The best source for finding reviews of concerts, dance performances, or plays is in newspapers, and MPAL has a lot of newspaper resources for you to choose from. To determine what resource you'll need, consider the context of the review you're looking for. Do you need reviews for a contemporary performance or a historical one? Do you need an in-depth review or is a more general review more appropriate? Is the piece or play very popular and performed often or is it more rare?

To get started, check the link Online Journals & Databases on MPAL homepage for individual paper titles, like the New York Times, or use this guide to find online databases of reviews or print resources to search. When you're searching online resources, remember:

• You can often select the newspaper or newspapers that are most relevant for your needs. As you search, if a newspaper or periodical has particularly good reviews, you can narrow your search by limiting to reviews from that one resource.
• Formulate your search carefully and use what you already know. For example, if you know the title, composer/playwright, or performers, put those words in quotation marks and use AND between each element, such as: "The Children's Hour" AND "Lillian Hellman"
• You can also search reviews by a particular critic if you know his or her name. If you want, you can then add the name to a search like the one above with a specific concert or piece in mind.
• If necessary, you can usually narrow your results by limiting them to a particular time period.

This guide was created by Mandi Goodsett, MPAL Graduate Assistant, Fall 2011.