A QUICK GUIDE TO WRITING A

LITERATURE REVIEW
..WITH PHARM ABUBAKAR S WADA
Definition
Why the need for literature review
Sources of the literature review.
Types of literature review
Steps in literature review

Definition
A literature review is a comprehensive overview of prior research regarding a specific
topic showing to The reader what is known and what is not yet known thereby setting
up rationale or need for a new investigation.

Why do we conduct literature review

To get more information and trend of research related to the topic.
To identify what is already known about the topic.
To identify knowledge gaps and recommend are for further research.
To identify the relationship between concepts and how your study will relate to
the concepts and the ongoing debate in the literature.
To provide a framework for establishing the importance of the topic of study.

Types of literature in Medical and Health Sciences

Narrative review: provides a quick overview of current studies
Systematic review: synthesize high-quality empirical information to answer a
given research question
Meta-analysis: Meta-analysis is the use of statistical methods to summarize the
results of independent studies
Scoping: clarify working definitions and conceptual boundaries of a topic
or field.

YOUNG PHARMACISTS SCHOLARS 18/12/2017

 1

Young Pharmacists Scholars lesson on literature review

Rapid review: typically for the purpose of informing emergent decisions faced by
decision-makers in healthcare settings
Umbrella review: synthesis of existing reviews

Information sources (Where to search for articles)

Bibliographic databases such as PubMed, Embase, Scopus for search of articles

published in peer-reviewed journals
Grey literature which refers to both published and unpublished research materials
that are not available commercially examples; thesis/dissertation, website,
monographs, information brochures, reports, expert opinion and so on.
Hand searching of textbooks, trial register and so on.
Searching of reference list of peer-reviewed articles

Steps in literature review

Decide on the type of review

Define a topic and audience (based on research question or hypothesis)
Create the search terms both free and medical heading (MeSH) terms, and
searching strategies
Identify the relevant information sources.
Start searching for the relevant studies.
Get the full text of the relevant studies.
Read, evaluate, classify and make notes while reading
Start writing the first draft. Continue searching for article, reading and writing.
Write based on the format of the type of review you are writing.
Give a colleague to have a look at your write-up, and review the draft again.
Revise citation for accuracy (use software such as EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero) for
referencing
Check grammar and spelling errors (use software such as Grammarly, Ginger)

Reference

This resource was written 2009 by Philip Mayer, Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center
http://utas.libguides.com/SystematicReviews/Home