Literature Review Check-List
Anatomy of a Literature Search
A. Construct an appropriate question
- Asking the right question is the primary key to creating a winning search. Your question must be answerable. If your question is too broad, your search will retrieve more information.
- Consider using the PICO concept to help you create a search strategy. (CLICK HERE TO VIEW A SHORT TUTORIAL ON DEVELOPING A PICO SEARCH STRATEGY)
Using PICOS to Ask Your Question
PICOS is an mnemonic for Patient Population or Problem, Intervention (treatment/test), Comparison (group or treatment), Outcomes, and Setting or Study type. PICOT is also used where the T stands for Time.
Fill in the blanks with information from your clinical scenario:
THERAPY
In_______________, what is the effect of ________________on _______________ compared with _________________?
ETIOLOGY
Are ______________ who have _______________ at ______________ risk for/of ____________ compared with
Above information from "Evidence-based practice in nursing & healthcare: a guide to best practice" by Bernadette M. Melnyk and Ellen Fineout-Overholt. 2005, page 31.
B. Use the appropriate database(s)
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CINAHL Plus with Full Text This link opens in a new window
Provides full text for nursing and allied health journals, and includes a higher number of records, additional journals, records dating back to 1937. Quick Lessons which provide concise overviews of diseases and most effective treatment options.
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MEDLINE This link opens in a new window
MEDLINE Complete is the largest companion to the MEDLINE index and provides full text for hundreds of medical journals. Content Includes: Full-text for more than 2,400 journals Full-text coverage dating back to 1865 Ongoing full text and deep backfile coverage for many key journals Subjects Include: Biomedicine, Pre-Clinical Sciences, Behavioral Sciences, Bioengineering, Health Policy Development, Life Science, and much more…
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PubMed This link opens in a new windowPubMed comprises more than 25 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. Citations may include links to full-text content from PubMed Central and publisher web sites.
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Cochrane ReviewsBrowse the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews by Cochrane Review Group...
John B. Cade Library
Synonyms for Literature Reviews
The following are words you can include in your PICO Search Strategy for Literature Review.
- Review
- Review of Literature
- Literature Review
- Meta-Analysis
- Systematic Review