The purpose of a systematic literature review is to identify, evaluate and summarise the findings of existing research on a particular topic (Bettany-Saltikov & McSherry, 2016). Unlike a narrative review, the systematic review uses a more scientific approach to reduce the occurrence of bias through ensuring research included is both rigorous and valid in methodology and that the highest quality of research approaches have been used.
Selecting research:
Selecting research articles takes a lot of time, so make sure you leave plenty of time for this part of the process.
When selecting research articles to study, only include those articles that address your research question.
Searches should be restricted to published, peer-reviewed, academic sources held in academic databases such as EBSCOhost (Jesson et al., 2011).
Systematic review process:
Data Sheets
Example of a datasheet for articles INCLUDED in a systematic review:
(Jesson et al., 2011, p. 118).
Example of a datasheet for articles EXCLUDED from a systematic review:
(Jesson et al., 2011, p. 119).
(Joyner et al., 2018).
5. Evaluate all your sources. Do they help you answer your research question? Are they current and reliable sources?
Introduction:
REMEMBER: Each time you refer to another authors ideas or words, you need to include an in-text citation.
You will also find chapters about literature reviews in general research texts.