Literature Review and Sources Overview

Reviewing of the Literature (LR)

• A literature review analyzes and synthesizes information from research studies, scholarly articles, books, dissertations, conference proceedings, and other relevant materials.
• Aims to find out what's already known about a specific topic of interest
• Aids in defining the problem to be studied.
• Helps in classifying information sources (classic and recent).
• Guides in designing the study methodology.
• Highlights successes and mistakes of previous research.

Literature Sources

• Primary sources are accounts of research studies from the original investigators. They are usually found in journal articles, such as Nursing Research, and Advances in Nursing Science.

• Secondary sources summarize or describe research studies written by individuals other than the original investigators.

• Grey literature includes reports, conference proceedings, standards, technical documentation, government documents, fact sheets, and policy briefs.

Search Strategies

• Develop a search question. Example: Is weekend birth better than weekdays?
• Specify if currency is important (how recent). Limiting to the past 5-10 years is possible.
• Use search options and limiters. Examples: and/or/not, phrase searching, date range, language, peer review.
• Utilize databases like CINAHL, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Ovid Nursing, Joanna Briggs EBP, PsychINFO, ProQuest, Dissertations & Theses, Science Direct, and Scopus.
• Consult with a librarian for assistance.
• Review bibliographies of studies.

The Search Strategy Cycle

• Focus on the research question
• Identify key concepts and synonyms
• Use appropriate databases
• Use boolean operators
• Select the appropriate resources
• Save the search results
• Manage citations using programs like EndNote

Writing the Literature Review

• Literature review presents organized information from sources found through thorough research.
• The researcher analyzes and interprets findings relevant to the study topic in order to present them.
• Critically assess the claims, evidence, assumptions, strengths and weaknesses of existing research, that supports or opposes your argument.

Extracting Information from Literature Sources

• After locating literature sources, extract pertinent material from these sources.
• Analyze each source, interpreting the findings and conclusions.
• Use relevant findings and conclusions to support your literature review.

Critiquing the Literature Review in a Research Article

• Review citations from reference lists or bibliographies.
• Look for additional sources you can include in your literature review (parallel searching).

Components of a Literature Review

• Most literature reviews include an introduction, a body, a section on suggestions for further research, and a closing summary.

Citations

• Citations are necessary for any research project.
• All borrowed material should be cited.

APA 7th Edition

• Used in various scientific and social disciplines, including nursing.
• Standardized reference and citation formatting.

Types of APA Citations

• In-text: Used when you're incorporating information from another source or paraphrasing; short citations follow borrowed information.
• Reference: Found at the end of a project; full citations of all in-text citations; alphabetically arranged; one entry per line

Types of Quotations

• Short quotations: Short phrases, usually directly after information is cited.
• Long quotations: Extended blocks of text indented and single spaced.

Paraphrasing

• Rephrasing information in your own words.
• Important to avoid plagiarism and clearly convey meaning through a unique sentence structure.

Major Paper Sections: Title Page

• Includes the paper title, author's name, and institutional affiliation.
• Includes a running head and page number.

Headers

• Concisely summarize main idea, variables, and relationship analysis between topics.
• Should be in consistent format.

Abstract

• Brief summary summarizing the paper's main points and purpose.
• Between 150 and 250 words in length

Citation Software

• EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley enable easy and consistent citation management.

Basic Rules for Bibliographies and Reference Lists

• All sources should appear at the end of the paper.
• References should be alphabetized.
• Use double spacing.