The information below is relevant to Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Public Health and Health Promotion, Medicine, Physician Associate and Nursing/SCHPN researchers. Please check the assignment/dissertation brief for further guidance.
If you are conducting a high-level evidence synthesis or critical review of the literature (similar to a systematic or scoping review), it is recommended that you develop a structured literature review; this process will require you to incorporate methodology used in systematic / scoping reviews in order to carry out high quality research. For example, you will be expected to:
Report on your search strategy, including the databases you searched and the search terms you used. Others should be able to replicate your search (increases transparency).
Be methodical when selecting studies by creating eligibility criteria and eliminate the ones that do not meet your eligibility criteria.
This is a two-step process that begins by reviewing papers by title/abstract only, then go on to review the remaining full text articles, including documenting why you chose to eliminate records (reduces risk of bias and increases transparency).
Check out the books below for more information on conducting a SLR.
