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Crafting a literature review can be an arduous task, demanding extensive research, critical analysis,

and proficient writing skills. The process of conducting a systematic literature review requires
meticulous attention to detail and adherence to rigorous methodologies. From defining research
questions to synthesizing findings, every step demands precision and thoroughness.

Navigating through countless scholarly articles, books, and other sources to identify relevant
literature can be overwhelming. Moreover, synthesizing diverse perspectives and integrating them
into a cohesive narrative requires a deep understanding of the subject matter. Ensuring the accuracy
and credibility of sources adds another layer of complexity to the process.

Writing a literature review entails more than just summarizing existing research; it involves critically
evaluating methodologies, findings, and arguments to identify gaps, contradictions, and areas for
further investigation. Additionally, organizing the review in a coherent structure while maintaining
clarity and coherence is crucial for effectively conveying the synthesized knowledge.

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Other more detailed guidelines and criteria, such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials
(CONSORT), as well as articles with recommendations for improving quality in RCTs and meta-
analyses for psychological intervention, are available (4). The Campbell Collaboration Offers
standards and support for authors of systematic reviews. If you are conducting an analytical review
with a meta-analysis to compare data outcomes from several clinical trials you may wish to
computerize the data collection and analysis processes. Building a summary table and developing
solid synthesis skills is important for nurses, nurse practitioners, and allied health researchers. There
have been systematic literature reviews that have analysed the. Preferred reporting items for
systematic reviews and meta analyses. It helps in topic refining, refocusing, and changing the
ongoing discussions. Guide Sections - Table of Contents If you're new to this methodology, check
out the video and resources below. You must have a clear understanding of the important people,
series of events, places, or times that were involved with your topic. It gives a general summary of
information relevant to a certain research problem or question. The template assumes a thematic
structure (as opposed to a chronological or methodological structure), as this is the most common
approach. The secret to creating an effective search strategy is to strike a balance between sensitivity
and precision. Rather than examining the topic itself, historiography is the study of how historical
topics have been examined over time by other historians. Meta-analysis of effect estimates, and its
extensions have many advantages. Again, record any excluded studies here for reference. 9. Interpret
and present the results Consider different factors when interpreting your results. This approach was
adopted in a review examining the effects of portion, package or tableware size for changing
selection and consumption of food, alcohol and tobacco (Hollands et al 2015). The form elements
may not be changed, and data must be entered manually. Literary review templates are surveys of
scholarly sources on a specific subject matter. This nine-minute video provides a definition for
literature review, the purpose it serves, and what pitfalls to avoid when writing your review. A
bibliography of the included studies should always be created, particularly if you are intending to
publish your review. It might be possible to hire study authors to collect missing data for data pooling
(e.g., means, standard deviations). To download an editable template of the PRISMA Checklist, click
below. Check the basic literature review format and elements used in the example. Formulate a clear,
well-defined research question of appropriate scope. Use the search strings created in Step 2 to search
the databases. We will review some of the tools you can use for data extraction, the types of
information you will want to extract, and the options available in the systematic review software
used here at UNC, Covidence. Could the conclusions of the study have been influenced by bias? 7.
SB and RR’s positions are supported by the NHMRC Cochrane Collaboration Funding Program.
Don’t miss out on “gray literature” sources: those sources outside of the usual academic publishing
environment. They’re often used to complement, or in the absence of, quantitative data.
You need to fill in all of the columns for each study you find to properly review the available
evidence. Chapter 5: Collecting Data (Cochrane Handbook) A Practical Guide to Data Extraction for
Intervention Systematic Reviews (Covidence) Click on a type of data extraction tool below to see
some more information about using that type of tool and what UNC has to offer. For example, the
direction of a standardized mean difference may accidentally be wrong in the review. Tip: Don’t
miss out on “gray literature.” You’ll improve the reliability of your findings by including it.
Formulate a clear, well-defined research question of appropriate scope. Guide Sections - Table of
Contents If you're new to this methodology, check out the video and resources below. Yes, you’re
welcome to share this template in its original format (no editing allowed). The Cochrane Handbook
and other studies strongly suggest at least two reviewers and extractors to reduce the number of
errors. Data about study characteristics can be ordered in many different ways (e.g. by comparison or
by specific PICO elements), and tables may include information about one or more PICO elements.
Use a spreadsheet. Please note this is a very loose outline be sure to speak with your supervisor to
ensure that their requirements are met and that specific elements of your literature reviewresearch are
covered. Extraction templates and approaches should be determined by the needs of the specific
review. This is where your librarian will come in handy again. From Lab to Literature: Exploring the
Roadblocks Physicians Navigate in Publishing Their Research Levels of evidence-based medicine in
mass gathering public health and emergency medicine literature review A clinical literature review of
effective supervision in clinical practice settings Comments are closed. Search Fields 6. Phrase
Searching, Wildcards and Proximity Operators 7. The effect sizes are given, along with a 95 percent
confidence interval (CI) range, and are presented in both quantitative and graphical form (e.g., forest
plots). Each trial is visually represented as a horizontal diamond shape in forest plots. Using a
template, you understand the upgrade will always have the formatting, design, and general
arrangement. More in-depth comparison of the benefits and limitations of each extraction tool can be
found in the table below. Excel may require less time investment to create an extraction form, but it
may take longer for you to match and compare data between extractors. It might be possible to hire
study authors to collect missing data for data pooling (e.g., means, standard deviations). Here at
UNC, we use a systematic review software called Covidence. You can create evidence and summary
tables to describe study characteristics, results, or both. Check a list of sample literature review
documents below and learn writing custom literature reviews. Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews 2017; 2: CD001055. Plan your research protocol Now you need a detailed strategy for how
you’re going to search for and evaluate the studies relating to your question. Planning contingencies
for anticipated scenarios is likely to lead to less post-hoc decision making ( Chapter 2 and Chapter 3
); however, it is difficult to plan for all scenarios. Include information on the thesis, perspective,
historical approach, arguments, sources, and methodology. Ideally you should represent the meta-
analysis visually on a see fig. Meta-analysis is the use of statistical methods to summarise the results
of independent studies. Hollands GJ, Shemilt I, Marteau TM, Jebb SA, Lewis HB, Wei Y, Higgins
JPT, Ogilvie D. Numbers of participants and studies addressing these outcomes.
To write a strong stand-alone literature review, you should approach the research using a step-by-step
process. PDF version of this page (470K) Other titles in this collection Advances in Patient Safety
Related information PMC PubMed Central citations PubMed Links to PubMed Similar articles in
PubMed It Is Not That Simple nor Compelling. Reviewers can use fillable forms to collect and code
data reported in the studies included in the review, the data can then be uploaded to analytical
computer software such as Excel or SPSS for statistical analysis. This description should integrate
information about key PICO characteristics across studies, and identify any potentially important
differences in characteristics that were pre-specified as possible effect modifiers. The Sto:lo have an
intrinsic relationship with what they refer to as S’olh Temexw (Our Sacred Land), therefore we
express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working in this territory. Are you
searching Sample Literature Review examples. Other more detailed guidelines and criteria, such as
the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), as well as articles with
recommendations for improving quality in RCTs and meta-analyses for psychological intervention,
are available (4). Evidence synthesis for health policy and systems: a methods guide From the WHO,
this document provides guidance on reviews related to policy and health care systems research. You
may also need to team up with a librarian to help with the search, literature screeners, a statistician to
analyze the data, and the relevant subject experts. 2. Formulate your question Define your
answerable question. Systematic Reviews: Step 7: Extract Data from Included Studies In this step of
the systematic review, you will develop your evidence tables, which give detailed information for
each study (perhaps using a PICO framework as a guide), and summary tables, which give a high-
level overview of the findings of your review. The number is up to you; again, you can alter this table
by adding or deleting columns to match what you're actually looking for in your analysis.
Handwritten extraction is less popular now due to widespread electronic tools. Below we’ve
prepared a step-by-step guide on how to write a systematic literature review. Nipple body jewelry
includes the nipple barbells and the nipple shields. For each review family, it provides
recommendations on appropriate methods of information retrieval. You might begin a systematic
review of the literature after investing time and energy in reviewing the literature for your
dissertation, a grant proposal, or another project. PRISMA has been designed primarily to improve
the reporting of systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses. 4. Search for the literature When
writing a systematic literature review, your goal is to find all of the relevant studies relating to your
question, so you need to search thoroughly. The manual includes chapters on mixed methods
reviews, scoping reviews, qualitative reviews, and effectiveness therapy reviews, among other
resources. Read more about gray literature. 5. Screen the literature This should be performed by your
two reviewers, using the criteria documented in your research protocol. We are grateful to Julian
Higgins, James Thomas and Tianjing Li for commenting helpfully on earlier drafts. Yes, you’re
welcome to share this template in its original format (no editing allowed). This guide focuses on
systematic reviews in a Health Sciences setting. If you are conducting an analytical review with a
meta-analysis to compare data outcomes from several clinical trials you may wish to computerize the
data collection and analysis processes. Include information on the thesis, perspective, historical
approach, arguments, sources, and methodology. Chapter 9: Summarizing study characteristics and
preparing for synthesis. A review of a clearly formulated question that uses systematic and explicit
methods to identify, select, and critically appraise relevant research, and to collect and analyse data
from the studies that are included in the review. Publications Account settings Browse Titles NCBI
Bookshelf. Seven of the 10 templates contained other incident information, such as a description of
the incident. Feak; John M. Swales Doing a Literature Review by Christopher Hart. Secondly, a
literature review should also help in knowing all the studies that meet the eligibility This article
provides a step-by-step approach to conducting and reporting systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in
the domain of healthcare design and discusses some of the key quality issues associated with SLRs.
As the review progresses, this detail may be replaced by standardized description of PICO
characteristics (e.g. the coding of counselling interventions presented in Table 9.3.a ). Table 9.3.b
illustrates one approach to tabulating study characteristics to enable comparison and analysis across
studies. The authors provided a rationale for the change and noted that it was a post-hoc decision.
9.3.5 Synthesize the characteristics of the studies contributing to each comparison (step 2.5) A final
step, and one that is essential for interpreting combined effects, is to synthesize the characteristics of
studies contributing to each comparison. We are grateful to Julian Higgins, James Thomas and
Tianjing Li for commenting helpfully on earlier drafts. PRISMA extension of Scoping Reviews
PRISMA - ScR Tricco AC, Lillie E, Zarin W, O'Brien KK, Colquhoun H, Levac D, et al. The
description of interventions can be structured using the Template for Intervention Description and
Replication (TIDIeR) checklist, for example (see Chapter 3 and Table 9.3.a ). Table 9.3.a illustrates
the use of pre-specified groups to categorize and label interventions in a review of psychosocial
interventions for smoking cessation in pregnancy (Chamberlain et al 2017). Quality evidence-based
practice initiatives and nursing care and medicine are based on understanding and evaluating the
resources and research available, identifying gaps, and building a strong foundation for future work.
How do we know we have been saturated in this area of advertising, sexuality and beauty and body.
After summarizing and evaluating your sources, arrange them in a matrix to help you see how they
relate to each other, and apply to each of your themes or variables. How to write a systematic
literature review Writing a systematic literature review can feel like an overwhelming undertaking.
Embedded literature reviews must discuss the connections between the sources you used for your
research and also make connections between your work and these sources. Do not reinvent the wheel
each time you start something new. Discuss any discrepancies in coding throughout the process. She
shared as a reviewer in infectious diseases PSAP. Feak; John M. Swales Doing a Literature Review
by Christopher Hart. A basic check is to ensure the same qualitative findings (e.g. direction of effect
and statistical significance) between the data as presented in the review and the data as available
from the original study. This template is for the write-up of the actual literature review chapter,
whereas the catalog is for use during the literature sourcing and sorting phase. From here, identify
the purpose or thesis for your topic. Check the basic literature review format and elements used in
the example. FAQs: Literature Review Template What format is the template (doc, pdf, ppt, etc.).
The literature review chapter template is provided as a Google Doc. It allows the combination of
findings from different studies, highlighting new findings relevant to practice or policy. Five tips for
developing useful literature summary tables for writing Literature summary tables are not only meant
to provide an overview of basic information (authors, country, purpose and findings) about included
articles, but they should also provide detailed information about the theoretical and conceptual
frameworks and the methods used in the included article. The Campbell Collaboration also how to
write a systematic review paper their own library of systematic how to write a systematic review
paper. Every year, there is a great increase in the number of scientific publications. Disseminate
findings Since the Cochrane Collaboration’s reviews are published in the online Cochrane Database
of Systematic Reviews, they are often lengthy and comprehensive. Other more detailed guidelines
and criteria, such as the Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT), as well as articles
with recommendations for improving quality in RCTs and meta-analyses for psychological
intervention, are available (4). An important part of planning the analysis strategy is building in
contingencies to use alternative methods when the desired method cannot be used. Table 9.5.a
Overview of available methods for summary and synthesis 9.6 Chapter information Authors: Joanne
E McKenzie, Sue E Brennan, Rebecca E Ryan, Hilary J Thomson, Renea V Johnston
Acknowledgements: Sections of this chapter build on Chapter 9 of version 5.1 of the Handbook,
with editors Jonathan Deeks, Julian Higgins and Douglas Altman. PRISMA has been designed
primarily to improve the reporting of systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses. 4. Search for
the literature When writing a systematic literature review, your goal is to find all of the relevant
studies relating to your question, so you need to search thoroughly. She obtained the add
qualification from American board in infectious disease. One paper about vision of 2030 of general
pharmaceutical department in Saudi Arabia. However, in order to not overlook potentially relevant
aspects of major incident reporting, the literature aimed to report from exercises and literature using
a systematic method for reporting in general was included.
Download the PDF and learn the best way of writing an effective thesis literature review for
engaging and impressing the readers. The process used to undertake these steps is rarely described in
reviews, yet can require many subjective decisions about the nature and similarity of the PICO
elements of the included studies. You must have a clear understanding of the important people,
series of events, places, or times that were involved with your topic. In: Higgins JPT, Thomas J,
Chandler J, Cumpston M, Li T, Page MJ, Welch VA (editors). Discuss any discrepancies in coding
throughout the process. Writing a systematic review and meta-analysis will help identify a
researcher’s field of interest since they are published in high-impact journals and receive many
citations (3). Secondly, a literature review should also help in knowing all the studies that meet the
eligibility This article provides a step-by-step approach to conducting and reporting systematic
literature reviews (SLRs) in the domain of healthcare design and discusses some of the key quality
issues associated with SLRs. They introduce readers to the surrounding literature while also
situating your work within the larger scholarly discussion on that topic. Writers can easily summarize
material but seem to struggle to adequately synthesize knowledge about their topic and express that
in their writing. A summary table is also called a synthesis matrix. Comparison(s) or Control: is there
an alternative intervention or treatment you’re considering. Contact the Medical School Librarians:
ugmelib dal. Data extraction FAQs Step 8: Write the Review Check our FAQ's Email us Chat with
us (during business hours) Call (919) 962-0800 Make an appointment with a librarian Request a
systematic or scoping review consultation In Step 7, you will skim the full text of included articles to
collect information about the studies in a table format (extract data), to summarize the studies and
make them easier to compare.?You will:? Make sure you have collected the full text of any included
articles. To download an editable template of the PRISMA Checklist, click below. Your systematic
review should be designed with the research community in mind. This description should integrate
information about key PICO characteristics across studies, and identify any potentially important
differences in characteristics that were pre-specified as possible effect modifiers. Methods for the
statistical synthesis are described in Chapter 10, Chapter 11 and Chapter 12. 9.2 A general
framework for synthesis Box 9.2.a A general framework for synthesis that can be applied irrespective
of the methods used to synthesize results Box 9.2.a provides a general framework for synthesis that
can be applied irrespective of the methods used to synthesize results. By combining information
from all relevant studies, meta-analyses can provide more precise estimates of the effects of health
care than those derived from the individual studies included within a review. It provides information
and tips on searching for literature and managing your resources. How Do You Make A Summary Of
Findings Table For A Systematic Review. The data extraction form should be as long or as short as
necessary and can be coded for computer analysis if desired. The Cochrane Handbook and other
studies strongly suggest at least two reviewers and extractors to reduce the number of errors. This
categorization determined which studies were eligible for each comparison (e.g. counselling versus
usual care; single or multi-component strategy). Our intervention, comparisons and outcomes were
carried out using the data extraction and quality appraisal variables described in methods and
depicted in and. Double-blinding, which is acceptable for clinical trials but not for psychological or
non-pharmacological treatments, significantly impacts this metric. Narrative reviews A mostly
provide a broad overview of a specific topic. A general framework for synthesis can be used to guide
the process of planning the comparisons, preparing for synthesis, undertaking the synthesis, and
interpreting and describing the results. Because of differences in how we extract data from sources
and what information is relevant, the analysis within and structure of our literature reviews will vary.
Train the review team on the extraction categories and what type of data would be expected. The
Sto:lo have an intrinsic relationship with what they refer to as S’olh Temexw (Our Sacred Land),
therefore we express our gratitude and respect for the honour of living and working in this territory.
Unleashing the Power of AI Tools for Enhancing Research, International FDP on. Frequently Asked
Questions about writing a systematic literature review. Deciding on the best approach will depend on
the purpose of the table and the stage of the review. Table: 1 outline for systemic review and meta-
analysis Assess study quality In recent years, there has been a push to improve the consistency of
each RCT included in systematic reviews. After preliminary examination of the outcome data, the
review authors changed their planned intervention groups. Mobile Trends And The New Threats - Is
Your SAP System Vulnerable to Cyber At. Why Manual Pen-Testing is a must have for
comprehensive application security. More broadly, synthesis of the PICO (Population, Intervention,
Comparator and Outcome) elements of the included studies underpins interpretation of review
findings and is an important output of the review in its own right. From: Chapter 7, The Evidence for
Evidence-Based Practice Implementation Cite this Page Titler MG. Look for patterns in authors’
approaches or in their methodological handling of the topic. Note: This site will continue to evolve
and develop through community driven collaboration with information retrieval and evidence
synthesis experts across many disciplines. Formal Literature Review Template tru.ca Details File
Format PDF Size: 113 KB Download If you do not know anything about literature review writing,
then you should download this PDF. Space for comments. As a measure of the magnitude of effect,
for dichotomous outcomes the table will usually provide both a relative measure (e.g. risk ratio or
odds ratio) and measures of absolute risk. The authors provided a rationale for the change and noted
that it was a post-hoc decision. 9.3.5 Synthesize the characteristics of the studies contributing to each
comparison (step 2.5) A final step, and one that is essential for interpreting combined effects, is to
synthesize the characteristics of studies contributing to each comparison. The authors further
specified that if there were multiple time points at which the outcome was measured within a time
frame, they would select the longest time point. A minimum of two is a good rule of thumb, with a
third to serve as a tiebreaker if needed. Systematic Reviews: CRD's guidance for undertaking
reviews in health care Compiled by the Center for Reviews and Dissemination, this digital handbook
outlines the entire systematic review process. Meta-analyses also facilitate investigations of the
consistency of evidence across studies, and the exploration of differences across studies. Search
Fields 6. Phrase Searching, Wildcards and Proximity Operators 7. The Cochrane Handbook and
other studies strongly suggest at least two reviewers and extractors to reduce the number of errors.
This description should integrate information about key PICO characteristics across studies, and
identify any potentially important differences in characteristics that were pre-specified as possible
effect modifiers. Always cite your sources correctly and paraphrase ideas in your own words while
maintaining the original meaning. Gather assess and choose the appropriate literature. Literary review
templates are surveys of scholarly sources on a specific subject matter. Systematic Reviews: Step 7:
Extract Data from Included Studies In this step of the systematic review, you will develop your
evidence tables, which give detailed information for each study (perhaps using a PICO framework as
a guide), and summary tables, which give a high-level overview of the findings of your review.
Using a template, you understand the upgrade will always have the formatting, design, and general
arrangement. Many higher institutes and universities ask students to write literature reviews in the
final year. These blog posts are offered in a suggested order for getting your publication done and
submitted. While the template provides a general structure, you should adapt it to fit the specific
requirements and focus of your literature review. Psychometric reviews assess the quality of health
measurement tools so that the best instrument can be selected for use.
It contains 3 sections: Instructions to authors Additional supporting material Appendices with
calculations and examples This material is intended as a practical supplement to the advice in the
Cochrane Handbook. For a meta-analysis of Randomized trials you should represent the meta-
analysis visually on a “forest plot” (see fig. 2). Here is another example of a meta-analysis forest plot,
and on page 2 a description of how to interpret it. Embedded literature reviews must discuss the
connections between the sources you used for your research and also make connections between
your work and these sources. Important variations in the intervention may be identified leading to
different or modified intervention groups. Your systematic literature review doesn’t have to contain
a comparison, but you’ll want to stipulate at this stage, either way. Effectively Sharing Your
Research The best way to share your systematic review findings with the research community is to
prepare a well-written report. Take a look at these guidelines for interpreting results from the
Cochrane Institute. What types of systematic literature reviews are there. The Evidence for
Evidence-Based Practice Implementation. Systematic literature review writing should clearly talk
about the objectives with an unambiguous and reproducible approach, firstly. To download an
editable template of the PRISMA Checklist, click below. It also includes an analysis and evaluation
of existing research. Therefore, review authors must compare the magnitude and direction of effects
reported by studies with how they are to be presented in the review. Preferred reporting items for
systematic reviews and meta analyses. They are self-contained pieces of writing that can function as
a stepping stone to a larger piece of writing or can enhance writers’ understandings of a topic.
Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 (updated August 2023).
Since reviews published in other outlets do not need to be listed as such, they should state in the title
that they are a systematic review and meta-analysis. It contains a brief note on literature review
including definition, elements, strategies, and its types. We then outline the fundamental steps for
assessing the appropriateness of meta-analytic technique for your review and an explanation of
statistical tools available for data analysis and presentation. An. For more information about working
with Dalhousie librarians and defining authorship, visit the following links. No, that is a separate
template, which you can download for free here. By combining information from all relevant
studies, meta-analyses can provide more precise estimates of the effects of health care than those
derived from the individual studies included within a review. This nine-minute video provides a
definition for literature review, the purpose it serves, and what pitfalls to avoid when writing your
review. Check the basic literature review format and elements used in the example. If you experience
a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via the Accessibility
Feedback Form. Use a Research table to compile the main info you need about the items you find in
your research -- it's a great thing to have on hand as you take notes on what you read. Share to
Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Pinterest. If you are writing a narrative review to summarise
information reported in a small number of studies then you probably don't need to go to the trouble
of coding the data variables for computer analysis but instead summarize the information from the
data extraction forms for the included studies. Guidance for authors when choosing between a
systematic or scoping review approach', BMC Medical Research Methodology, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 143.
Statistical methods ( meta-analysis ) may or may not be used to analyse and summarise the results of
the included studies. - Cochrane Collaboration Definition Considerations before you start.

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