviews under Document Type.
• Bowker's Books in Print New York: R. R. Bowker. Coverage limited to titles in print or recently out of print. A database of bibliographic records for books, audiotapes, and videos from over 44,000 North American publishers. Many records include full-text reviews. Titles with reviews are starred. Click on the book title to open the record, then click on the "Professional reviews" link at left. The full record also may have synopses/annotations, book jacket text, media mentions, and a list of awards.
• caa. reviews (College Art Association) Coverage begins online in September, 1998 . caa.reviews "publishes timely scholarly and critical reviews of studies and projects in all areas and periods of art history, visual studies, and the fine arts, providing peer review for the disciplines served by the College Art Association. Publications and projects reviewed include books, articles, exhibitions, conferences, digital scholarship, and other works as appropriate" [Mission Statement]
• Cairn.info: cherchez, repérer, avance French-language collection of journals and magazines. To find books reviewed, search the title of the book.
• Choice A searchable journal of reliable reviews of academic books for community college, college, and university libraries. Covers 01/01/2011 to date. Older reviews are available in the print version . Published by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL).
• IBR: International Bibliography of Book Reviews. Osnabrück, Germany: F. Dietrich. Covers 1988 to date; see the print version (Olin Stacks + AI 9 .I612) for earlier coverage; print version canceled in 2011. Emphasis on reviews appearing in European social sciences and humanities journals. German or English interface. For coverage of 1911-1943, see Bibliographie der Rezensionen under the print resources section in this guide.
• JSTOR: The Scholarly Journal Archive A large collection of searchable and browseable full-text scholarly journals. Covers from the beginning of the journal (earliest is 1665) up to within two to five years of the present [the "moving wall": https://support.jstor.org/hc/en-us/articles/115004879547-About-the-Moving-Wall ]. To find book reviews, select Advanced Search . In the Advanced Search page, type one or two keywords from the book title in the first search box. Under Narrow Your Search to "These Types," check the Review box. Click Search.
• Latin American Newsstream ProQuest Coverage and format: Mostly mid 2000s to date, some coverage from the late 1990s. Plain text. In English, French, Guarani, Portuguese, and Spanish. 92 titles from Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
• Latino Book Review Covers 2019 to date.
• Library Literature & Information Science Index Covers book reviews in library and information science periodicals published in the United States and elsewhere. Indexing starts in 1981.
• London Review of Books Covers 1979 to date.
• New York Review of Books Covers February 1, 1963 to date.
• New York Times Book Review Covers January 3, 1988 to date . Access via the ProQuest publications list.
• Oxford Bibliographies [Online] Oxford University Press. Offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies (essentially thumbnail reviews) of books and journals on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas. There are at least 50 specific topical bibliographies in each subject area. Each of these features an introduction to the topic. Bibliographies are browseable by subject area and keyword searchable. Contains a "My OBO" function that allows users to create personalized bibliographies of individual citations from different bibliographies.
• Periodicals Index Online [was PCI: Periodical Contents Index] Covers 1770-1993. Searches can be restricted to book reviews only. Click the box under "Scope" on the search page. Provides comprehensive indexing to the contents of 4,250 periodicals in the humanities and social sciences, from their first issues (some as far back as the 18th and 19th centuries) to 1993. The scope is international, including journals in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and other Western languages. Journals that are indexed in PCI which have full text available in JSTOR are linked at article level.
• Project MUSE Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Coverage varies by title, beginning no earlier than 1993, and running through the current issue. Project MUSE covers the full text of over 200 journals in literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and others. To find book reviews, choose Advanced Search and use the pulldown menu under Limit Search and By Type to select Review.
• ProQuest Digitized Newspapers Links to 36 major and regional U.S., Canadian, and UK newspapers, including the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. Coverage starts from 1/1/2008 with a three-month embargo on full text.
• ProQuest Historical Newspapers Coverage varies by title but begins with the first year of publication. Full image access to reviews appearing in major U.S. and international newspapers. Useful for access to the drawings and illustrations that sometimes accompany New York Times reviews as well as reviews in Le Monde, the Irish Times, and the Globe and Mail. Searches by document type can only be limited to "reviews." This includes theatrical and musical reviews.
• ProQuest Recent Newspapers: Regional Collections Links to five multi-title regional newspaper collections covering 30 newspapers in all. Coverage starts from either 1/1/2008, 1/1/2009, 1/1/2010, 1/1/2011, or 1/1/2012 with a two-week to three-month embargo on full text.
• ProQuest Research Library Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Coverage varies . Indexes general interest magazines and scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities, and sciences. Also included are citations and abstracts for some newspapers and selected television and radio programs. The full text of some articles is provided. Under Document type you can click Reviews to limit your search results.
• Reader's Guide Retrospective,1890 to 1982 Bronx, NY: H.W. Wilson and Ipswich, MA: EBSCO Publishing. Book reviews appearing in popular magazines. Entries are sometimes labeled Book Review or Review. Beware of alternate spellings of international authors' names.
• Reference Reviews Europe Online Firenze: Casalini Libri. Covers 1994 to 2014 . "Each year Reference Reviews Europe offers around 300 English-language reviews of European reference titles. The journal is published in two forms: the electronic Reference Reviews Europe Online (RREO) and the printed Reference Reviews Europe Annual (RREA) (Uris Z 1002 .R32, 1995-, latest volume in Olin Reference). Much of the content consists of abstracts in English of reviews that originally appeared in the German journal Informationsmittel : IFB (IFB) [previous title Informationsmittel für Bibliotheken ]. IFB, edited by Klaus Schreiber of the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart, and formerly published by the Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut in Berlin, currently is available only online. Since its inception in 1993, it has reviewed more than 500 titles per year, covering reference materials in all subjects and formats. Although German-language publications predominate in IFB, titles in other European languages, including French, Icelandic, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish are also covered. The reviewers for IFB are mostly German librarians and academics. The abstractors for Reference Reviews Europe are mainly North American librarians." [adapted from the RREO Website ]
• Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive Covers 1902 to 2014 .
• TLS, the Times Literary Supplement Covers 2010 to date via Exact Editions.
• Web of Science Core Collection Philadelphia: Institute for Scientific Information. Web of Science Core Collection includes Science Citation Index (1945 to date) , Social Sciences Citation Index (1956 to date) , Arts & Humanities Citation Index (1975 to date) , and more. A multi-disciplinary set of databases indexing thousands of titles. To limit your search to book reviews, select Advanced Search and highlight "Book review" in the box under "Restrict search by languages and document types."
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• Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 2:10 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/bookreviews

CITATION QUICK GUIDE

Notes and Bibliography: Sample Citations

The following examples illustrate the notes and bibliography style. Sample notes show full citations followed by shortened forms that would be used after the first citation. Sample bibliography entries follow the notes. For more details and many more examples, see chapters 16 and 17 of Turabian. (For examples of the same citations using the author-date system, go to Author-Date: Sample Citations .)

1. Katie Kitamura, A Separation (New York: Riverhead Books, 2017), 25.

2. Sharon Sassler and Amanda Jayne Miller, Cohabitation Nation: Gender, Class, and the Remaking of Relationships (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017), 114.

SHORTENED NOTES

3. Kitamura, Separation , 91–92.

4. Sassler and Miller, Cohabitation Nation , 205.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRIES (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Kitamura, Katie. A Separation . New York: Riverhead Books, 2017.

Sassler, Sharon, and Amanda Jayne Miller. Cohabitation Nation: Gender, Class, and the Remaking of Relationships . Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.

CHAPTER OR OTHER PART OF AN EDITED BOOK

In a note, cite specific pages. In the bibliography, include the page range for the chapter or part.

1. Mary Rowlandson, “The Narrative of My Captivity,” in The Making of the American Essay , ed. John D’Agata (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016), 19–20.

SHORTENED NOTE

2. Rowlandson, “Captivity,” 48.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ENTRY

Rowlandson, Mary. “The Narrative of My Captivity.” In The Making of the American Essay , edited by John D’Agata, 19–56. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016.

To cite an edited book as a whole, list the editor(s) first.

1. John D’Agata, ed., The Making of the American Essay (Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016), 19–20.

2. D’Agata, American Essay, 48.

D’Agata, John, ed. The Making of the American Essay. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press, 2016.

TRANSLATED BOOK

1. Jhumpa Lahiri, In Other Words , trans. Ann Goldstein (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016), 146.

2. Lahiri, In Other Words , 184.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. In Other Words . Translated by Ann Goldstein. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2016.

For books consulted online, include a URL or the name of the database. For other types of e-books, name the format. If no fixed page numbers are available, cite a section title or a chapter or other number in the notes or, if possible, track down a version with fixed page numbers.

1. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment , trans. Constance Garnett, ed. William Allan Neilson (New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1917), 444, https://archive.org/details/crimepunishment00dostuoft.

2. Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001), 88, ProQuest Ebrary.

3. Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (New York: Penguin Classics, 2007), chap. 3, Kindle.

4. Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment , 504–5.

5. Schlosser, Fast Food Nation , 100.

6. Austen, Pride and Prejudice , chap. 14.

Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice . New York: Penguin Classics, 2007. Kindle.

Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment . Translated by Constance Garnett, edited by William Allan Neilson. New York: P. F. Collier & Son, 1917. https://archive.org/details/crimepunishment00dostuoft.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal . Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. ProQuest Ebrary.

THESIS OR DISSERTATION

1. Guadalupe Navarro-Garcia, “Integrating Social Justice Values in Educational Leadership: A Study of African American and Black University Presidents” (PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2016), 44, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

2. Navarro-Garcia, “Social Justice Values,” 125–26.

Navarro-Garcia, Guadalupe. “Integrating Social Justice Values in Educational Leadership: A Study of African American and Black University Presidents.” PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2016. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

JOURNAL ARTICLE

In a note, cite specific page numbers. In the bibliography, include the page range for the whole article. For articles consulted online, include a URL or the name of the database. Many journal articles list a DOI (Digital Object Identifier). A DOI forms a permanent URL that begins https://doi.org/. This URL is preferable to the URL that appears in your browser’s address bar.

1. Ashley Hope Pérez, “Material Morality and the Logic of Degrees in Diderot’s Le neveu de Rameau ,” Modern Philology 114, no. 4 (May 2017): 874, https://doi.org/10.1086/689836.

2. Shao-Hsun Keng, Chun-Hung Lin, and Peter F. Orazem, “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality,” Journal of Human Capital 11, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 9–10, https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

3. Peter LaSalle, “Conundrum: A Story about Reading,” New England Review 38, no. 1 (2017): 95, Project MUSE.

4. Pérez, “Material Morality,” 880–81.

5. Keng, Lin, and Orazem, “Expanding College Access,” 23.

6. LaSalle, “Conundrum,” 101.

Keng, Shao-Hsun, Chun-Hung Lin, and Peter F. Orazem. “Expanding College Access in Taiwan, 1978–2014: Effects on Graduate Quality and Income Inequality.” Journal of Human Capital 11, no. 1 (Spring 2017): 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/690235.

LaSalle, Peter. “Conundrum: A Story about Reading.” New England Review 38, no. 1 (2017): 95–109. Project MUSE.

Pérez, Ashley Hope. “Material Morality and the Logic of Degrees in Diderot’s Le neveu de Rameau .” Modern Philology 114, no. 4 (May 2017): 872–98. https://doi.org/10.1086/689836.

Journal articles often list many authors, especially in the sciences. If there are four or more authors, list up to ten in the bibliography; in a note, list only the first, followed by et al. (“and others”). For more than ten authors (not shown here), list the first seven in the bibliography, followed by et al.

7. Jesse N. Weber et al., “Resist Globally, Infect Locally: A Transcontinental Test of Adaptation by Stickleback and Their Tapeworm Parasite,” American Naturalist 189, no. 1 (January 2017): 45, https://doi.org/10.1086/689597.

8. Weber et al., “Resist Globally,” 48–49.

Weber, Jesse N., Martin Kalbe, Kum Chuan Shim, Noémie I. Erin, Natalie C. Steinel, Lei Ma, and Daniel I. Bolnick. “Resist Globally, Infect Locally: A Transcontinental Test of Adaptation by Stickleback and Their Tapeworm Parasite.” American Naturalist 189, no. 1 (January 2017): 43–57. https://doi.org/10.1086/689597.

NEWS OR MAGAZINE ARTICLE

Articles from newspapers or news sites, magazines, blogs, and the like are cited similarly. Page numbers, if any, can be cited in a note but are omitted from a bibliography entry. If you consulted the article online, include a URL or the name of the database.

1. Farhad Manjoo, “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera,” New York Times , March 8, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet-on-the-cultural-supremacy-of-the-camera.html.

2. Erin Anderssen, “Through the Eyes of Generation Z,” Globe and Mail (Toronto), June 25, 2016, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/through-the-eyes-of-generation-z/article30571914/.

3. Rob Pegoraro, “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple,” Washington Post , July 5, 2007, LexisNexis Academic.

4. Vinson Cunningham, “You Don’t Understand: John McWhorter Makes His Case for Black English,” New Yorker , May 15, 2017, 85.

5. Dara Lind, “Moving to Canada, Explained,” Vox , September 15, 2016, http://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11608830/move-to-canada-how.

6. Manjoo, “Snap.”

7. Anderssen, “Generation Z.”

8. Pegoraro, “Apple’s iPhone.”

9. Cunningham, “Black English,” 86.

10. Lind, “Moving to Canada.”

Anderssen, Erin. “Through the Eyes of Generation Z.” Globe and Mail (Toronto), June 25, 2016. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/through-the-eyes-of-generation-z/article30571914/.

Cunningham, Vinson. “You Don’t Understand: John McWhorter Makes His Case for Black English.” New Yorker , May 15, 2017.

Lind, Dara. “Moving to Canada, Explained.” Vox , September 15, 2016. http://www.vox.com/2016/5/9/11608830/move-to-canada-how.

Manjoo, Farhad. “Snap Makes a Bet on the Cultural Supremacy of the Camera.” New York Times , March 8, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/technology/snap-makes-a-bet-on-the-cultural-supremacy-of-the-camera.html.

Pegoraro, Rob. “Apple’s iPhone Is Sleek, Smart and Simple.” Washington Post , July 5, 2007. LexisNexis Academic.

Readers’ comments are cited in the text or in a note but omitted from a bibliography.

11. Eduardo B (Los Angeles), March 9, 2017, comment on Manjoo, “Snap.”

BOOK REVIEW

1. Fernanda Eberstadt, “Gone Guy: A Writer Leaves His Wife, Then Disappears in Greece,” review of A Separation , by Katie Kitamura, New York Times , February 15, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/books/review/separation-katie-kitamura.html.

2. Eberstadt, “Gone Guy.”

Eberstadt, Fernanda. “Gone Guy: A Writer Leaves His Wife, Then Disappears in Greece.” Review of A Separation , by Katie Kitamura. New York Times , February 15, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/books/review/separation-katie-kitamura.html.

WEBSITE CONTENT

Web pages and other website content can be cited as shown here. For a source that does not list a date of publication, posting, or revision, include an access date (as in the Columbia example).

1. “Privacy Policy,” Privacy & Terms, Google, last modified April 17, 2017, https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

2. “History,” Columbia University, accessed May 15, 2017, http://www.columbia.edu/content/history.html.

3. Google, “Privacy Policy.”

4. Columbia University, “History.”

Columbia University. “History.” Accessed May 15, 2017. http://www.columbia.edu/content/history.html.

Google. “Privacy Policy.” Privacy & Terms. Last modified April 17, 2017. https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT

1. Kory Stamper, “From ‘F-Bomb’ to ‘Photobomb,’ How the Dictionary Keeps Up with English,” interview by Terry Gross, Fresh Air , NPR, April 19, 2017, audio, 35:25, http://www.npr.org/2017/04/19/524618639/from-f-bomb-to-photobomb-how-the-dictionary-keeps-up-with-english.

2. Beyoncé, “Sorry,” directed by Kahlil Joseph and Beyoncé Knowles, June 22, 2016, music video, 4:25, https://youtu.be/QxsmWxxouIM.

3. Stamper, interview.

4. Beyoncé, “Sorry.”

Beyoncé. “Sorry.” Directed by Kahlil Joseph and Beyoncé Knowles. June 22, 2016. Music video, 4:25. https://youtu.be/QxsmWxxouIM.

Stamper, Kory. “From ‘F-Bomb’ to ‘Photobomb,’ How the Dictionary Keeps Up with English.” Interview by Terry Gross. Fresh Air , NPR, April 19, 2017. Audio, 35:25. http://www.npr.org/2017/04/19/524618639/from-f-bomb-to-photobomb-how-the-dictionary-keeps-up-with-english.

SOCIAL MEDIA CONTENT

Citations of content shared through social media can usually be limited to the text (as in the first example below). A note may be added if a more formal citation is needed or to include a link. In rare cases, a bibliography entry may also be appropriate. In place of a title, quote up to the first 160 characters of the post. Comments are cited in reference to the original post.

Sloane Crosley offers the following advice: “How to edit: Attack a sentence. Write in the margins. Toss in some arrows. Cross out words. Rewrite them. Circle the whole mess and STET” (@askanyone, Twitter, May 8, 2017).

NOTES 

1. Pete Souza (@petesouza), “President Obama bids farewell to President Xi of China at the conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit,” Instagram photo, April 1, 2016, https://www.instagram.com/p/BDrmfXTtNCt/.

2. Chicago Manual of Style, “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993,” Facebook, April 17, 2015, https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

SHORTENED NOTES 

3. Souza, “President Obama.”

4. Michele Truty, April 17, 2015, 1:09 p.m., comment on Chicago Manual of Style, “singular they.”

Chicago Manual of Style. “Is the world ready for singular they? We thought so back in 1993.” Facebook, April 17, 2015. https://www.facebook.com/ChicagoManual/posts/10152906193679151.

PERSONAL COMMUNICATION

Personal interviews, correspondence, and other types of personal communications—including email and text messages and direct messages sent through social media—are usually cited in the text or in a note only; they are rarely included in a bibliography.

1. Sam Gomez, Facebook message to author, August 1, 2017.

2. Interview with home health aide, July 31, 2017.

WashU Libraries

Book reviews and bibliography.

• Books in the News
• Book History

Bibliographies - Online

• American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies (ABSEES)
• ARTbibliographies Modern (ABM)
• Bibliographic Project on Antisemitism, Felix Posen more... less... The bibliography includes works published throughout the world about antisemitism -- books, dissertations, master's theses, and articles from periodicals and collections. The project has two parts: the ongoing Annotated Bibliography/Database on Antisemitism (1965- present), and the The "Jewish Question" in German-Speaking Countries,(1848-1914) New material is currently being added up to 1933. These excellent databases contain works on all aspects of Jewish life beyond the topic of antisemitism.
• Bibliography of Asian Studies
• Bibliography of British and Irish History
• Bibliography of English Women Writers 1500-1640
• Bibliography of the History of Art (BHA)
• Book History Online more... less... "BHO is a database in English on the history of the printed book and libraries. It contains titles of books and articles on the history of the printed book worldwide. It is based on ABHB, the Annual Bibliography of the History of the printed Book and Libraries. This annual book publication (published under the auspices of the Committee on Rare Books and Manuscripts of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) is produced in collaboration with editors in more than 30 countries.... BHO contains all ABHB entries from 1990 onwards."
• Buchhandel.de German books in print and more.
• ESRI Bibliography more... less... Covers the literature of geographic information systems, science, and technology. It indexes journals, conference proceedings, books, and reports from the origins of GIS to the present.
• European Writers (1983-1991)
• Gale Directory Library Includes the Publishers' Directory and Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media.
• Global Books In Print
• International Aristotle Bibliography
• International Bibliographic Database on Higher Education (HEDBIB) more... less... An integrated database offering more than 30.000 references on higher education systems, administration, planning and policy, costs and finances, evaluation of higher education, issues related to staff and students, cooperation, mobility and equivalences of degrees, curricula, teaching methods and learning.
• International Bibliography of Art (IBA)
• International Bibliography of Book Reviews Online (IBR) more... less... Contains over 990,000 entries for book reviews from the years 1985 onwards. International and interdisciplinary in scope, the reviews have been published primarily in Humanities and Social Science journals. Entries include both English and German subject headings. Updated on a monthly basis. Interface in English or German.
• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
• International Medieval Bibliography 3 concurrent users. Please logoff when finished.
• John Milton Bibliography
• Kew Bibliographic Databases Kew Record of Taxonomic Literaure (1971+), the Plant Micromorphology Bibliographic Database (1930+), and the Economic Botany Bibliographic Database (late 1800's-2003)
• Literary Research Guide, 6th edition (2014) Selective, annotated guide to reference sources essential to the study of British literature, literatures of the United States, other literatures in English, and related topics
• MLA International Bibliography
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Anthropology
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Atlantic History
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Biblical Studies
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Cinema and Media Studies
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Classics
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Islamic Studies
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Jewish Studies
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Medieval Studies
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Philosophy
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Renaissance and Reformation
• Oxford Bibliographies Online: Social Work
• Oxford Companion to the Book more... less... "The Oxford Companion to the Book is a unique work of reference, covering the book, broadly conceived, throughout the world from ancient to modern times. It includes traditional subjects such as bibliography, palaeography, the history of printing, editorial theory and practice, textual criticism, book collecting, and libraries, but it also engages with newer disciplines such as the history of the book and the electronic book. It pays particular attention to how different societies shape books and how books shape societies."

Bibliographies - Online - Journals

• Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ)
• International Bibliography of Periodical Literature (IBZ)
• MLA Directory of Periodicals Modern Language Association
• The Serials Directory EBSCO
• Ulrichsweb: Global Serials Directory Bowker

Bibliographies - Print

Bibliographies (catalog subject search)

You may also search the catalog by a specific subject followed by the word Bibliographies.

Book Reviews - Online

• Book Review Index
• New York Review of Books
• Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive (1902- )
• Academic Search Complete
• LexisNexis Academic
• Africa Review of Books (2004+)
• Anil Aggrawal's Internet Journal of Book Reviews more... less... "Includes reviews of books, multimedia, software, audio cassettes and other educational material on every conceivable subject."
• Black Issues Book Review (1999-2007)
• Children's Literature Review
• NUT Education Review more... less... "Publishes reviews of recent books in education, covering the entire range of education scholarship and practice."
• Lesbian Review of Books (1994-2002)
• Literature Resource Center more... less... Gale’s Literature Resource Center provides quick access to over 200,000 critical, biographical and contextual entries from Contemporary Authors, Dictionary of Literary Biography, and additional Gale Literature Criticism series; over 850,000 full-text articles, critical essays and reviews from more than 360 scholarly journals and literary magazines; and more.
• Magill Book Reviews more... less... Provide summaries of classic literature as well as current best sellers with 500 new reviews added each year.
• Philosophical Books (1997-2010)
• PsycCRITIQUES (1956 - 2017) This link opens in a new window
• The Black Book Review
• Translation Database:Three Percent
• Book Reviews (eBooks - catalog search)

Book Reviews - Print

Book Reviews (catalog subject search)

Book Review Digest  (1906-2004)

Book Review Index to Social Science Periodicals

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Humanities Journals, 1802-1974

Combined Retrospective Index to Book Reviews in Scholarly Journals, 1886-1974

Current Book Review Citations  (1976-1982)

Index to Book Reviews in England, 1749-1774

Index to Book Reviews in England, 1775-1800

Index to Book Reviews in Historical Periodicals  (1972-1977)

Index to Book Reviews in the Humanities  (1960-1990)

International bibliography of book reviews of scholarly literature chiefly in the fields of arts and humanities and the social sciences (IBR) (1996-2006)

Times Literary Supplement Index

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• Last Updated: Mar 1, 2024 10:00 AM
• URL: https://libguides.wustl.edu/books

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Writing a Book Review

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

This resource discusses book reviews and how to write them.

Book reviews typically evaluate recently-written works. They offer a brief description of the text’s key points and often provide a short appraisal of the strengths and weaknesses of the work.

Readers sometimes confuse book reviews with book reports, but the two are not identical. Book reports commonly describe what happens in a work; their focus is primarily on giving an account of the major plot, characters, and/or main idea of the work. Most often, book reports are a K-12 assignment and range from 250 to 500 words. If you are looking to write a book report, please see the OWL resource, Writing a Book Report.

By contrast, book reviews are most often a college assignment, but they also appear in many professional works: magazines, newspapers, and academic journals. They typically range from 500-750 words, but may be longer or shorter. A book review gives readers a sneak peek at what a book is like, whether or not the reviewer enjoyed it, and details on purchasing the book.

Before You Read

Before you begin to read, consider the elements you will need to included in your review. The following items may help:

• Author: Who is the author? What else has s/he written? Has this author won any awards? What is the author’s typical style?
• Genre: What type of book is this: fiction, nonfiction, romance, poetry, youth fiction, etc.? Who is the intended audience for this work? What is the purpose of the work?
• Title: Where does the title fit in? How is it applied in the work? Does it adequately encapsulate the message of the text? Is it interesting? Uninteresting?
• Preface/Introduction/Table of Contents: Does the author provide any revealing information about the text in the preface/introduction? Does a “guest author” provide the introduction? What judgments or preconceptions do the author and/or “guest author” provide? How is the book arranged: sections, chapters?
• Book Jacket/Cover/Printing: Book jackets are like mini-reviews. Does the book jacket provide any interesting details or spark your interest in some way? Are there pictures, maps, or graphs? Do the binding, page cut, or typescript contribute or take away from the work?

As You Read

As you read, determine how you will structure the summary portion or background structure of your review. Be ready to take notes on the book’s key points, characters, and/or themes.

• Characters: Are there characters in the work? Who are the principal characters? How do they affect the story? Do you empathize with them?
• Themes/Motifs/Style: What themes or motifs stand out? How do they contribute to the work? Are they effective or not? How would you describe this author’s particular style? Is it accessible to all readers or just some?
• Argument: How is the work’s argument set up? What support does the author give for her/findings? Does the work fulfill its purpose/support its argument?
• Key Ideas: What is the main idea of the work? What makes it good, different, or groundbreaking?
• Quotes: What quotes stand out? How can you demonstrate the author’s talent or the feel of the book through a quote?

When You Are Ready to Write

Begin with a short summary or background of the work, but do not give too much away. Many reviews limit themselves only to the first couple of chapters or lead the reader up to the rising action of the work. Reviewers of nonfiction texts will provide the basic idea of the book’s argument without too much detailed.

The final portion of your review will detail your opinion of the work. When you are ready to begin your review, consider the following:

• Establish a Background, Remember your Audience: Remember that your audience has not read the work; with this in mind, be sure to introduce characters and principles carefully and deliberately. What kind of summary can you provide of the main points or main characters that will help your readers gauge their interest? Does the author’s text adequately reach the intended audience? Will some readers be lost or find the text too easy?
• Minor principles/characters: Deal only with the most pressing issues in the book. You will not be able to cover every character or idea. What principles/characters did you agree or disagree with? What other things might the author have researched or considered?
• Organize: The purpose of the review is to critically evaluate the text, not just inform the readers about it. Leave plenty room for your evaluation by ensuring that your summary is brief. Determine what kind of balance to strike between your summary information and your evaluation. If you are writing your review for a class, ask your instructor. Often the ratio is half and half.
• Your Evaluation: Choose one or a few points to discuss about the book. What worked well for you? How does this work compare with others by the same author or other books in the same genre? What major themes, motifs, or terms does the book introduce, and how effective are they? Did the book appeal to you on an emotional or logical way?
• Publisher/Price: Most book reviews include the publisher and price of the book at the end of the article. Some reviews also include the year published and ISBN.

When making the final touches to your review, carefully verify the following:

• Double-check the spelling of the author name(s), character names, special terms, and publisher.
• Try to read from the vantage point of your audience. Is there too much/enough summary? Does your argument about the text make sense?
• Should you include direct quotes from the reading? Do they help support your arguments? Double-check your quotes for accuracy.

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• Knowledge Base
• Citing sources
• What Is an Annotated Bibliography? | Examples & Format

What Is an Annotated Bibliography? | Examples & Format

Published on March 9, 2021 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 23, 2022.

An annotated bibliography is a list of source references that includes a short descriptive text (an annotation) for each source. It may be assigned as part of the research process for a paper , or as an individual assignment to gather and read relevant sources on a topic.

Scribbr’s free Citation Generator allows you to easily create and manage your annotated bibliography in APA or MLA style. To generate a perfectly formatted annotated bibliography, select the source type, fill out the relevant fields, and add your annotation.

An example of an annotated source is shown below:

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Table of contents

Annotated bibliography format: apa, mla, chicago, how to write an annotated bibliography, descriptive annotation example, evaluative annotation example, reflective annotation example, finding sources for your annotated bibliography, frequently asked questions about annotated bibliographies.

Make sure your annotated bibliography is formatted according to the guidelines of the style guide you’re working with. Three common styles are covered below:

In APA Style , both the reference entry and the annotation should be double-spaced and left-aligned.

The reference entry itself should have a hanging indent . The annotation follows on the next line, and the whole annotation should be indented to match the hanging indent. The first line of any additional paragraphs should be indented an additional time.

In an MLA style annotated bibliography , the Works Cited entry and the annotation are both double-spaced and left-aligned.

The Works Cited entry has a hanging indent. The annotation itself is indented 1 inch (twice as far as the hanging indent). If there are two or more paragraphs in the annotation, the first line of each paragraph is indented an additional half-inch, but not if there is only one paragraph.

Chicago style

In a  Chicago style annotated bibliography , the bibliography entry itself should be single-spaced and feature a hanging indent.

The annotation should be indented, double-spaced, and left-aligned. The first line of any additional paragraphs should be indented an additional time.

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For each source, start by writing (or generating ) a full reference entry that gives the author, title, date, and other information. The annotated bibliography format varies based on the citation style you’re using.

The annotations themselves are usually between 50 and 200 words in length, typically formatted as a single paragraph. This can vary depending on the word count of the assignment, the relative length and importance of different sources, and the number of sources you include.

Consider the instructions you’ve been given or consult your instructor to determine what kind of annotations they’re looking for:

• Descriptive annotations : When the assignment is just about gathering and summarizing information, focus on the key arguments and methods of each source.
• Evaluative annotations : When the assignment is about evaluating the sources , you should also assess the validity and effectiveness of these arguments and methods.
• Reflective annotations : When the assignment is part of a larger research process, you need to consider the relevance and usefulness of the sources to your own research.

These specific terms won’t necessarily be used. The important thing is to understand the purpose of your assignment and pick the approach that matches it best. Interactive examples of the different styles of annotation are shown below.

A descriptive annotation summarizes the approach and arguments of a source in an objective way, without attempting to assess their validity.

In this way, it resembles an abstract , but you should never just copy text from a source’s abstract, as this would be considered plagiarism . You’ll naturally cover similar ground, but you should also consider whether the abstract omits any important points from the full text.

The interactive example shown below describes an article about the relationship between business regulations and CO 2 emissions.

Rieger, A. (2019). Doing business and increasing emissions? An exploratory analysis of the impact of business regulation on CO 2 emissions. Human Ecology Review , 25 (1), 69–86. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26964340

An evaluative annotation also describes the content of a source, but it goes on to evaluate elements like the validity of the source’s arguments and the appropriateness of its methods .

For example, the following annotation describes, and evaluates the effectiveness of, a book about the history of Western philosophy.

Kenny, A. (2010). A new history of Western philosophy: In four parts . Oxford University Press.

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A reflective annotation is similar to an evaluative one, but it focuses on the source’s usefulness or relevance to your own research.

Reflective annotations are often required when the point is to gather sources for a future research project, or to assess how they were used in a project you already completed.

The annotation below assesses the usefulness of a particular article for the author’s own research in the field of media studies.

Manovich, Lev. (2009). The practice of everyday (media) life: From mass consumption to mass cultural production? Critical Inquiry , 35 (2), 319–331. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/596645

Manovich’s article assesses the shift from a consumption-based media culture (in which media content is produced by a small number of professionals and consumed by a mass audience) to a production-based media culture (in which this mass audience is just as active in producing content as in consuming it). He is skeptical of some of the claims made about this cultural shift; specifically, he argues that the shift towards user-made content must be regarded as more reliant upon commercial media production than it is typically acknowledged to be. However, he regards web 2.0 as an exciting ongoing development for art and media production, citing its innovation and unpredictability.

The article is outdated in certain ways (it dates from 2009, before the launch of Instagram, to give just one example). Nevertheless, its critical engagement with the possibilities opened up for media production by the growth of social media is valuable in a general sense, and its conceptualization of these changes frequently applies just as well to more current social media platforms as it does to Myspace. Conceptually, I intend to draw on this article in my own analysis of the social dynamics of Twitter and Instagram.

Before you can write your annotations, you’ll need to find sources . If the annotated bibliography is part of the research process for a paper, your sources will be those you consult and cite as you prepare the paper. Otherwise, your assignment and your choice of topic will guide you in what kind of sources to look for.

Make sure that you’ve clearly defined your topic , and then consider what keywords are relevant to it, including variants of the terms. Use these keywords to search databases (e.g., Google Scholar ), using Boolean operators to refine your search.

Sources can include journal articles, books, and other source types , depending on the scope of the assignment. Read the abstracts or blurbs of the sources you find to see whether they’re relevant, and try exploring their bibliographies to discover more. If a particular source keeps showing up, it’s probably important.

Once you’ve selected an appropriate range of sources, read through them, taking notes that you can use to build up your annotations. You may even prefer to write your annotations as you go, while each source is fresh in your mind.

An annotated bibliography is an assignment where you collect sources on a specific topic and write an annotation for each source. An annotation is a short text that describes and sometimes evaluates the source.

Any credible sources on your topic can be included in an annotated bibliography . The exact sources you cover will vary depending on the assignment, but you should usually focus on collecting journal articles and scholarly books . When in doubt, utilize the CRAAP test !

Each annotation in an annotated bibliography is usually between 50 and 200 words long. Longer annotations may be divided into paragraphs .

The content of the annotation varies according to your assignment. An annotation can be descriptive, meaning it just describes the source objectively; evaluative, meaning it assesses its usefulness; or reflective, meaning it explains how the source will be used in your own research .

A source annotation in an annotated bibliography fulfills a similar purpose to an abstract : they’re both intended to summarize the approach and key points of a source.

However, an annotation may also evaluate the source , discussing the validity and effectiveness of its arguments. Even if your annotation is purely descriptive , you may have a different perspective on the source from the author and highlight different key points.

You should never just copy text from the abstract for your annotation, as doing so constitutes plagiarism .

Cite this Scribbr article

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Bibliography Book Reviews Samples For Students

6 samples of this type

During studying in college, you will inevitably need to pen a lot of Book Reviews on Bibliography. Lucky you if linking words together and organizing them into relevant text comes naturally to you; if it's not the case, you can save the day by finding an already written Bibliography Book Review example and using it as a template to follow.

This is when you will certainly find WowEssays' free samples collection extremely helpful as it contains numerous skillfully written works on most various Bibliography Book Reviews topics. Ideally, you should be able to find a piece that meets your requirements and use it as a template to compose your own Book Review. Alternatively, our expert essay writers can deliver you a unique Bibliography Book Review model written from scratch according to your individual instructions.

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What Should You Read Next? Here Are the Best Reviewed Books of the Week

Featuring new titles by leigh bardugo, alexandra fuller, anne lamott, and more.

Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar , Alexandra Fuller’s Fi , and Anne Lamott’s Somehow all feature among the Best Reviewed Books of the Week.

Brought to you by Book Marks , Lit Hub’s home for book reviews.

1. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo (Flatiron)

“Bardugo brilliantly explores the wavy line between the supernatural and the divine … When Bardugo chooses to venture further into the darkness, it’s that much more devastating because of how much fun the reader has been having. In fact, she is a master of anticlimax: She builds apprehension for huge events that do not come to pass, then blindsides the reader with something totally unexpected instead … A thrilling addition to her canon about oppression and liberation, and anyone interested in this historical period and the themes she’s exploring will find it engrossing.”

–Charlie Jane Anders ( The Washington Post )

2. The Sleepwalkers by Scarlett Thomas (Simon & Schuster)

6 Rave • 1 Positive

“For Thomas, nothing seems to be off the table. She shifts between erotic thrills, gothic drama, postmodern deconstruction and kitchen-sink realism. Through her bold storytelling, The Sleepwalkers becomes a work of peculiar, gonzo genius … Thomas takes a glamorous late-capitalist setting, with rosé and catamarans, and shreds, twists and warps it into a story that is surprising, humane and political to its bones.”

–Flynn Berry ( The New York Times Book Review )

3. The Limits by Nell Freudenberger (Knopf)

2 Rave • 5 Positive Read an excerpt from The Limits here

“Freudenberger is fluent in every realm, social conundrum, and crime against the earth she brings into focus, keenly attuned to science and emotion, tradition and high-tech, race and gender, greed and conscience, irony and tragedy. Each character’s challenges are significant on scales intimate and global and their wrestling with secrets, anger, and fear grows increasingly suspenseful in this lambent, deeply sympathetic, and thought-provoking novel.”

–Donna Seaman ( Booklist )

1. Fi: A Memoir of My Son by Alexandra Fuller (Grove Press)

“Fuller leaves nothing under the table, under the rug or under wraps … The last thing you expect to do when you read a book about a child dying is to laugh … The wit in this memoir is soul-piercing … Fuller is sagacious and perspicacious. She is a sublime writer. In the hands of another memoirist, the story of Fi might be unbearably sad, but this book is a mesmeric celebration of a boy who died too soon, a mother’s love and her resilience. It will help others surviving loss—surviving life.”

–David Sheff ( The New York Times Book Review )

=2. The Wives: A Memoir by Simone Gorrindo (Gallery/Scout Press)

3 Rave • 2 Positive

“Gorrindo’s memoir is a gorgeously rendered peek behind the curtain of military life, as she recounts reckoning with her husband’s participation in violence—and examining why his job exists at all.”

–Courtney Eathorne ( Booklist )

=2. Somehow: Thoughts on Love by Anne Lamott (Riverhead)

3 Rave • 2 Positive Read an essay by Anne Lamott here

“In her trademark godly yet snarky way, she extracts every life lesson from her latest new experience with the deft zeal of a chef reducing flour and fat to roux … At times, Somehow made me huffy about—by which I mean envious of—Lamott’s gift for writing powerfully, deeply, often radically, while appealing to, well, everyone … No matter one’s external descriptors, Lamott speaks to the human in all of us, challenging us to bear her beam of love, and our own.”

–Meredith Maran ( The Washington Post )

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