Literature Review: Objectives: Define literature review and related terms Identify theoretical and empirical literature and their resources Locate search engines and literature data bases like Cochrane, CINHAL, PubMed etc Utilize data bases by retrieving required data Identify framework to synthesize and organize the literature, such as traditional hierarchy/level of evidence. INTRODUCTION: It is one of the most important steps in research process. It is an account of what is already known about particular phenomenon. The main purpose is to convey to the readers about the work already done and knowledge and ideas that have been already established on a particular topic of research. DEFINITION: It is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of knowledge on a particular topic of research. It is an account of what has been already established or published on a particular research topic by accredited scholars and researchers. IMPORTANCE: Identification of research problem and refinement of research questions Generation of useful research questions or projects Orientation of what is known and not known about an area of inquiry Determine any gaps in the body of knowledge Discovery of unanswered questions about subjects, concepts or problems. Identification of relevant conceptual framework Identification of development of new or redefined clinical intervention Development of hypothesis to be tested in research instruments Helps in planning the methodology of present study. PURPOSES: Describe the relationship of each study to other research study under consideration. Identify new ways to interpret on any gaps in previous research Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictions previous studies Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort. See what has and has not been investigated Identify potential relationships between concepts and identify researchable hypothesis Develop alternative research projects Learn how others have defined and measured key concepts. SOURCES: Primary Sources: Literature review mostly relies on primary source (i.e) research reports, which are description of studies written by researchers who conducted them. Primary source is written by a person who developed the theory or conducted the research or is the description of an investigation written by the person who conducted it. Secondary Sources: Secondary source research documents or description of studies prepared by someone other than the original research. Main sources: Electronic database Books Journals Conference Papers Theses Encyclopedia and Dictionary Research Reports Magazines and Newspaper. Databases: CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieved System Online) PUBMED Medline Plus Education Resource Information Center British Nursing Index Web of Science Science Direct Google Scholar.

2. Literature Review
Shakir Rahman
BScN, MScN, MSc Applied Psychology, PhD Nursing (Candidate)
University of Minnesota USA
Principal & Assistant Professor
Ayub International College of Nursing & AHS Peshawar
Visiting Faculty
Swabi College of Nursing & Health Sciences Swabi
Nowshera College of Nursing & Health Sciences Nowshera

3. Objectives
• At the completion of this unit learners will be able to:
• Define literature review and related terms
• Identify theoretical and empirical literature and their resources
• Locate search engines and literature data bases like Cochrane, CINHAL,
PubMed etc
• Utilize data bases by retrieving required data
• Identify framework to synthesize and organize the literature, such as
traditional hierarchy/level of evidence.

4. INTRODUCTION
• It is one of the most important steps in research
process. It is an account of what is already
known about particular phenomenon.
• The main purpose is to convey to the readers
about the work already done and knowledge
and ideas that have been already established on
a particular topic of research.

5. DEFINITION
• It is a body of text that aims to review the
critical points of knowledge on a particular topic
of research. - (ANA2000)
• It is an account of what has been already
established or published on a particular research
topic by accredited scholars and researchers.
- (University of Toronto - 2001)

6. IMPORTANCE
• Identification of research problem and refinement
of research questions
• Generation of useful research questions or projects
• Orientation of what is known and not known about
an area of inquiry
• Determine any gaps in the body of knowledge
• Discovery of unanswered questions about
subjects, concepts or problems

7. CONT…
• Identification of relevant conceptual framework
• Identification of development of new or
redefined clinical intervention
• Development of hypothesis to be tested in
research instruments
• Helps in planning the methodology of present
study

8. PURPOSES
• Describe the relationship of each study to other
research study under consideration.
• Identify new ways to interpret on any gaps in
previous research
• Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly
contradictions previous studies
• Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent
duplication of effort

9. CONT…
• See what has and has not been investigated
• Identify potential relationships between
concepts and identify researchable hypothesis
• Develop alternative research projects
• Learn how others have defined and measured
key concepts

10. SOURCES
Primary Sources:
Literature review mostly relies on primary
source (i.e) research reports, which are description of
studies written by researchers who conducted them.
Primary source is written by a person who developed
the theory or conducted the research or is the
description of an investigation written by the person
who conducted it.

11. CONT…
• Secondary Sources:
Secondary source research documents or
description of studies prepared by someone other than the
original research.

12. CONT…
Main sources:
– Electronic database
– Books
– Journals
– Conference Papers
– Theses
– Encyclopedia and Dictionary
– Research Reports
– Magazines and Newspaper

13. Databases
•CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and
Allied Health Literature)
•MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis and
Retrieved System Online)
• PUBMED
• Medline Plus
• Education Resource Information Center
• British Nursing Index
• Web of Science
• Science Direct
• Google Scholar

14. Electronic Search
• An early task in doing an electronic search is to identify keywords
to launch the search.
• For quantitative studies, the keywords you begin with are usually
the primary independent or dependent variables.
• For qualitative studies, they keywords would be the central
phenomenon of interest and the population.

15. CINAHL Database
• It covers references to virtually all English-language nursing and
allied health journals, as well as to books, book chapters,
dissertations, and selected conference proceedings.
• CINAHL provides bibliographic information for locating
references (i.e., the author, title, journal, year of publication,
volume, and page numbers), as well as abstracts of most citations.

16. PubMed Database
• PubMed website.
• (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed)

17. Criteria for Selection of
Resources
• Be specific
• Be selective
• Focus on current topics
• Ensure evidence for claim
• Focus on sources of evidence
• Reference citation

18. CONT…
• Organization of Literature review
• Referring original source
• Avoid abbreviations
• Simple and accurate sentence structure
• Effective use of transition words.

19. STEPS OF LITERATURE REVIEW

20. SEARCH STRATEGY

22. Identification
Total articles obtained from databases (PubMed,
CINAHL, Science Direct)
(n=xx)
Total number of articles obtained from added
searches
(n=xx)
Studies removed because of doubling
(n=xx)
Articles removed after analyzing title and
abstract (n=xx)
Articles which were not full text removed
(n=xx)
Number of articles finally reviewed
(n=xx)
Inclusion
Articles remained
(n=xx)
Eligibility
Number of articles analyzed
(n = xx)
Analysis
Human subject, English language, and last 15-years filter
were applied and removed (n= xx)

23. LITERATURE REVIEW

24. Bibliography Thematic
Organization
More
reading
Write
individual
sections
Integrate
sections

25. STEPS OF LITERATURE
REVIEW
• Annotated Bibliography: Researcher read
articles, books and other types of literature
related to the topic of research and write a brief
critical synopsis of each review.
• Thematic Organization: Researchers try to find
common themes of research topic and organize
the literature under these themes, sub themes or
categories.

26. CONT…
• More Readings: Researcher tries to discover
specific literature materials relevant to the field
of study or research methodologies which are
more relevant for their research.
• Write Individual Sections: researcher starts
writing the literature under each thematic section
annotations. Here they
by using previously collected drafts of
organize the related
articles under each theme by ensuring that every
article is related to each other.

27. CONT…
• Integrate Sections: Researchers have a list of
thematic sections and they tie them together
with an introduction, conclusion and some
additions and revision in the sections to show
how they relate to each other and to the overall
theme.

28. Content of Literature Review
A written research review should provide readers with an objective,
well-organized synthesis of the current state of evidence on a topic.
The central tasks are to summarize and critically evaluate the overall
evidence so as to reveal the current state of knowledge on a topic with
regard to themes deemed to be important.
The literature should be summarized in your own words.
The review should demonstrate that consideration has been given to
the cumulative worth of the body of research.

29. Writing Style
• When describing study findings, should generally use phrases
indicating tentativeness of the results:
* Several studies have found . . .
* Findings thus far suggest . . .
* The results are consistent with the conclusion that . . .
* Results from a landmark study imply that . . .
* There appears to be fairly strong evidence that . . .

30. Writing Style