Finding Criticism and Reviews

Distinguishing between Book Reviews and Literary Criticism

The simplest criterion for distinguishing book reviews from literary criticism is the time of publication of the review/critical article compared to the original publication date of the book. Book reviews are written around the time the book was originally published; literary criticism appears in later years. For example, reviews of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby that appeared in 1925 or 1926 (right after the novel was published) are book reviews, while literary criticism about the novel continues to be written today. The MLA International Bibliography is an important index of literary criticism.


Finding Criticism of Individual Short Stories


Finding Criticism Using Periodical Databases

Periodical databases identify and locate articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. Many database records link to the full text of the articles indexed.

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