Reviewing Literature
Prof Della Freeth: Pro-Director (Learning & Teaching)
Improving health worldwide
www.lshtm.ac.uk
Why search for and
review literature?
• To know what has already been done or is
already known
• To give you ideas
• To learn how to do certain things
• To focus your reading and your research
study
• To identify ‘your’ gap in the literature
• To examine you work in relation to
others’ work
The role of the literature
review chapter in the thesis
• (normally Chapter 2)
• To identify the gap in knowledge your thesis
addresses
– Thus, it ends with your research question(s)
•
Some styles of
literature review
• Systematic Review
– e.g. The Cochrane Library
www.thecochranelibrary.com/view/0/AboutCochraneSystematicRev
iews.html
• Realist Synthesis
– Popular in policy work & improvement science e.g.
www.implementationscience.com/content/7/1/33
• Best-evidence review
– e.g. ‘Best evidence medical education’ (BEME)
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20095769
• Narrative review
– traditional, lots of sources, e.g.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2647067/
When?
• First thing you start ….
• … last thing you finish.
How?
• Sufficiently systematically for the task at hand
• As efficiently as you can … learn to get more
efficient
• Be prepared to present and defend your
search strategy
• Update periodically and definitely at the end.
Keep excellent records:
it saves time in the end
• Learn to use bibliographic referencing software:
it saves time in the end.
• Keep all the details you may need about every
source you read every time: it saves time in the
end.
– Note female authors, so you don’t write about them
as ‘he’
• Keep brief notes on the key points you think you
will use from a source: it saves time in the end
• Briefly note why you think you will not make use
of some things you read: it saves time in
the end
What to do with what
you have found
• Read-Think-Write [repeat]
More advice!
• Try to read one research paper or one book
chapter every working day throughout your
degree
• Don't forget to search & read between thesis
submission & your viva
Finding and using
information: how
can your librarian
help?
Jane Falconer
User Support Services Librarian
Library & Archives Service
www.lshtm.ac.uk/library
Impact of increased complexity on
comprehensiveness of results
1
alcohol consumption
22,766
2
alcohol consum*
23,355
3
alcohol consum* OR alcohol intake OR beer consum* or beer
intake or binge drink*
30,950
4
((alcohol* OR beer OR wine OR lager OR spirit* OR drink)
ADJ3 (consum* OR unit* OR purchas* OR use* OR intake OR
binge)) OR drink* rate* OR drunk*
57,702
5
((alcohol* OR beer OR wine OR lager OR spirit* OR drink)
ADJ3 (consum* OR unit* OR purchas* OR use* OR intake OR
binge)) OR drink* rate* OR drunk* OR exp alcohol drinking/
80,221
Numbers correspond to number of results retrieved
from Ovid MEDLINE® 1946 to May week 3 2012.
1.
((alcohol* or beer or wine or lager or spirit* or drink) adj3 (consum* or unit* or
purchas* or use* or intake or binge)) or drink* rate* or drunk*
74863
2.
exp Alcohol Drinking/
56871
3.
1 or 2
101264
4.
media or film* or motion picture* or movie* or radio or television* or telly or tv or
video or journalis*
572246
5.
exp Mass Media/
6.
4 or 5
7.
adolescen* or pubescen* or juvenil* or underage* or teen or teens or teenage* or
youth or youths
1814916
8.
Adolescent/
1730862
9.
Adolescent Behavior/
10.
7 or 8 or 9
11.
great britain or united kingdom or gb or uk or scotland or england or ireland or
wales
408536
12.
exp Great Britain/
329492
13.
11 or 12
422499
14
3 and 6 and 10 and 13
41368
579811
23347
1814916
56
Researcher
Development
Framework
D2 - Publication
A1 - Information
seeking
Information literacy and
management
C1 - Legal
requirements
IPR and copyright
C2 - Research strategy
Project planning &
delivery
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/researchers/428241/
Researcher-Development-Framework.html
Data Management Goals
Data management can help you to achieve your research goals
I wish to:
find data quickly
by
labelling & organising my files
I wish to:
avoid giving out
personal information
by
keeping it in a secure area that
only I can access
I wish to:
avoid data loss
by
creating backups at regular
intervals
I wish to:
Ensure my data can be
understood by
colleagues
by
documenting the context in which
it was created and the meaning of
each variable
http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/research/researchdataman/
ResearchDataManagement@lshtm.ac.uk
Open access publishing
Copyright
Training available from Library staff
Literature searching
Research data management
Making your thesis legal and
depositing it online
Creative commons licensing and
open access publishing
Plus one-to-one tuition at a time to
suit you, face to face or via Skype
All available via the Transferrable
Skills Programme
Contact the Library &
Archives
•  library@lshtm.ac.uk
•
@LSHTMlibrary
•
@LSHTMarchives
•
http://blogs.lshtm.ac.uk/library/
•  020 7927 2276
Or come up to Keppel St and talk to us
www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/