Literature Review Overview

Literature review analyzes and synthesizes information from research studies, books, dissertations, articles, conference proceedings, and other relevant materials.

Literature review provides analysis and synthesis of information from research studies, scholarly books, dissertations, articles, conference proceedings, and other relevant materials to a specific topic.

Primary source: Account of a research study by the original investigator(s). Often found in journal articles (e.g., Nursing Research, Advances in Nursing Science).
Secondary source: Summary or description of a research study written by someone other than the investigator(s).
Grey literature: Reports, conference proceedings, standards, technical documentation, government documents, fact sheets, and policy briefs.

Develop a search strategy: Decide on the research question (e.g., Is it better to have a baby on weekdays or weekends?). Specify how the topic needs to be more specific (e.g., How is weekend birth and higher neonatal mortality associated with quality of care?).
Create a set of search terms or phrases (e.g., induce, labor, morning, evening, pregnancy, birth, labor, childbirth, delivery).
Decide if currency is important. Limit to the past five or ten years, if needed.
Use advanced search options and limiters (e.g., and/or/not/, as a phrase, without the word, date range, language, includes references, audience, URL, research type, age, and peer-reviewed).
Ask a librarian or review bibliography for additional sources that might contain relevant resources.
Use finding tools like catalogs and databases (e.g., CINAHL, MEDLINE, Cochrane, Ovid Nursing, Joanna Briggs EBP, PsychINFO, ProQuest, Dissertations and Theses databases, Science Direct, Scopus).

Focus on your question: Determine your topic, breakdown the case scenario, use the PICO method.
Identify key concepts: Use MeSH tool to find key concepts and synonyms.
Use appropriate databases.
Manage citations: Use EndNote to back up your references, sign up for a database account (e.g., Medline - OVID) to record searches.
Save your search results.

The literature review organizes information from a comprehensive search to identify central information to the argument (claims, evidence, assumptions) about the research topic.
Analyze strengths and weaknesses that support or oppose the argument.

Extract pertinent material from located sources.
Analyze and interpret each literature source.
Use findings and conclusions to write the literature review related to the topic.

Carefully review citations in the reference list or bibliography.
You will likely find additional sources to include in the literature review (parallel searching).

Most reviews include: Introduction, body, section on suggestions for further research, closing summary.

Standardizes research and citation format in scientific and social scientific disciplines, including nursing.
Consists of (1) in-text citations and (2) reference citations, featuring different types of quotes. Formatting includes capitalization, italics, and punctuation guidelines.

In-text citations appear in the body of your paper after borrowed information. Short and concise. Follow the specific format depending on the source type.
Reference citations appear at the end of your paper, with full citations alphabetized by last name of the first author. Include essential details like publication date, title of source, journal, volume, issue, or page number, and URL (if available).
Different types of quotations exist (short and long). Citations are included when quoting, paraphrasing, or borrowing information (images, other details).

Include the author's last name, the publication year, and the page number(s). (e.g., Jones, 1998, p. 199).

Include author's last name along with other details, including publication date, title, journal full name, issue/volume, page range, and URL (if applicable). (e.g., Alghabashi, M. T., & Guthrie, B. (2015). )

Title Page - Title of paper, author's name, and institutional affiliation. Page number, Running head (e.g., TITLE OF YOUR PAPER).
Headers (Page 38): Shortened paper title that should not be longer than 50 characters.

Brief summary of the paper including its main points, and purpose.
Typically between 150-250 words, summarizing the paper's main points, methodology and purpose.

APA often does not provide rules for formatting all source types.
Find the most similar format. Look at page 193 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th edition. Additional resources like Purdue Owl's APA guide may be helpful.