What do I do with the literature when I’ve found it? Alison Brettle, Lecturer (Information Specialist) School of Nursing and Midwifery University of Salford.

What do I do with the literature when I’ve found it?

Alison Brettle, Lecturer (Information Specialist)School of Nursing and Midwifery

University of Salford

Session Overview

Challenges, techniques and tools for managing and presenting your literature

Practical Discussion Toolkit/Wiki

Exercise

In groups List 3

challenges to managing your information

Identify 3 solutions

Solution 1: Be systematic

Can still be systematic even if not doing a systematic review

Borrow some of the systematic review principles and approaches

Borrow/adapt tools that you would use in a systematic review

Systematic review process

Define/focus the question Develop a protocol Search the literature (possibly 2 stages scoping

and actual searches) Refine the inclusion/exclusion criteria Assess the studies (data extraction tools, 2

independent reviewers) Combine the results of the studies to produce

conclusion– can be a qualitative or quantitative (meta-analysis)

Place findings in context – quality and heterogeniety of studies, applicability of findings

Ways to be systematic

Develop a protocol Provides a methodology for you to

follow Keeps you focussed and on track Keeps a record (good evidence for your

thesis)

Solution 2: Clarity

What are you trying to achieve with your lit review?

What questions are you trying to answer? Clarity about this will help

You to work out what you need to get out of the papers

How you can focus and structure your report/chapter/paper

Solution 3: Make use of technology

Use a reference management package

Need to invest some time up front this will be returned later (in the really stressful stages of your thesis writing)

Import direct from databases

Organise within the software

Cite as you write Organise bibliographies

and reference lists

Solution 4: Break it down

Break your review/work into chunks

Searching Screening Refining your question

and your search Extracting/appraising Synthesising

Searching

Quick and dirty (scoping)

Refine Comprehensive search

(of databases) – load all onto reference management package (don’t go through)

After screening – Refine and additional sources

Screening

Establish some criteria/rationale/framework – based on aims (and apply to all)

Screen by title and abstract

Screen by full text Use a screening tool Update and record on

reference management software

Extraction/critical appraisal

Need to extract what is relevant to your review and critique it (back to your aims)

Make use of pre-defined tools (adapt accordingly)

Assessing quality – systems available – be explicit if you are going to do this

Think how you are going to record them/use them (hard copy or electronic)

Think how you are going to store them

Synthesise

Begin with an overview – summary (volume, nature and quality of evidence)

What are your themes? Think back to your aims

and what you are trying to achieve

Report on the parts of the papers that speak to these aims – remember to critique rather than simply be descriptive

What is your end message?

Exercises

In groups – choose a topic and draft a protocol

In a group – choose a topic and draft a screening tool

Individually – outline your inclusion/exclusion criteria and draft a screening tool

Individually – articulate your aims and map out the themes for your literature review

Systematic review models

Medical/Health care Cochrane Collaboration, NHS Centre for

Reviews and Dissemination Usually includes “high quality” research

evidence – RCTs Often includes meta-analysis (mathematical

synthesis of results of 2+ studies that addressed same hypothesis in same way)

Social care/Social Sciences SCIE, EPPI Centre, Campbell Collaboration Often include wider range of studies including

qualitative Often narrative synthesis of evidence

Useful resources – systematic reviews

Cochrane Collaboration http://www.cochrane.org/ http://www.cochrane.org/docs/irmg.htm

Centre for Reviews and Dissemination http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/

handbook for conducting systematic reviews, http://www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/methods.htm Searching for systematic reviews http://

www.york.ac.uk/inst/crd/revs.htm EPPI-Centre – Stages of a review

http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=89 SCIE - The conduct of systematic research reviews for SCIE

knowledge reviews http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/details.asp?

pubID=111