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LITERATURE REVIEW

Hem Kumari Subba

Associate Professor
School of Nursing
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Literature Review
• Literature means:
– Books and writings published on a
particular subject or
– Leaflets and other printed matter used to
advertise products or give advice
– A collection of all the scholarly writings on a
topic
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Introduction
• The most important steps in the research process

• The main purpose of LR is to convey to the readers

about the work already done & the knowledge & ideas
that have been already established on a particular topic
of research

• It is a laborious task, but it is essential if the research

process is to be successful
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Definition
• A literature review is an evaluative report of
information found in the literature related to
selected area of study.

• The review describes, summarizes, evaluates &

clarifies this literature.

• It gives a theoretical base for the research &

helps to determine the nature of
research.…(Queensland University, 1999)
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Contd…
• A literature review is a body of text that aims to
review the critical points of knowledge on a
particular topic of research.…(ANA, 2000).

• A literature review is an account of what has

been already established or published on a
particular research topic by accredited scholars &
researchers.…(University of Toronto, 2001).
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Importance Contd….
• Identification of a research problem &
development or refinement of research
questions.
• Generation of useful research questions or
projects/activities for the discipline.
• Orientation to what is known & not known
about an area of inquiry to ascertain what
research can best contribute to knowledge.
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Contd…
• Determination of any gaps or inconsistencies in a
body of knowledge.

• Discovery of unanswered questions about

subjects, concepts or problems.

• Determination of a need to replicate a prior

study in different study settings or different
samples or size or different study populations.
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Contd…
• Identification of relevant theoretical or
conceptual framework for research problems.

• Identification or development of new or refined

clinical interventions to test through empirical
research.

• Description of the strengths & weaknesses of

design/methods of inquiry & instruments used
in earlier research work.
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Contd….
• Development of hypothesis to be tested in a
research study.
• Helps in planning the methodology of the
present research study.
• It also helps in development of research
instruments.
• Identification of suitable design & data
collection methods for a research study
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Uses of LR
• For research activities

• For non-research activities

– Uncovering knowledge for use in educational and
clinical practical setting
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Purposes
• The purpose of a literature review is to convey
to the reader previous knowledge & facts
established on a topic, & their strength &
weakness.
• The literature review allows the reader to be
updated with the state of research in a field &
any contradictions that may exist with
challenges findings of other research studies.
• It helps to develop research investigative tools
& to improve research methodologies.
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Contd….
• It also provide the knowledge about the
problems faced by the previous researchers’
while studying same topic.
• Besides enhancing researchers’ knowledge
about the topic, writing a literature review
helps to:
– Place each in the context of its contribution to the
understanding of subject under review.
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Contd….
– Describe the relationship of each study to other
research studies under consideration.
– Identify new ways to interpret & shed light on any
gaps in previous research.
– Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory
previous studies.
– Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent
duplication of effort.
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Contd…
– Point a way forward for further research.
– See what has & has not been investigated
– Develop general explanation for observed
variations in a behavior or phenomenon.
– Identify potential relationship between concepts
& to identify researchable hypothesis.
– Learn how others have defined & measured key
concepts.
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Contd…
– Identify data sources that other researchers have
used.
– Develop alternative research projects.
– Discover how a research project is related to the
work of others.
– Place one’s original work (in case of thesis or
dissertation) context of the existing literature.
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SOURCES OF LITERATURE
REVIEW
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1. Primary Sources
• Literature review mostly relies on primary
sources ,i.e. research reports, which are
description of studies written by researchers
who conducted them.

• It 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.
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Contd…
• Citation
– EBP leads to improvement of effective and
efficient care and patient outcomes. Nurse
educators have a responsibility to teach the future
nurses, and an opportunity to promote patient
outcomes (Majid, 2011).
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Contd…
• They are found in published literature. For
example, a nursing research article.
• Example : An original qualitative on patient
experiences in the ICU:
– Hupcey, J. E. (2000). Feeling safe the psychosocial
needs of ICU patients. Journal of Nursing
Scholarship, 32:361-367.
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Contd…
• Primary source, an original experimental study
of the effects of a nurse-initiated intervention
for urinary incontinence: Liao, Y., Dougherty,
M., Liou, Y., & Tseng, I. (2006). Pelvic floor
muscle training effect on urinary incontinence
knowledge, attitudes, and severity.
International Journal of Nursing Studies, 43(1),
29–37.
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2. Secondary source
• Research documents are descriptions of studies
prepared by someone other than the original researcher.
• Authors paraphrase the works of researchers and
theorists
• The problem may be that the author has interpreted the
works of someone else, and interpretation is influenced
by author’s perception and bias
• Sometimes errors and misinterpretations have been
spread by authors using secondary sources
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Contd….

• They are written by people other than the

individuals who developed the theory or
conducted the research.

• The secondary sources may be used when

primary sources are not available or if
researchers want external opinions on an issue
or problem or even the results of their own
research.
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Contd…
• When citing in the text a work discussed in a
secondary source, give both the primary and the
secondary sources.

• In the example below, the study by Subba and

Paudyal was mentioned in an article by Sharma,
Subba , Shrestha, & Adhikari.
– Subba and Paudyal’s study (as cited in Sharma, Subba ,
Shrestha, & Adhikari, 2017) provided a glimpse into the
world.
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Contd…
• In the references page, you would cite the secondary
source you read not the original study.

• Sharma, K. , Subba, H. , Shrestha, R., & Adhikari, S. (2017).

Models of reading aloud: Dual-route and parallel-
distributed processing approaches. Psychological Review,
100, 589-608.
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Performing a LR
• Using Library

• Identify relevant research sources and locate

these sources
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Using Library
• Three major categories of libraries:
– Public library: contain few research reports

– Academic library: numerous research reports in

journals and books and provides access to many other
sources on-line, interlibrary loan department, which
can be useful when you cannot find a particular
research report

– Special library: collection of materials on a specific

topic or specialty area, such as nursing or medicine
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Cond…
• Using library and searching literature has changed
dramatically as use of computers has increased
• Good libraries provide access to large number of
electronic data bases nationally and internationally
• Quickly identify relevant literature and also print
full-text version
• Photocopy can be made from journals
• Inter library loan arrangement between your
library and other libraries across the country
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Contd…
• Common library sources
• Journal
• Books
• Conferences
• Conference Proceeding
• Master Thesis
• Doctoral dissertations
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LOCATING RELEVANT LITERATURE

FOR A RESEARCH REVIEW

• Electronic literature searches

• Print Resources
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1. Electronic Sources:

• Computer-assisted literature search has revolutionized

the review of literature.

• These searches, however, for a variety of reasons may

not provide the desired references.

• Electronic literature search through web maybe very

useful, but sometimes it can be time-consuming &
unpredictable because there are many website & web
pages that can lead to information overload &
confusion.
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Contd…
• In most college and university libraries, students can
perform their own searches of electronic databases—
huge bibliographic files that can be accessed by
computer.

• Most of the electronic databases of interest to nurses

can be accessed either through an online search (i.e.,
by directly communicating with a host computer over
telephone lines or the Internet) or by CD- ROM
(compact disks that store the bibliographic
information).
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Electronic data base

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Contd…
• General literature search can be conducted through
search engines like Yahoo (www.yahoosearch.com),
Google (www.google.com), MSN search……
• The most relevant nursing databases are as follows:
– CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing & Allied Health
Literature): Accessible at http://www.cinahl.com, it
citations of nursing literature published after 1988. Even
full-text articles are available on CINAHL plus, a paid
webpage.
– Pub Med: Pub Med can be used to search research
abstracts, available at http://pubmed.com
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Key Electronic Databases

• Cumulative index of nursing and allied health
literature (CINAHL).
• Health services, technology, administration and
research (Health STAR).
• Medline/ Medlars
• AIDSLINE
• Cancer Lit
• Cochrane Database of Systematic
Reviews
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The CINAHL Database

• is an index of English-language and selected other-
language journal articles about nursing, allied health,
biomedicine and healthcare

• The CINAHL database covers materials dating from 1982

to the present and contains more than 420,000 records.

• In addition to providing bibliographic information for

locating references (i.e., the author, title, journal, year of
publication, volume, and page numbers), this database
provides abstracts (brief summaries) of articles for more
than 300 journals.
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Contd….
• MEDLINE (Medical Literature Analysis &Retrieved
System Online):

• MEDLINE is a bibliographic database of life

sciences and biomedical information.

• It includes bibliographic information for articles

from academic journals covering medicine,
nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary
medicine, and health care.
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Contd….
• commonly used by nurses
• developed by the U.S. National Library of
Medicine (NLM), and is widely recognized as
the premier source for bibliographic coverage
of the biomedical literature
• The National Library of Medicine provides free
access to MEDLINE through Pub Med,
available at www. pubmed. com or
http://ncbi.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi.
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Contd…

• generally, abstracts of research articles are

provided free of cost; some of the full-text
copies are also freely available & some others
are available for a free.

• abstracts of reviews from the Cochrane

Collaboration became available through
MEDLINE® (they are also available directly on
the internet at www. hcn. net. au/cochrane).
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Contd…
• Cochrane Database of System Reviews:
Healthcare-related literature can be searched
from this source, available at
http://www.cochrane.org.
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Contd…
• ERIC: Education Resource Information
Center (ERIC) provides access to educational
literature and resources.

• This database provides access to information

from journals included in the Current Index of
Journals in Education and Resources in
Education Index.
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Contd…
• Registry of Nursing Research:
• Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing makes
this database available through its Virginia Henderson
International Nursing Library.

• Access to this database has been redesigned & made easier

for users to obtain evidence & scientific findings from more
than 2,200 research article & conference abstracts.

• The research abstracts are searched via key words, author, &
title of the research study.

• Free access to this database may be found at

http://www.nursinglibrary.org
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Contd…
• psycINFO: The psycINFO database belongs to
American Psychological Association, & covers
literature from psychological or related
disciplines.
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2. Printed Sources

• Print-based resources that must be searched

manually are rapidly being overshadowed by
electronic databases, but their availability should
not be ignored.

• It is sometimes necessary to refer to printed

resources to perform a search to include early
literature on a topic.
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Contd…
• Print indexes are books that are used to locate
articles in journals and periodicals, books,
dissertations, publications of professional
organizations, and government documents.

• Indexes that are particularly useful to nurses are the

International Nursing Index, Cumulative Index to
Nursing and Allied Health Literature (the “red
books”), Nursing Studies Index, Index Medicus, and
Hospital Literature Index. Indexes are published
periodically throughout the year (e.g., quarterly),
with an annual cumulative index.
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• Following are the main printed sources that

can be used to review the relevant literature:
• Journals: There are several National &
International journals which can be used to
review the research
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Name of national/International
nursing journals
• Nursing & Midwifery Research Journal
• Indian journal of Nursing Research & Midwifery
• The nursing Journal of India
• Nightingale Nursing Times
• International Journal of Nursing Education
• Indian Journal of Nursing Studies
• Research in Nursing & Health
• Nursing Sciences Quarterly
• Western Journal of Nursing Research
• Applied Nursing Research
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Contd….
• Biological Research for Nursing
• Advances in Nursing Sciences
• Clinical Nursing Research
• Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing
• Journal of Qualitative Research
• American Journal of Nursing
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Contd…
• Abstract journals summarize articles that have
appeared in other journals.

• Abstracting services are in general more useful

than indexes because they provide a summary
of a study rather than just a title.

• Two important abstract sources for the nursing

literature are Nursing Abstracts and
Psychological Abstracts.
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Bibliography
• A bibliography is a list of all of the sources you have
used (whether referenced or not) in the process of
researching your work. In general, a bibliography
should include:
– the authors' names
– the titles of the works
– the names and locations of the companies that
published your copies of the sources
– the dates your copies were published
– the page numbers of your sources (if they are part
of multi-source volumes)
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Contd….
• An annotated bibliography is the same as a
bibliography with one important difference: in
an annotated bibliography, the bibliographic
information is followed by a brief description
of the content, quality, and usefulness of the
source.
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Citation
• A citation is a reference to a published or
unpublished source that you consulted and
obtained information from while writing
your research paper.
• When you use an outside source to support or
expand your ideas, it's necessary to give credit
with an in-text citation.
• Each source you use in your paper must also
appear in your references page.
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Contd…
• A source is a book, periodical, website, peer-
reviewed journal article, or other media that
you've used for support. They are also
referred to as citations or references.
• The way in which you document your sources
depends on the writing style manual
– E. g. APA (American Psychological Association)
– Vancouver style
– Harvard referencing style
– MLA (Modern Language Association)
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Contd…
• Citations show your readers where you
obtained your material, provides a means of
critiquing your study, and offers the
opportunity to obtain additional information
about the research problem under
investigation.
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Properly citing the works of others

is important because:
• Proper citation allows others to locate the
materials you used.
• Citing other people's words and ideas
indicates that you have conducted thorough
review of the literature on your topic and,
therefore, you are operating from an informed
perspective
• Other researcher's ideas can be used to
reinforce your arguments
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Contd…
• Just as other researcher's ideas can bolster
your arguments and act as evidence for your
ideas, they can also detract from your
credibility if they are found to be mistaken or
fabricated.

• Outside academe, ideas are considered

intellectual property and there can serious
repercussions if you fail to cite where you got
an idea from
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APA referencing style

• There are two parts to referencing: the
citations within the text of your paper and the
reference list at the end of your paper.

• The APA referencing style is an "author-

date" style, so the citation in the text consists
of the author(s) and the year of publication
given wholly or partly in round brackets.
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Contd….
• Use only the surname of the author(s)
followed by a comma and the year of
publication.
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Contd…
• EBP leads to improvement of effective and
efficient care and patient outcomes. Nurse
educators have a responsibility to teach the
future nurses, and an opportunity to promote
patient outcomes (Majid, 2011).
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Reference
• A references page is the last page of research
paper that's been written in APA style.
• It lists all the sources you've used in your
project, so readers can easily find what you've
cited.
• A uniform font is required (12 point Arial or
Times Roman), 1-inch margins (all around), and
double spacing. The references page also must
include hanging indents.
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Contd…
• Start a new page, and center the
title References at the top. Do not use all
capital letters, bold or underlining.
• Write all references in alphabetic order
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Contd…
• Chau, J. P., Lopez, V., & Thompson, D. R. (2008). A survey of
Hong Kong nurses' perceptions of barriers to and
facilitators of research utilization. Research in Nursing &
Health, 31(6), 640-649. doi/abs/10.1002/nur.20289
• Majid, S., Foo, S., Luyt, B., Zhang, X., Theng, Y. L.,
Chang, Y. K., & Mokhtar, I. A. (2011). Adopting
evidence-based practice in clinical decision
making: nurses' perceptions, knowledge, and
barriers. Journal of the Medical Library
Association, 99 (3), 229. Retrieved from:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article
s/PMC3133901/
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READING RESEARCH REPORTS

• In journals, Research reports typically consist

of four major sections:
– Introduction
– Method section
– Results section
– Discussion section
• Abstract and references.
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Tips on Reading Research Reports

• Reading frequently, even though may not yet
understand all the technical points, try to keep
the underlying rationale for the style of research
reports in mind

• Read from a report that has been photocopied.

• Then use a highlighter, underline portions of the

article, write questions or notes in the margins,
and so on.
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Contd…
• Read journal articles slowly.

• It may be useful to skim the article first to get

the major points and then read the article
more carefully a second time.

• On the second or later reading of a journal

article, train researcher self to become an
active reader.
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How does writing a Literature

Review help you?
• Expands your knowledge about the topic

• Improves Information Seeking skills

• Improves Critical Thinking skills

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A Literature Review should

consist of:
• An overview of the subject,
• Issue or theory under consideration,
• Objectives of the literature review
• Division of works under review into categories
• Those in support of a particular position,
• Those against,
• Those offering alternative theses entirely
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Contd…
• Explanation of how each work is similar
• How it varies from the others
• Conclusions as
ØWhich pieces are best considered in their
argument,
Ø Most convincing opinions, the greatest
contribution to the understanding
ØDevelopment of their area of research
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Ask yourself these questions:

• Start the process by asking yourself:
v What is my research question?

vAm I looking at:

• Theory
• Methodology
• Policy
• Qualitative or Quantitative research
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Final Questions…
Finish by asking yourself:

– How good has my review been?

– Have I found all the material?

– Has irrelevant material been excluded?

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Contd…
– Have I critically analyzed the literature?

– Have I assessed and discussed the strengths and

weaknesses of the literature?

– Have I discussed that literature that is contrary to

my perspective?

– Have I cited my sources correctly?

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DEPTH AND BREADTH OF

LITERATURE COVERAGE
• Depends upon the research topic

• Major determinant is the nature of the document

being prepared.
§ review in a research report
§ review in a research proposal
§ review in a thesis or dissertation
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Preparing a written literature review

• A number of steps are involved in preparing a

written review, as summarized in Figure.

• As the figure shows, after identifying potential

sources, need to locate the references and
screen them for their relevancy.
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FLOW OF TASKS IN A
LITERATURE REVIEW
Discard
irrelevant &
Inappropriate ref

Identify Identify Screen ref Read

key Analyze
pot ref Retrieve for relevance relevant Organize
words & Write
electro promising & ref & ref
to be Integrate review
nic/ ref appropriaten take
search material
ed manual ess notes s
search

Identify new ref

through
citations
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STEPS FOR LITERATURE

REVIEW
Choosing topic and key search

Locating relevant sources

Searching the literature

Analyzing and Synthesizing the

literature

Writing the literature review

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CHOOSING RESEARCH TOPIC AND

KEY SEARCH

• Understanding and examining the concepts of

research problem so that essential key search
terms may be identified
• The key search terms serve as foundation for
overall search a literature
vDefining the topic
v Compiling a list of key words
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Contd…
• These search terms may be elements that are
included in the problem statement, variables
in research question and characteristics of
population of interest

• Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) are then

used to combine the search terms into search
statement
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Contd….
• Boolean Operators are simple words (AND, OR, NOT or
AND NOT) used as conjunctions to combine or exclude
keywords in a search, resulting in more focused and
productive results.
• This should save time and effort by eliminating
inappropriate hits that must be scanned before
discarding
• Mathematician George Boole invented Boolean logic
operations system in 1813 – 1864. Boolean logic is also
known as Boolean algebra.
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Contd….

• AND narrows a search by telling the database that ALL

keywords used must be found in an article in order
for it to appear in your results list. Search for two or
more concepts that interest you by combining
descriptive keywords with AND.

• if you're interested in reading articles about how

young people feel about politics, you can search
for youth AND politics. All articles in your results will
include both keywords.
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Contd…

• OR broadens a search by telling the database

that any of the words it connects are
acceptable. This is particularly helpful when you
are searching for synonyms, such as “death
penalty” OR “capital punishment.”

• So, if you type in death penalty OR capital

punishment, your results will include articles
with either term, but not necessarily both.
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Contd…
• E. g. searching for sex education NOT
abstinence- only will return articles on sex ed,
but not those dealing with abstinence-only
approaches.
•
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Contd…
• NOT narrows your search by telling the database
to eliminate all terms that follow it from your search
results. This can be useful when:
– you are interested in a very specific aspect of a topic
(letting you weed out the issues that you're not planning
to write about)
– when you want to exclude a certain type of article (book
reviews, for instance, aren't typically helpful when writing
a college-level paper)
• Use NOT with caution as good items can be
eliminated from the results retrieved.
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Identification of key search terms

from research problem

Research problem Relevant key search terms

A descriptive study on •Traumatic AND brain injury
metabolic complications •Metabolic response AND
of traumatic brain injury trauma
in children admitted in •Pediatric AND brain injury
CMC •Brain injury AND children
•Hypothermia AND brain
injury
•Hypothermia AND pediatric
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IDENTIFYING RELEVANT
SOURCES

• Journals are commonly used due to up to date

than books indexes/abstracts, Government
publications, theses, reference materials,,
conference papers, dissertations
• Books are considered out dated by the time
• Electronic databases: commonly preferred due
to easy and quick access
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SEARCHING THE LITERATURE

• Traditional method of literature search in hard
copy of journal
• Most commonly using computer and
electronic database or search engine
• Identifying and use of key words
• Identify terms may differ spelling
(tumour/tumor)
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Contd….
• Consider alternative keywords with similar
meaning e. g. if searching for pressure ulcer;
also search for pressure sore or decubitus
ulcer
• Use Boolean operators
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Examples of Boolean operators and

their purposes
Command Purpose Example
AND Look or articles that include Brain injury AND
all the identified keywords head injury

OR Look or articles that include Corticosteroids OR

any of the identified steroids OR
keywords glucocorticoids

NOT Exclude articles that contain Viral bronchitis NOT

this specific keywords bacterial bronchitis
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Analysing and synthesizing

the literature
• PQRS system keeps the reviewer focused and
consistent and also facilitates easy
identification and retrieval of the relevant
literature
a. Preview/Overview: This begins with initial
quick overview of the article through abstract
or summary beginning of each article
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Contd….
b. Questions, Read and Summarize
• Questions are asked of each article under review
• Summarization includes:
– Title, author (year), full reference, purpose of study,
type of study, research setting, methods of data
collection, main findings, recommendations, key
thoughts/comments (strength, weakness)
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WRITING THE LITERATURE REVIEW

• Avoid long and confusing words and jargon
• Keep sentence short with clear message
• The correct spelling and grammar
• Logical
• Important elements need to be included
• Paraphrasing
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Contd…

Elements of written literature review

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Writing the Introduction

• Introduction –Indicates the purpose or
scope of the review
• While writing the introduction, following steps
should be taken care of:
– Define or identify the general topic, issue, or area
of concern, thus, providing appropriate context for
reviewing the literature.
– Point out overall trends in what has been
published about the topic or conflicts in theory,
methodology, evidence, conclusion or gaps in
research &scholarship
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Contd…
• Establish your reason for reviewing this research
(point of view); explain the criteria used to search
the literature; the organization of the review
(sequence); and – if necessary – why certain
literature either is or is not included (scope)

• Demonstrate how your research either closes a gap

in the literature, extends earlier work, or replicates
an important study thereby contributing new
knowledge to your discipline.
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Writing the Body

• Following measures need to be undertaken
while writing the body of the literature.
– Start broad and then narrow to show how past
research relates to your project.
– Make it clear to your reader where you’re going,
follow a logical progression of ideas
– When appropriate, cite two or more sources for a
single point but avoid long strings of references
for a single point.
– Use quotes sparingly.
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Contd…
– Keep your own formal academic voice throughout and keep
the review focused and objective, following a logical
structure.

– Point out consistent findings AND emphasize stronger studies

over weaker ones. Point out important strengths and
weaknesses of research studies OR contradictions and
inconsistent findings.

– Implications and suggestions for further research, or where

there are gaps in the current literature, should be specific
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Writing the Conclusion

• The points to be taken care of in the
conclusion areas follows:
– Summarize your literature review, discuss
implications, and create a space for future or
further research needed in this area.
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Contd…
• Summarize major contributions of significant studies
& articles to the body of knowledge under review,
maintaining the focus established in the
introduction.
• Evaluate the current ‘state of the art’ for the body of
knowledge reviewed, pointing out major
methodological flaws or gaps in research,
inconsistencies in theory, & finding & areas or issues
pertinent to future study.
• Conclude by mentioning the most significant findings
and pertinent issues related to the topic under study
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Example of bad review

• Sexual harassment has many consequences. Adams,
Kottke, & Padgitt (1983)found that some women
students said that they avoided taking a class or
working with certain professors because of the risk of
harassment. They also found that men& women
students reacted differently. Their research was
conducted through a survey of 1,000 men & women
graduate & undergraduate students. Benson
&Thomson’s study in social Problem (1982) lists many
problems created by sexual harassment. In their
excellent book, the Lecherous Professor, Dziech &
Weiner(1990) give a long list of difficulties that victims
have suffered.
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Example of a better review

• The victims of sexual harassment suffer a
range of consequences, from lowered self-
esteem & loss of self-confidence to
withdrawal from social interaction, changed
career goals, & depression (Adams, Kottke, &
Padgitt, 1983; Benson &Thomson, 1982;
Dziech & Weiner, 1990). For example, Adams,
Kottke, & Padgitt(1983) noted that 13% of
women students said that they avoided taking
a class or working with certain professors
because of the risk of harassment.
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• Write in the past tense, except when

discussing their significance - use the present
tense.
e.g. Martin (2007) found that there was a possible
direct relationship between how children saw and
felt about themselves and how they felt about the
superheroes; which in the case of males the frequent
aggressive behavior appealed to them. This shows
that it is probable that superheroes may be able to
influence an adolescents’ perception of masculinity.
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Points to be considered for

literature review

• Be specific & be succinct:

– Briefly state specific findings listed in an article,
specific methodologies used in a study, or other
important points. Literature reviews are not the
place for long quotes or in-depth analysis of each
point.
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Contd…
• Be selective:
– Researcher should narrow down a lot of
information into a small space for literature
review.
– Just the most important points(i.e. those most
relevant to the review’s focus) must be mentioned
in each work of review.
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Contd…
• Focus of current topics:
– Researcher needs to analyze points such as if it is
a current article, & if not, how old it is: has its
claims, evidence, or arguments been superseded
by more recent work; if it is not current, then if it
is important for historical background ; etc
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Contd…
• Ensure evidence for claims:
– Researcher should focus on what support is given
for claims made in literature.
– What evidence & what type (experimental,
statistical, anecdotal, etc.) of evidences are
offered?
– Is the evidence relevant & sufficient?
– What arguments are given?
– What assumptions are made, & are they
warranted?
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Contd…
• Focus on sources of evidences:
– Researchers should ensure the reliability of the
sources of the evidence or other information – if
they are from author's own experiments, surveys,
historical records, government documents, etc.
– He should check how reliable those sources are
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Contd…
• Account of contrary evidences:
– Does the author take into account contrary or
conflicting evidence & arguments?
– How does the author address disagreements with
other researchers?
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Contd…
• Reference citation:
– Any references cited in the literature review must
be included in the bibliography.
– The common practice is that the reviewer does
not list references in the bibliography that are not
directly cited in the literature review or elsewhere
in the paper /thesis.
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Contd…
• Avoid abbreviations:
– Avoid technical terms, jargons & abbreviations.

• Simple & accurate sentence structure:

– A researcher should use simple sentences & must
avoid errors of grammar & punctuation
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Contd…
• Organization of literature review:
– A literature review is organized by subtopic, not by
individual references.
– the writers may cite several references in the same
paragraph & may cite the same reference in more
than one paragraph, if that source address more
than one of the subtopics in the literature review.
– discussion of each sources is quite brief. The
contribution the present reviewers make is
organizing the ideas from the sources into a cogent
argument or narrative that includes their
perspectives.
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Contd…
• Referring original source:
– The reviewer should focus on citing the material
that originates with each reference.
– This may require a careful reading of the
reference.
– If the reference author refers to another source
whose ideas are relevant or interesting, it is better
to track & use that original reference.
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5 C’s Of Writing a Literature

Review:
C
C C
O C
O R
C N O
M I
I T N
P T
T R N
A I
E A E
R Q
S C
E U
T T
E
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1.Cite: Keep the primary focus on the

literature.
2.Compare the various arguments, theories,
methodologies, approaches and findings
expressed in the literature:
what do the authors agree on?
Who employs similar approaches?
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• 3.Contrast the various arguments, themes,

methodologies, approaches and controversies
expressed in the literature:

• what are the major areas of disagreement,

controversy, debate?
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4. Critique the literature:

• Which arguments are more persuasive, and
why?
• Which approaches, findings, methodologies
seem most reliable, valid, or appropriate, and
why?
• Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe
what it is an author says/does: e.g. asserts,
demonstrates, etc.
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5.Connect the literature to your own area of

research and investigation:
§ How does your own work draw on/depart
from/synthesize
§ what has been said in the literature.
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WRITING LR
Style and Tone…
• When describing study findings, you should
generally use phrases indicating tentativeness of
the results, such as the following:
– Several studies have found
– Findings thus far suggest
– Results from a landmark study indicated
– The data supported the hypothesis . . .
– There appears to be strong evidence that
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Contd…
• When referring to sources, your writing style
will be more effective if you vary the choice of
verb to refer to the source.
• The following is a list of frequently used verbs.
• When referring to an author, select a verb that
is most appropriate to the context and that
conveys the autho's meaning accurately .
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Contd…
Argued Reasoned
Concluded Recorded
Indicated
Demonstrated Reported
Investigated
Discussed Showed
Noted
Examined Stated
Pointed out
Explained Suggested
Presented
Found Surveyed
Proposed
Provided
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Contd…
• Several experts (Greenberg, 2001; Cameron,
2000) have asserted that unmet expectations
engender anxiety

• Previous studies have indicated that women

who participate in preparation for childbirth
classes manifest less stress during labor than
those who do not (Klotz, 2002; Mirling, 2000;
McTygue, 2001).
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Contd…
• The studies by Sacks (2000) and Carter (2001)
suggest that doctors and nurses do not fully
understand the psychobiologic dynamics of
recovery from a myocardial infarction.

• According to Doctor A. Cassard, an authority

on stress, responsibility is an intrinsic stressor
(Cassard, 2000, 2001).
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Contd…
• A number of studies have found that the
incidence of phlebitis is directly related to the
method of administering intravenous
infusions and to certain parameters of
materials used in the infusions (Wells &
Brown, 1996; Yepsen, 1966; Bristol &
Wardlaw, 1996).
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Thumb Rule
• Generally avoid the Future tense. Only use
either present or past tense.
• Present tense is used to describe the writer’s
point of view regarding the previous research.
• Past Tense is used to describe/present the
previous research.
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THANK YOU