Writing a Critical Book Review for History Students: Find Scholarly Articles

Locate a scholarly article.

As part of your critical analysis it will be necessary to examine other books and articles on the same or similar subject. In examining other sources, you are looking for differences in interpretation, factual discrepancies, adequacy of scholarship or sources, etc. The analysis may pursue a theme or themes, concentrate on a particular aspect, or examine the subject generally.

Use the database JSTOR to get started!

Here's an example:

If you were reviewing the book, Catherine of Aragon: an Intimate Life of Henry VIII’s True Wife by Amy Licence published in 2016, then you could examine other books and articles on the subject of Catherine (or Katherine) of Aragon and Henry VIII's marriage.  First, try searching JSTOR to find scholarly articles on the subject.  And then, try switching to InfoKat Discovery to find another book or article on the subject of Catherine and Henry VIII. 

Below are two screenshots: the first image illustrates an advanced search on this topic and the second image illustrates refining the list of results.  When refining your list of results, consider applying the following filters: 1) Journals; 2) Date; and 3) Subject (limit to History).

Below is a screenshot of locating another book about Catherine of Aragon in InfoKat Discovery.

To learn more about how to search JSTOR watch this video below (about 7 minutes)