Course Instructor
- Sara Jameson
- Office:
Moreland 360 - Office Hours:
Tues 9:00, Wed 10:00 & by appointment - Contact:
Instructor's Website
Course Description
This class offers an opportunity for students to gain experience writing, reading and analyzing reviews of various kinds (movie, book, music, restaurant, art, etc.) and in various print and online journals. In addition to writing these and other reviews, we will read reviews published in a variety of sources (including The New York Times Review and The New Yorker, which will be in the course bundle) and study the history of reviewing as a cultural and institutional phenomenon, with the question of professional, amateur and citizen reviewers. We will also look at the relationship between the rhetorical situation of a publication (the left-leaning Nation versus the more moderate New Yorker, for instance) and the form and content of reviews that appear in its pages. Finally, in this class we will spend some time discussing what might be characterized as the economics, politics, and ethics of critical reviewing.
Course Reserves
Find Images You Have Permission to Use
Flickr - Advanced Search Screen
Images that have been licensed by their creators with a Creative Commons license - telling you how you can legally and ethically use their photos. Show me
Labeling and citing images
Even when the images you use are copyright free, you should acknowledge the creator and indicate the source.
- For examples of using MLA style to fully cite images you use in a research paper, click here: citing images
Please be aware of legal restrictions on the use of images. Boston University has a useful webpage on Image Copyright .
Printing Posters
Student Media Services (Main Floor, Valley Library): production and printing services funded by student activity fees.
The Pour, a blog by Eric Asimov
**Links open in a new window**
Finding Reviews
To find reviews in magazines or newspapers, use
- Academic Search Premier (magazines & newspapers)
- LexisNexis Academic (newspapers)
There are several ways to search for reviews:
- by type or topic of the review (e.g., music or hip hop)
- by critic's name
- search or browse contents of a specific magazine or newspaper
Brief tutorials:
Selected Reviewing Sources
Newspapers
- New York Times Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library
- Oregonian Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library
- Corvallis Gazette Times Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library
- Los Angeles Times Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library
- and many more...
Magazines
- Atlantic Monthly AP2. A7, 6th floor Valley Library. Online in Academic Search Premier, 1993-present
- New Yorker AP2 .N45, 6th floor Valley Library. Online in LexisNexis Academic, Dec. 27, 1999-present
- Salon.com
- New York Magazine
- and many more...
Art & Architecture
- Architectural Review NA1 .A63, 5th floor Valley Library
- Art News N1 .A66, 5th floor Valley Library
Books
- New York Times Book Review Z1219 .N42, 6th floor Valley Library
- Times Literary Supplement Z1219 .T5, 6th floor Valley Library
Entertainment
- Variety Online in LexisNexis Academicm July 19, 1993 to present
- People AP2 .P417 Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library, Online in Academic Search Premier, Jan. 10, 1994 to present
- Rolling Stone (fllm, music, concerts) AP2 .R73 Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library, Online in Academic Search Premier, Aug. 09, 1990 to present
- Film Comment PN1993 .F438 Microfilm, 3rd floor Valley Library, Online in Academic Search Premier, Nov. 01, 2002 to present
- Sight and Sound PN1993 .S5, 4th floor The Valley Library
- Opera News ML1 .O6, 5th floor The Valley Library, Online in Academic Search Premier, May 01, 1990 to present
- Gramophone (classical music) ML5 .G65, 5th floor The Valley Library
Fashion
- WWD: Womens Wear Daily HF5001 .W67, 5th floor The Valley Library, Online in Business Source Premier, May 19, 2004 to present
- Vogue TT500 .V6, 1st floor The Valley Library, Online in LexisNexis Academic, June 01, 2004 to present
- Daily News Record HD9940 .U4 D551, 5th floor The Valley Library, Online in LexisNexis Academic, Aug. 01, 2006 to present
Restaurants & Food
- Gourmet TX1 .G64, 1st floor The Valley Library
- Bon Appetit HF5001 .W67, 5th floor The Valley Library, Online in Business Source Premier, May 19, 2004 to present
