Reviews
Not to be confused with "literature reviews" or "review articles," which are a type of journal article and should be cited as such.
What they are: Short evaluations of other people's works. For example...
What they give you: The reviewer's opinion about the reviewed work.
Note: In most cases, you should not cite a review. Instead, you should find the reviewed item, and cite that. However, reviews can be useful as primary sources if you want to learn about the public reaction to something. (For example, how did people react to The Wizard of Oz when it first came out?)
How to spot them:
What they look like in library search results:
What they look like in electronic databases:
(Note that the review begins with a citation to the book being reviewed.)
What they look like in print:
(Note that the review begins with a citation to the book being reviewed, and ends with the reviewer's name.)