Q. I am a business student/researcher and want to use the Systematic Literature Review research method. How can I learn about this?

Systematic Reviews are a type of literature review which are comprehensive and replicable, ensuring that all relevant research is considered for inclusion.  This research method, which synthesises empirical research to build authority, originated in health and life sciences and has become increasingly popular in the social sciences.

Systematic Literature Reviews carried out in business and other social science areas take on many of the elements of health and life sciences systematic reviews, as detailed on the Systematic Reviews Library Guide, but students and researchers in this area often benefit from additional training on some of the topics, or need to select specific elements of a systematic review to focus on and others elements to list as limitations, due to needing to balance time and other resources.

Alice Cann, the Academic Liaison Librarian for Business runs occasional training on Systematic Literature Reviews, via the Graduate School and LibSmart - check the LibSmart calendar for any upcoming workshops. An edited recording of the this training, is available for Brunel students and researchers to watch.

This workshop explores the key traits of systematic literature reviews, discussing the stages that make up good practice, and focusing on planning, carrying out and reporting systematic searches. This includes use of Library databases, and reference to relevant tools and guidelines.

The sections covered are:

• Knowledge of systematic (literature) reviews

• Stages in systematic (literature) review

• Adapting systematic review to a thesis or dissertation
   

• Question development and Frameworks

• Protocols/plans

• Database/search basics (including Search engines and databases, Where are the databases? How many databases to search, Choosing which fields to search in and Search history and creating an account)
   

• Identifying keywords and deep analysis of seed articles

• Choosing databases

• Building a search strategy, with an example in Web of Science

• Exporting searches and results

• Translating a search to other databases
   

• Grey literature

• Screening your search results

• Snowballing

• Reporting your search, results and decisions

• Sourcing full text documents

• Critical appraisal

• Full text review and analysis

• Software for systematic reviews

• Further training and guidance

You can watch the whole training, or skip to specific sections. Get in touch with your Academic Liaison Librarian if you have questions after looking through the training.