Nov 15, 2024 · Once you have read and re-read your articles and organized your findings, you are ready to begin the process of writing the literature review. 2. Synthesize. (see handout below) Include a synthesis of the articles you have chosen for your literature review. A literature review is NOT a list or a summary of what has been written on a particular ... ... 4 days ago · Tips and techniques for conducting a literature review are described more fully in the subsequent boxes: Literature review steps; Strategies for organizing the information for your review; Literature reviews sections; In-depth resources to assist in writing a literature review; Templates to start your review; Literature review examples ... literature review process. While reference is made to diflFerent types of literature reviews, the focus is on the traditional or narrative review that is undertaken, usually either as an academic assignment or part of the research process. Key words: Aneilysis and synthesis • Literature reviewLiterature searching • Writing a review T ... Nov 6, 2024 · Conducting a literature review demands a careful examination of a body of literature that has been published that helps answer your research question (See PICO). Literature reviewed includes scholarly journals, scholarly books, authoritative databases, primary sources and grey literature. A literature review attempts to answer the following ... ... Dec 5, 2024 · Conducting a Literature Review. What is a Literature Review? Step 1: Select a Topic, Narrow Focus, and Explore Existing Literature ; Step 2: Develop a Search Strategy and Search for Literature ; Step 3: Read and Evaluate Articles ; Step 4: Organize and Synthesize the Evidence ; Step 5: Write Your Paper ; Reading and Writing Resources; Nursing ... ... Aug 13, 2024 · A Literature Review is a scholarly analysis of a body of research about a specific issue or topic. (See Lit Review tab for more info.) (See Lit Review tab for more info.) A Meta-Analysis is a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of healthcare interventions. ... Nov 15, 2024 · A literature review is an essay that surveys, summarizes, links together, and assesses research in a given field. It surveys the literature by reviewing a large body of work on a subject; it summarizes by noting the main conclusions and findings of the research; it links together works in the literature by showing how the information fits into the overall academic discussion and how the ... ... Jun 18, 2024 · This guide addresses how to prepare a traditional or narrative literature review. Why is a literature review important? “The primary purpose of a literature review is to summarize evidence on a topic – to sum up what is known and what is not known. ” (Polit & Beck, 2018, p. 107) Polit, D.F., & Beck, C.T. (2018). Essentials of nursing ... ... Dec 17, 2024 · A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography —see the bottom of the next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. ... Nov 13, 2024 · Open textbook designed for students in graduate-level nursing and education programs. Its intent is to recognize the significant role the literature review plays in the research process and to prepare students for the work that goes into writing one. ... ">
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Literature Review Overview

What is a Literature Review? Why Are They Important?

A literature review is important because it presents the "state of the science" or accumulated knowledge on a specific topic. It summarizes, analyzes, and compares the available research, reporting study strengths and weaknesses, results, gaps in the research, conclusions, and authors’ interpretations.

Tips and techniques for conducting a literature review are described more fully in the subsequent boxes:

  • Literature review steps
  • Strategies for organizing the information for your review
  • Literature reviews sections
  • In-depth resources to assist in writing a literature review
  • Templates to start your review
  • Literature review examples

Literature Reviews vs Systematic Reviews

Systematic Reviews are NOT the same as a Literature Review:

Literature Reviews:

  • Literature reviews may or may not follow strict systematic methods to find, select, and analyze articles, but rather they selectively and broadly review the literature on a topic
  • Research included in a Literature Review can be "cherry-picked" and therefore, can be very subjective

Systematic Reviews:

  • Systemic reviews are designed to provide a comprehensive summary of the evidence for a focused research question
  • rigorous and strictly structured, using standardized reporting guidelines (e.g. PRISMA, see link below)
  • uses exhaustive, systematic searches of all relevant databases
  • best practice dictates search strategies are peer reviewed
  • uses predetermined study inclusion and exclusion criteria in order to minimize bias
  • aims to capture and synthesize all literature (including unpublished research - grey literature) that meet the predefined criteria on a focused topic resulting in high quality evidence

Literature Review Steps

how to write a nursing literature review

Graphic used with permission: Torres, E. Librarian, Hawai'i Pacific University

1. Choose a topic and define your research question

  • Try to choose a topic of interest. You will be working with this subject for several weeks to months.
  • Ideas for topics can be found by scanning medical news sources (e.g MedPage Today), journals / magazines, work experiences, interesting patient cases, or family or personal health issues.
  • Do a bit of background reading on topic ideas to familiarize yourself with terminology and issues. Note the words and terms that are used.
  • Develop a focused research question using PICO(T) or other framework (FINER, SPICE, etc - there are many options) to help guide you.
  • Run a few sample database searches to make sure your research question is not too broad or too narrow.
  • If possible, discuss your topic with your professor. 

2. Determine the scope of your review

The scope of your review will be determined by your professor during your program. Check your assignment requirements for parameters for the Literature Review.

  • How many studies will you need to include?
  • How many years should it cover? (usually 5-7 depending on the professor)
  • For the nurses, are you required to limit to nursing literature?

3. Develop a search plan

  • Determine which databases to search. This will depend on your topic. If you are not sure, check your program specific library website (Physician Asst / Nursing / Health Services Admin) for recommendations.
  • Create an initial search string using the main concepts from your research (PICO, etc) question. Include synonyms and related words connected by Boolean operators
  • Contact your librarian for assistance, if needed.

4. Conduct searches and find relevant literature

  • Keep notes as you search - tracking keywords and search strings used in each database in order to avoid wasting time duplicating a search that has already been tried
  • Read abstracts and write down new terms to search as you find them
  • Check MeSH or other subject headings listed in relevant articles for additional search terms
  • Scan author provided keywords if available
  • Check the references of relevant articles looking for other useful articles (ancestry searching)
  • Check articles that have cited your relevant article for more useful articles (descendancy searching). Both PubMed and CINAHL offer Cited By links
  • Revise the search to broaden or narrow your topic focus as you peruse the available literature
  • Conducting a literature search is a repetitive process. Searches can be revised and re-run multiple times during the process.
  • Track the citations for your relevant articles in a software citation manager such as RefWorks, Zotero, or Mendeley

5. Review the literature

  • Read the full articles. Do not rely solely on the abstracts. Authors frequently cannot include all results within the confines of an abstract. Exclude articles that do not address your research question.
  • While reading, note research findings relevant to your project and summarize. Are the findings conflicting? There are matrices available than can help with organization. See the Organizing Information box below.
  • Critique / evaluate the quality of the articles, and record your findings in your matrix or summary table. Tools are available to prompt you what to look for. (See Resources for Appraising a Research Study box on the HSA, Nursing , and PA guides )
  • You may need to revise your search and re-run it based on your findings.

6. Organize and synthesize

  • Compile the findings and analysis from each resource into a single narrative.
  • Using an outline can be helpful. Start broad, addressing the overall findings and then narrow, discussing each resource and how it relates to your question and to the other resources.
  • Cite as you write to keep sources organized.
  • Write in structured paragraphs using topic sentences and transition words to draw connections, comparisons, and contrasts.
  • Don't present one study after another, but rather relate one study's findings to another. Speak to how the studies are connected and how they relate to your work.

Organizing Information

Options to assist in organizing sources and information :

1. Synthesis Matrix

  • helps provide overview of the literature
  • information from individual sources is entered into a grid to enable writers to discern patterns and themes
  • article summary, analysis, or results
  • thoughts, reflections, or issues
  • each reference gets its own row
  • mind maps, concept maps, flowcharts
  • at top of page record PICO or research question
  • record major concepts / themes from literature
  • list concepts that branch out from major concepts underneath - keep going downward hierarchically, until most specific ideas are recorded
  • enclose concepts in circles and connect the concept with lines - add brief explanation as needed

3. Summary Table

  • information is recorded in a grid to help with recall and sorting information when writing
  • allows comparing and contrasting individual studies easily
  • purpose of study
  • methodology (study population, data collection tool)

Efron, S. E., & Ravid, R. (2019). Writing the literature review : A practical guide . Guilford Press.

Literature Review Sections

  • Lit reviews can be part of a larger paper / research study or they can be the focus of the paper
  • Lit reviews focus on research studies to provide evidence
  • New topics may not have much that has been published

* The sections included may depend on the purpose of the literature review (standalone paper or section within a research paper)

Standalone Literature Review (aka Narrative Review):

  • presents your topic or PICO question
  • includes the why of the literature review and your goals for the review.
  • provides background for your the topic and previews the key points
  • Narrative Reviews: tmay not have an explanation of methods.
  • include where the search was conducted (which databases) what subject terms or keywords were used, and any limits or filters that were applied and why - this will help others re-create the search
  • describe how studies were analyzed for inclusion or exclusion
  • review the purpose and answer the research question
  • thematically - using recurring themes in the literature
  • chronologically - present the development of the topic over time
  • methodological - compare and contrast findings based on various methodologies used to research the topic (e.g. qualitative vs quantitative, etc.)
  • theoretical - organized content based on various theories
  • provide an overview of the main points of each source then synthesize the findings into a coherent summary of the whole
  • present common themes among the studies
  • compare and contrast the various study results
  • interpret the results and address the implications of the findings
  • do the results support the original hypothesis or conflict with it
  • provide your own analysis and interpretation (eg. discuss the significance of findings; evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the studies, noting any problems)
  • discuss common and unusual patterns and offer explanations
  •  stay away from opinions, personal biases and unsupported recommendations
  • summarize the key findings and relate them back to your PICO/research question
  • note gaps in the research and suggest areas for further research
  • this section should not contain "new" information that had not been previously discussed in one of the sections above
  • provide a list of all the studies and other sources used in proper APA 7

Literature Review as Part of a Research Study Manuscript:

  • Compares the study with other research and includes how a study fills a gap in the research.
  • Focus on the body of the review which includes the synthesized Findings and Discussion

Literature Review Examples

Check out the following articles as examples for formatting a literature review.

  • Breastfeeding initiation and support: A literature review of what women value and the impact of early discharge (2017). Women and Birth : Journal of the Australian College of Midwives
  • Community-based participatory research to promote healthy diet and nutrition and prevent and control obesity among African-Americans: A literature review (2017). Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities

Restricted to Detroit Mercy Users

  • Vitamin D deficiency in individuals with a spinal cord injury: A literature review (2017). Spinal Cord

Resources for Writing a Literature Review

These sources have been used in developing this guide.

Cover Art

Resources Used on This Page

Aveyard, H. (2010). Doing a literature review in health and social care : A practical guide . McGraw-Hill Education.

Purdue Online Writing Lab. (n.d.). Writing a literature review . Purdue University. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/conducting_research/writing_a_literature_review.html

Torres, E. (2021, October 21). Nursing - graduate studies research guide: Literature review. Hawai'i Pacific University Libraries. Retrieved January 27, 2022, from https://hpu.libguides.com/c.php?g=543891&p=3727230

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Good Place to Start: Citation Databases

Interdisciplinary Citation Databases:

A good place to start your research  is to search a research citation database to view the scope of literature available on your topic.

TIP #1: SEED ARTICLE Begin your research with a "seed article" - an article that strongly supports your research topic.  Then use a citation database to follow the studies published by finding articles which have cited that article, either because they support it or because they disagree with it.

TIP #2: SNOWBALLING Snowballing is the process where researchers will begin with a select number of articles they have identified relevant/strongly supports their topic and then search each articles' references reviewing the studies cited to determine if they are relevant to your research.

BONUS POINTS: This process also helps identify key highly cited authors within a topic to help establish the "experts" in the field.

Begin by constructing a focused research question to help you then convert it into an effective search strategy.

  • Identify keywords or synonyms
  • Type of study/resources
  • Which database(s) to search
  • Asking a Good Question (PICO)
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Seminal Works: Search Key Indexing/Citation Databases

  • Google Scholar
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TIP – How to Locate Seminal Works

  • DO NOT: Limit by date range or you might overlook the seminal works
  • DO: Look at highly cited references (Seminal articles are frequently referred to “cited” in the research)
  • DO: Search citation databases like Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar

Web Resources

What is a literature review?

A literature review is a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of published information on a subject area. Conducting a literature review demands a careful examination of a body of literature that has been published that helps answer your research question (See PICO). Literature reviewed includes scholarly journals, scholarly books, authoritative databases, primary sources and grey literature.

A literature review attempts to answer the following:

  • What is known about the subject?
  • What is the chronology of knowledge about my subject?
  • Are there any gaps in the literature?
  • Is there a consensus/debate on issues?
  • Create a clear research question/statement
  • Define the scope of the review include limitations (i.e. gender, age, location, nationality...)
  • Search existing literature including classic works on your topic and grey literature
  • Evaluate results and the evidence (Avoid discounting information that contradicts your research)
  • Track and organize references
  • How to conduct an effective literature search.
  • Social Work Literature Review Guidelines (OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab)

What is PICO?

The PICO model can help you formulate a good clinical question. Sometimes it's referred to as PICO-T, containing an optional 5th factor. 

Search Example

how to write a nursing literature review

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Lit Reviews

Key questions.

A literature review should try to answer questions such as:

1. Who are the key researchers on this topic?

2. What has been the focus of the research efforts so far and what is the current status?

3. How have certain studies built on prior studies? Where are the connections? Are there new interpretations of the research?

4. Have there been any controversies or debate about the research? Is there consensus? Are there any contradictions?

5. Which areas have been identified as needing further research ? Have any pathways been suggested?

6. How will your topic uniquely contribute to this body of knowledge?

7. Which methodologies have researchers used and which appear to be the most productive?

8. What sources of information or data were identified that might be useful to you?

9. How does your particular topic fit into the larger context of what has already been done?

10. How has the research that has already been done help frame your current investigation?

What is a literature review?

The Scholarly Conversation:

A literature review provides an overview of previous research on a topic that critically evaluates, classifies, and compares what has already been published on a particular topic . It allows the author to synthesize and place into context the research and scholarly literature relevant to the topic. It forms the foundation for the author’s subsequent research and justifies the significance of the new investigation.

A literature review can be a short introductory section of a research article, report or policy paper that focuses on recent research, or, in the case of dissertations, theses, and review articles, it can be an extensive review of all relevant research.

  • The format is usually a bibliographic essay; sources are briefly cited within the body of the essay, with full bibliographic citations at the end.
  • The introduction should define the topic and set the context for the literature review. It will include the author's perspective or point of view on the topic, how they have defined the scope of the topic (including what's not included), and how the review will be organized. It can point out overall trends, conflicts in methodology or conclusions, and gaps in the research.
  • In the body of the review , the author should organize the research into major topics and subtopics. These groupings may be by subject, (e.g., globalization of clothing manufacturing), type of research (e.g., case studies), methodology (e.g., qualitative), genre, chronology, or other common characteristics. Within these groups the author can then discuss the merits of each article and provide analysis and comparison of the importance of each article to similar ones.
  • The conclusion will summarize the main findings, make clear how this review of the literature supports (or not) the research to follow, and may point the direction for further research.
  • The list of references will include full citations for all of the items mentioned in the lit review.

Example of lit review at the beginning of an article: Williams, S., & Williams, L. (2005, May). Space invaders: The negotiation of teenage boundaries through the mobile phone . Sociological Review , 53(2), 314-331. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from SocIndex Full Text database (17131600): http://web.ebscohost.com Example of a comprehensive review of the literature: Jackson, J. E., & Warren, K. B. (2005). Indigenous movements in Latin America, 1992-2004: Controversies, ironies, new directions . Annual Review of Anthropology , 34, 549-573. Retrieved June 20, 2007, from Annual Reviews database: http://www.annualreviews.org/ For additional examples, see: Galvan, J. L. (2009). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behaviorial sciences . (4th. ed.). Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing. [Reserve Desk H62.G359 2009]

Pan, M.L.. (2004). Preparing literature reviews: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Glendale, CA: Pyrczak Publishing. [ Q180.55.E9 P36 2004 ]

  • Nursing Literature Review Example 1
  • Nursing Literature Review Example 2

A big "thank you" to Sonoma State Libraries for sharing this information from their LibGuide !

How to Write a Literature Review (UCSC)

Review of Literature (UW-Madison)

Literature Reviews: overview (UNC)

Literature Review - a THOROUGH guide from Atlanta University Center (Thanks, Brad Ost!)

Evidence matrix for lit reviews

The Evidence Matrix can help you organize your research before writing your lit review.  Use it to identify patterns and commonalities in the articles you have found--similar methodologies ?  common theoretical frameworks ? It helps you make sure that all your major concepts covered. It also helps you see how your research fits into the context of the overall topic.

Useful definitions

A Literature Review  is a scholarly analysis of a body of research about a specific issue or topic. (See Lit Review tab for more info.)

A Meta-Analysis is a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of healthcare interventions.

A Random Control Trial (RCT) is an experiment that delivers an intervention or treatment; subjects are randomly assigned to control and experimental groups, so it is the strongest design to support cause and effect relationships.

A Systematic Review is a comprehensive, unbiased review of multiple research studies that tries to identify, appraise, select and synthesize all high quality research evidence relevant to that research question.

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What is a Literature Review?

A literature review is an essay that surveys, summarizes, links together, and assesses research in a given field. It surveys the literature by reviewing a large body of work on a subject; it summarizes by noting the main conclusions and findings of the research; it links together works in the literature by showing how the information fits into the overall academic discussion and how the information relates to one another; it assesses the literature by noting areas of weakness, expansion, and contention. This is the essentials of literature review construction by discussing the major sectional elements, their purpose, how they are constructed, and how they all fit together.

All literature reviews have major sections:

  • Introduction: that indicates the general state of the literature on a given topic;
  • Methodology: an overview of how, where, and what subject terms used to conducted your search so it may be reproducable
  • Findings: a summary of the major findings in that field;
  • Discussion: a general progression from wider studies to smaller, more specifically-focused studies;
  • Conclusion: for each major section that again notes the overall state of the research, albeit with a focus on the major synthesized conclusions, problems in the research, and even possible avenues of further research.

In Literature Reviews, it is Not Appropriate to:

  • State your own opinions on the subject (unless you have evidence to support such claims).  
  • State what you think nurses should do (unless you have evidence to support such claims).
  • Provide long descriptive accounts of your subject with no reference to research studies.
  • Provide numerous definitions, signs/symptoms, treatment and complications of a particular illness without focusing on research studies to provide evidence and the primary purpose of the literature review.
  • Discuss research studies in isolation from each other.

Remember, a literature review is not a book report. A literature review is focus, succinct, organized, and is free of personal beliefs or unsubstantiated tidbits.

  • Types of Literature Reviews A detailed explanation of the different types of reviews and required citation retrieval numbers

Outline of a Literture Review

how to write a nursing literature review

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Nursing: How to Write a Literature Review

Traditional or narrative literature review, other types of literature reviews.

  • Ten Simple Rules for Writing a Literature Review
  • How to Write a Literature Review
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For more help on this topic, please contact our Research Help Desk: [email protected] or 781-768-7303. Stay up-to-date on our current hours . Note: all hours are EST.

how to write a nursing literature review

This Guide was created by Carolyn Swidrak (retired).

This guide addresses how to prepare a traditional or narrative literature review. 

Why is a literature review important?

“The primary purpose of a literature review is to summarize evidence on a topic – to sum up what is known and what is not known . ” ( Polit & Beck, 2018, p. 107)

Polit, D.F., & Beck, C.T. (2018). Essentials of nursing research: Appraising evidence for nursing practice. (9th ed.). Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer

A traditional or narrative review is one type of review.  Others include:

  • systematic review
  • integrative review
  • scoping review

For more information on various types of reviews:

  • A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies Grant, M. J., & Booth, A. (2009). A typology of reviews: an analysis of 14 review types and associated methodologies. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 26(2), 91-108. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x
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Literature Review Research

What is a literature review, how to complete a literature review, how to write a literature review.

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Researching Instruction will cover: 

Discussion about what is a literature review and how to complete a literature review. 

Use of Smart Search and Google Scholar

A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography —see the bottom of the next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis. In writing the literature review, your purpose is to convey to your reader what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic, and what their strengths and weaknesses are.

From  Taylor, D. (n/a). The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It. University of Toronto, Health Sciences Writing Centre. 

  • The Literature Review: A Few Tips On Conducting It Writing Advice from the University of Toronto, Canada.
  • Record Title: Writing & Research. Writing a Literature Review. Neill, C. (2017). Writing & Research. Writing a Literature Review. Radiation Therapist, 26(1), 89–91.

There are several steps in developing a literature review.  These include:

  • Define your paper’s goal
  • Literature review will match paper’s goal
  • Review articles related to your paper’s topic
  • Articles are written by scholars
  • Identify top scholars in the field about your topic
  • Include most pertinent publications by those scholars
  • Summarize articles you identified
  • Provide the importance of the article as it relates to your thesis/project statement
  • Establish its relevance to the discussion
  • What where the earliest ideas on the?
  • How did grow and evolve in the academic conversation?
  • As you write you will include author and date
  • Create comprehensive citation for each article
  • Follow APA format
  • Literature Reviews From Purdue OWL
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What is a literature review?

"A literature review is a text of a scholarly paper, which includes the current knowledge including substantive findings, as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Literature reviews use secondary sources, and do not report new or original experimental work."

  • Source: Wikipedia

how to write a nursing literature review

Writing the Literature Review

how to write a nursing literature review

Samples of Literature Reviews

  • Sample Literature Review This sample paper was adapted by the Writing Center from Key, K.L., Rich, C., DeCristofaro, C., Collins, S. (2010). Use of Propofol and emergence agitation in children: A literature review. AANA Journal, 78(6).
  • Sample Literature Review For Nursing Students From Illinois Eastern Community Colleges.
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  • Last Updated: Nov 13, 2024 10:59 AM
  • URL: https://pct.libguides.com/nursing-education

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COMMENTS

  1. Nursing: How to Write a Literature Review - Regis College

    Nov 15, 2024 · Once you have read and re-read your articles and organized your findings, you are ready to begin the process of writing the literature review. 2. Synthesize. (see handout below) Include a synthesis of the articles you have chosen for your literature review. A literature review is NOT a list or a summary of what has been written on a particular ...

  2. Writing a Literature Review - Nursing - Guides at University ...

    4 days ago · Tips and techniques for conducting a literature review are described more fully in the subsequent boxes: Literature review steps; Strategies for organizing the information for your review; Literature reviews sections; In-depth resources to assist in writing a literature review; Templates to start your review; Literature review examples

  3. Undertaking a literature review: a step'by-step approacii

    literature review process. While reference is made to diflFerent types of literature reviews, the focus is on the traditional or narrative review that is undertaken, usually either as an academic assignment or part of the research process. Key words: Aneilysis and synthesis • Literature reviewLiterature searching • Writing a review T

  4. Nursing: Literature Review - George Washington University

    Nov 6, 2024 · Conducting a literature review demands a careful examination of a body of literature that has been published that helps answer your research question (See PICO). Literature reviewed includes scholarly journals, scholarly books, authoritative databases, primary sources and grey literature. A literature review attempts to answer the following ...

  5. Subject Guides: Nursing: Conducting a Literature Review

    Dec 5, 2024 · Conducting a Literature Review. What is a Literature Review? Step 1: Select a Topic, Narrow Focus, and Explore Existing Literature ; Step 2: Develop a Search Strategy and Search for Literature ; Step 3: Read and Evaluate Articles ; Step 4: Organize and Synthesize the Evidence ; Step 5: Write Your Paper ; Reading and Writing Resources; Nursing ...

  6. Literature Reviews - Nursing-Undergraduate - Thrift Library ...

    Aug 13, 2024 · A Literature Review is a scholarly analysis of a body of research about a specific issue or topic. (See Lit Review tab for more info.) (See Lit Review tab for more info.) A Meta-Analysis is a statistical technique for combining the findings from independent studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of healthcare interventions.

  7. Nursing Resources : Conducting a Literature Review

    Nov 15, 2024 · A literature review is an essay that surveys, summarizes, links together, and assesses research in a given field. It surveys the literature by reviewing a large body of work on a subject; it summarizes by noting the main conclusions and findings of the research; it links together works in the literature by showing how the information fits into the overall academic discussion and how the ...

  8. Nursing: How to Write a Literature Review - Regis College

    Jun 18, 2024 · This guide addresses how to prepare a traditional or narrative literature review. Why is a literature review important? “The primary purpose of a literature review is to summarize evidence on a topic – to sum up what is known and what is not known. ” (Polit & Beck, 2018, p. 107) Polit, D.F., & Beck, C.T. (2018). Essentials of nursing ...

  9. Literature Review - NUR 288: Nursing Concepts IV - Research ...

    Dec 17, 2024 · A literature review is an account of what has been published on a topic by accredited scholars and researchers. Occasionally you will be asked to write one as a separate assignment (sometimes in the form of an annotated bibliography —see the bottom of the next page), but more often it is part of the introduction to an essay, research report, or thesis.

  10. Literature Review - Nursing Education - Research Guides at ...

    Nov 13, 2024 · Open textbook designed for students in graduate-level nursing and education programs. Its intent is to recognize the significant role the literature review plays in the research process and to prepare students for the work that goes into writing one.