SLIDES Dr.

Shobana Gangadharan

PREPARED BY Dr. Shobana Gangadharan

PRESENTE
R College of Health Sciences - Nursing
COLLEGE /
CENTRE Bachelor of Science in Nursing
PROGRAM
SEMESTER 6

Review of Literature
1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this session the students will be able to:

• Define literature review.

• Enumerate the purposes of literature review
• Identify various sources of literature review
• Enlist the elements of literature review
• Types of literature review
• Narrate the steps of literature review
• Organize literature review
DEFINITION

A literature review is an examination of the research that has been

conducted in a particular field of study.

WHY YOU NEED TO DO LITERATURE
REVIEW ?
The purpose is to:
• Define your research problem: find a gap, refinement of research
question or hypotheses
• Orientation of what is known & not known about an inquiry
• Determine need to replicate a prior study in a different setting or with
different population
• Identify new or refined clinical interventions to test through empirical
research
• Identify strengths and weaknesses of published studies.

• Identify controversies, and trends.

• Identify suitable designs & data collection methods for a study

• Identify studies, models, case studies supporting your topic,

synthesize results into a summary
How does writing a Literature Review
help you?

• Expands your knowledge about the topic

• Improves Information Seeking skills

• Improves Critical Thinking skills

A Literature Review should consist of:
• An overview of the subject,
• Issue or theory under consideration,
• Objectives of the literature review
• Division of works under review into categories
• Those in support of a particular position, & those against,
and those offering alternative ideas entirely
• Explanation of how each work is similar
• How it varies from the others
• Conclusions as most convincing opinions, the greatest
contribution to the understanding
SOURCES OF LITERATURE REVIEW
EXAMPLES
• PRIMARY: Hupcey, J.E.(2000).Feeling safe: The
psychosocial needs of ICU patients. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship, 32, 361-367

• SECONDARY: Stein- Par bury, J& McKinley, S (2000).

Patients’ experiences of being in an intensive care unit: A
select literature review, American Journal of Critical
Care, 9, 20-27
DEPTH AND BREADTH OF
LITERATURE COVERAGE
• Depends upon the research topic

• Major determinant is the nature of the document being

prepared.
 review in a research report
 review in a research proposal
 review in a thesis or dissertation
 free-standing literature reviews
LR Qualitative RESEARCH

• Grounded theory – data collected before reviewing the

literature.

• Phenomenological studies – review done at the

beginning of the study.

• Ethnography – review used for comparison at the time of

data analysis.
TOOLS FOR LOCATING
RELEVANT LITERATURE

• Print resources – books, journals

• Electronic data base searches – On-line, CD-ROM

• Review of reports, conference proceedings, and

guidelines

• Key informant information – personal communications,

unpublished thesis etc.
KEY ELECTRONIC
DATABASES
• Cumulative index of nursing and allied health
literature (CINAHL).
• Health services, technology, administration and
research (Health STAR).
• Medline/ Medlars
• AIDSLINE
• Cancer Lit
• Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews
CINAHL DATABASE
SEARCH TOPIC HITS
Brain injuries 1459
Restrict to main focus 1263
Limit to research reports 481
Limit to nursing journals 28
Limit to 1999 through 2001 publications 12

• Name of the journal (Critical Care Nursing Quarterly)

• Volume (23)
• Issue (4)
• Page numbers (42-51)
• Year and month of publication (2001 Feb)
• Number of cited references (23)
 INTERNET
1) Quality may not be reliable

2) Information cited for a general audience & less detailed not be

suitable for inclusion in your literature review

3) Refereed electronic journals (e-journals) appearing on the

Internet – are reliable
Criteria to be refereed journal
An editorial board evaluates the work before
publishing it in their e-journal, so the quality
should be more reliable (depending on the
reputation of the journal)
TYPES OF LITERATURE REVIEW

Theoretical literature – Consists of concept

analyses, models, theories and frameworks that support a
selected research problem and purpose.

Empirical literature – Comprises relevant studies in

journals and books as well as unpublished studies such as master theses and
doctoral dissertations.
How to conduct the Literature Review

• Search for Resources

• Critical Review of the Literature

• Bibliography
Ask yourself these questions:

• Start the process by asking yourself:

 What is my research question?

Am I looking at:

• Theory

• Methodology

• Policy

• Qualitative or Quantitative research

Final Questions…

Finish by asking yourself:

• How good has my review been?

• Have I found all the material?

• Has irrelevant material been excluded?

– Have I critically analyzed the literature?

– Have I assessed and discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the literature?

– Have I discussed that literature that is contrary to my perspective?

– Have I cited my sources correctly?

STEPS FOR LITERATURE REVIEW
CHOOSING RESEARCH TOPIC

• Target the most significant literature in your field of

study
• Sources should be current.
• Focus on sources published by experts in the field.
• Review references cited by experts as possible "leads."
 LOCATING RELEVANT LITERATURE

1. Developing a search strategy

 Defining
the topic
 Compiling a list of key words
2. Identifying resources

Books, indexes/abstracts, electronic databases,

Government publications, theses, reference materials,
journals, conference papers, dissertations
EVALUATING CONTENT

Provenance:
• What are the author's credentials?
• Are the author's arguments supported by evidence (e.g. case studies, statistics, recent
scientific findings)?
Objectivity:
• Is the author's perspective even-handed or prejudicial?
• Is contrary data considered or is certain information ignored to prove the author's
point?
Persuasiveness:
•Which of the author's theses are most/least convincing?
Value:
•Are the author's arguments and conclusions convincing?
•Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant way to an understanding of the
subject?
SYNTHEZISING KNOWLEDGE

• Hypothesis/research question
• Study location, species, subjects
• Methods and materials
• Results
• Conclusions, application

summarizing insight
5 C’s Of Writing a Literature Review:
1.Cite: Keep the primary focus on the literature.
2.Compare: the various arguments, theories,
methodologies, approaches and findings expressed in
the literature.
3.Contrast the various arguments, themes,
methodologies, and controversies expressed in the
literature
4. Critique the literature
• Which arguments are more persuasive, and why?

• Which approaches, findings seem most reliable, valid and why?

• Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe what author

says : e.g. asserts, demonstrates, etc.
5.Connect the literature to your own area of research and
investigation:
WRITING LR

Style and Tone…

• Writing a good literature review can be likened to

holding a good dinner party conversation

• They both require individuals who can engage, learn,

debate, argue, contribute, and evolve their own ideas,
without being hypercritical.
THANK YOU