2.1. Literature Review and Analysis

What is a critical literature review?

The summary of published and in some cases unpublished information on a specific topic. This information may be of varying perspectives and theories.

What is the purpose of a critical literature review?

To identify and critically analyze the existing knowledge on the specific topic

What is plagiarism?

When you paraphrase or directly quote facts or someone else’s ideas or arguments without a citation

What is a systematic review?

A research article that identifies the relevant studies, appraises their quality and summarizes their results using scientific methodology

What is meta-analysis?

A subset of systematic review that combines and analyses the results of individual studies

What must systematic reviews do in order to avoid publication bias?

Attempt to access all available material, published, and unpublished including grey literature

What is grey literature?

That which hasn’t been published yet OR published but not in the normal channels

What should the research question do?

Address an important concern/question

Be imaginative

Relevant

Researchable

Precise and specific

Open-ended

What is a population?

The specific group of animals or people targeted

What does intervention include?

Treatment, diagnostics, and risk factors

What is control?

Comparison to other existing factors or phenomena

What is outcome?

What is the effect of the considered intervention or action?

What do population, control, intervention, and outcome create?

PICO format

What is feasibility?

Practicality, ability to execute, costs, study design, etc.

What is interest?

Appeal to the reader

What is novel?

Add to the knowledge of the topic

What is ethical?

Approved by regulating body and follow guidelines

What is relevance?

Topical

What format do feasibility, interest, novel, ethical, and relevant make?

FINER

What format do population, exposure, and outcome make?

PEO

What is exposure?

What phenomenon is being investigated?

What format does sample, phenomenon of interest, interest, design, evaluation, and research type make?

SPIDER

What is the ideal question format?

Complex enough to require thorough investigation and analysis of information gathered

What is FINERMAPS?

feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, relevant, manageable, appropriate, potential value/publishable, and systematic

What should you not do when synthesizing your research?

Summarize the main points of each source individually

What should you do when synthesizing research?

Combine similar points of view and compare and contrast similarities and differences between sources

What is the abstract?

An overview of the study, typically short, no more than a paragraph. It can include the research question, why it is important, the methodology, and the main results. Should not include cited works.

What is a typical breakdown of the abstract?

One sentence on each of the following: background, aim/purpose of research, method used, findings/results, and conclusion

What is the introduction?

Summary of the importance of the work presented and prepares readers for the structure of the paper

What are the objectives?

The goal or aim of the research conducted

What are the materials and methods?

Provide sufficient detail for other scientists to reproduce the experiments presented in the paper

What are the results?

Where you can use graphics, tables, prose, or any combination of these to represent the findings of the study

What do you do in the discussion?

Explain the significance of the results as well as any limitations or shortcomings of the study

What is the discussion?

Explanation of the results gained and how it relates to the topic of focus as well as to answering the research question. Should also address study limitations.

What is the conclusion?

Unification of various threads of discussion that highlights the major finding of the body of work. Should provide enough information, in a manner, that if read separate from the body of work would be understandable

What does the conclusion do?

Presents the outcome of the work by interpretation of the findings in relation to the issues raised in the introduction