Writing
What to Include
According to Doing a Systematic Review: A Student's Guide (2nd ed.), a review should include the following sections:
- Title
- Glossary and definitions
- Table of Contents
- Abstract or Executive Summary
- Background
- Research Question
- Methods
- Search strategy
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria
- Screening and selection
- Data extraction and quality asessment
- Data analysis
- Results
- Discussion
- Overview of the review question and methods
- Primary findings
- How do findings fit within published research?
- Strengths and limitations
- Of reviewed literature AND your own review process
- Generalizability of the results
- Implications
- Conclusion
- References
- Appendices
For more help writing, consult the following resources:
Librarian Collaboration
Selected Gumberg librarians are expert searchers with advanced training on how to conduct comprehensive literature searches for systematic reviews.
Some specific ways that the librarians can help include:
- Determining if a systematic review has already been done on the proposed topic
- Recommending specific databases and other information sources
- Collaborating to translate the research question into reproducible search strategies for relevant databases
- Conducting literature searches
- Delivering search results in formats that can work with citation management tools and other systematic review software
- Writing the search methodology section of the review
- Maintaining records of search steps and results and update searches as needed
If you would like a librarian to participate in your systematic review, please complete this form.