Faculty of Society & Health

BSc (Hons) Nursing/Child/Mental Health

Module NS621

Research in Nursing

A guide to the Extended Literature Review

Assessment brief

The written assessment for this module takes the form of an extended literature
review. The review is ‘extended’ to include a critical account of the methods adopted
in carrying out the review of the literature.

The following sections should be included in the review. The recommended words in
brackets are to give a rough idea of weighting - they do not have to be strictly
adhered to and will also depend on where you discuss the strength of the evidence
found. The methodology section and the discussion of themes are particularly
important parts of this literature review.

Title

Acknowledgements:

Contents page (including tables/figures)

Abstract: (200 words)

A summary of the key issues and findings in the project. Use the following
subheadings: aim, background, methods, findings, and conclusion
Introduction: (250 words)

This should take an overview of the key issues and their sequence as they are
addressed in your review. It tells the reader what is to come. Include any terms of
reference and/or definitions.

Background: (750 words)

You should provide a rationale for the chosen focus of the review highlighting the
professional, clinical and conceptual relevance of your review question has to
nursing. This section should clearly articulate the aspect of practice that will be at the
centre of the project and how the literature review will contribute to its evaluation.
Your rationale should make reference to current policies and/or research related to
evidence based practice and the role of extended literature reviews in that process.

Methodology: (1750 - 2000 words)

This section needs to clearly demonstrate the audit trail to your literature search and
should include;

- Evidence of how your question/topic area was structured

- How keywords were developed and selected

- Which databases were selected and a justification for each

- A selection of 6 – 10 papers, all primary research

- How the relevance of the material was determined, inclusion and exclusion

criteria including justification

- How the papers were analysed

- An overview of how many papers were found and how many are left in the
literature review after the inclusion and exclusion criteria have been applied.
Use tables/figures as illustrations and place in the main body of your work.

- A summary of the articles selected. Include a table and place as an appendix.

Findings: (2500 words)

You should clearly present the findings, as themes, from your thematic analysis.
State how the analysis was undertaken. Indicate what constituted a theme. Findings
from the papers selected should be presented only.

You need to provide an in-depth critique of the literature – what did you find? You
should compare and contrast studies and comment on the body of the literature on
the topic. Some form of structuring, within this section, is a good idea. You could split
this Findings section into sub-sections (themes) with headings around the aspects of
care or treatment within the topic being reviewed. This section should not just list one
paper after another. You need to draw out from your reading of the papers
overarching messages. Make sure that you structure this section in such a way that
you clearly address your research question/title. You will need to consider what
methods were used to study the area and how rigorously were they applied? E.g.
look for bias (was the person doing the research known to the participants) or conflict
of interest (was the research carried out on behalf of a drugs company). To do this
you will need to use the information obtained from applying the critical appraisal tool
to you chosen research papers.

Discussion/Implications for practice (1500 words)

You should provide a critical discussion of the findings from your review. What do the
findings mean? Evaluate the significance of the similarities and differences found in
your comparison and contrast of the articles and make an in-depth interpretation on
the themes’ issues. You can draw on the wider body of literature about your topic
area. This is the place to include all the interesting articles that you found which
make important points but which did not directly answer your chosen research
question/title.

Include implications and recommendations for practice, education and management.

Could the finding of this literature review be applied to your patients or your practice?
If it cannot be applied, why is this? Can you be specific about how your findings can
influence the quality of care? For example an education package for nurses, an
assessment tool for practice or a set of policy guidelines. You will also need to
comment on whether further research should be undertaken and if so how should it
be designed? You may want to split this section into sub sections.

Strengths and limitations (350-500 words)

Within this section you should discuss how successfully you have addressed your
review question and thereby the practice significance of your findings. You should
consider both strengths and weaknesses of your review.

Conclusion (350-500 words)

You should end your project by looking back over the arguments you have
developed and summarising the main points of your analysis.

Appendices:

You may use appendices to demonstrate the processes you went through to get to
be able to make your arguments, for example the table summarising the articles
selected for your review.

Screenshots of where searches were completed are not acceptable.

The appendices are not included in the word count and are given no marks.

General

The assignment should read as one coherent piece of work, therefore, the sections
should be logically ordered with a link given to conclude one section and to lead to
the next.

The reader needs to be guided through the review with clear ‘signposts’ throughout,
summarising issues and showing a good understanding of how all the issues raised
in the review are related to one another.
Submission
The final project should be submitted electronically and the following should be used
to guide the presentation of your project.

 You must ensure that the length of your project conforms to the word limit.
 Your project should be typed, Ariel font, size 12 and a minimum of 1.5
spacing.
 The first page should contain:
o Project title/Question/Topic
o Name of student
o Date (month and year) of submission
o The phrase “Submitted in part fulfilment of the …………..
o Word count (excluding references and appendices)

There should then be separate pages for the full list of contents of section headings
and a separate contents list for any tables and diagrams. The main body of the
project should follow. The reference list and appendices should be included at the
end. Referencing must follow the Faculty Harvard System.

The University retains ownership of the intellectual property within students’ work.
Where appropriate and formally agreed, special arrangements arising from a sharing
of intellectual property rights, copyright issues, industrial secrecy or ethical issues
should be scrupulously established. This may involve all third parties undertaking to
sign confidentiality agreements.

Please ensure that, in line with University requirements, you retain a copy of your
work.

NB As well as the specific guidelines above, all assessments will be marked in the
light of the Faculty Guidelines, refer to your handbook for these.