18 Reviews and Newspaper Articles
Reviews and newspaper articles on operas, concerts and musical performances can provide you with information on how a work was originally received. They are typically considered primary sources because they will most often provide material for analysis rather than authoritative information.
For example, a review of the premiere of a Brahms symphony will tell you as much if not more about the attitudes of the reviewer (and perhaps, as an extension of that, the reception of the work, audience attitudes of the time, and so on) than it will about the symphony itself. This kind of information is more likely to serve as data for a reception study than to inform an analysis of the work.
Finding Reviews and Newspaper Articles
To find reviews and newspaper articles through Library Search:
- Type your keywords into the search bar (this might be title of the performance or work and composer or creator’s name).
- Unlock the Reviews and Newspaper Articles filters by clicking the lock symbol under Active filters.
- Under Content type select Reviews and/or Newspaper Articles.
You may also find reviews on freely available online sources.
A note on reviews and newspaper articles
Remember, reviews and newspaper articles are not peer reviewed sources. You should always carefully evaluate them (for example using the CRAAP test). However, exactly how you will evaluate these sources depends on how you use them:
- When using a review of newspaper article as primary source material (that is, as an object of study), you need to be aware of issues such as accuracy and bias. Just because the material might not be accurate or displays bias, this does automatically not mean you would not use it. In fact, these aspects might be important to your critique.
- When using a review or newspaper article as a secondary source (that is, for the information and ideas it contains in themselves), you need to apply the same principles of evaluation and make a decision as to whether the information is sufficiently accurate, free from bias, and so on to be used in your writing.
