CDIS 5400Dr Brenda Louw 2010

Conducting a Writing a Review of the literatureClass 3 September 15 2010

Objectives

Demonstrate: Knowledge and understanding information

literacy skills Knowledge of the purpose of a literature search Ability to plan and conduct literature search

Skill to organize and document research Ability to summarize and compare articles using

the literature review outline form

Readings

Schiavetti et al, 2011 , chapter 7

Overview

Information literacy skills

Purpose of literature search

Planning and conducting literature search

Organizing and documenting search

Selection of articles

Titles Abstracts Reading articles Writing a

literature review

Review of the literature

Literature review at heart of introduction to the research report

places statement of problem, research purpose and study rationale into perspective

Literature citations place study in context More than summary of past studies Critical synthesis of an area of

investigation

Information literacy skills (ILS) Clinicians and researchers need to be

skilled at finding, evaluating, summarizing and using information (American Library Association, 2006)

ILS crucial to EBP ILS essential part of researchers in

finding problems to study, defining and researching the problems in ways that yield valid and reliable answers

(Nelson, 2009)

EBP is an integration of:

(McCauley, 2004)(McCauley, 2004)

Current Best Evidence

Clinical Expertise Client Values, Culture, Environment, Preferences

Purposes of a literature research Clinicians :

Find an answer to a clinical question from existing literature e.g. clinical question regarding assessment, treatment of a specific communication disorder………………………..

Researchers: Important for planning a study Non empirical researchers : goal to identify

all the existing evidence on a topic for a theoretical discussion or systematic review

Continued..

Empirical researchers: ensure research is original replicate research find previous research on a topic identify a problem to study generate background information to use when

writing identify methods from other fields of study Identify procedures or outcome measures to

use

Planning and conducting a literature search

Search tools Search engines : e.g. PubMed, ERIC,

ScienceDirect, ProQuest, ComDisDome, ASHA.org and Google Scholar

Amy Arnold Sherrod Library : arnolda@etsu.edu

Do not rely only on on-line searches-also browse key journals in the field

Review articles, bibliography Lists important work on a topic

Continued…

Citation search Articles that cite an article already found Use Science Citation Index, Social Sciences

Citation Index

Designing a search strategy Identifying search terms, synonyms,

combining search terms, date limits Search aids

Designing a search strategy

Identifying terms search terms :

key words in topic, Add synonyms e.g. therapy/ intervention Type of article e.g. systematic review,meta-

analysis combining search terms:

and, or, not date limits

Organizing and documenting literature search

Goal determines use of evidence e.g. Evidence to guide clinical practice

identify meta-analyses, systematic reviews, articles that offer highest quality of evidence that closely match client’s situation, discuss with family

Continued…

Evidence to guide writing a research paper literature review is not just a recording one

after another of the summaries of a group of pre-related articles

presented like evidence to support a series of important statements which lead logically to the researcher’s hypothesis or idea that he/she wishes to test

read the titles and abstracts to select the articles that seem particularly relevant

Selection :Titles

Title informs reader about the article; used as basis for indexing in jnls data base e.g. ERIC

It should identify the general problem area.

Concise and well written Emperical research -identify the IVs and

DVs, and the target population.

e.g.

Early effects of responsitivity in education/prelinguistic milieu teaching for children with developmental delays and their parentsThe effects of direct instruction on the single-word reading skills of children who require augmentative and alternative communicationDifferential treatment intensity research : A missing link to creating optimally effective communication interventions

Selection : Abstracts

Journal, thesis, dissertation specifications Purpose: to provide an overview of the

research for the reader to decide whether to read/not

Describes: problem, participants, methods, findings, conclusions

Accurate, self-contained, concise, specific, comprehensive, readable

Caution : reading abstract alone cannot determine quality of the research

Critical reader

Ask questions related to the structure of the review: Does review progress from topic to topic rather than

from study to study? Does it flow? So what? How do you know? Why do you think so?

Ask questions re nature of literature cited: How thorough is the review? Are recent works overlooked? Are citations relevant to the purpose of the study? Are unpublished research, articles from obscure

references, inaccessible publications used ?

Continued…

Read the article keeping in mind the aim of your own study (your research question);Treat a literature review like evidence to support a series of important statements which lead logically to the hypothesis or idea that you would like to test.

Table 2.2 Structure of a Research Article

Steps to follow when reading:

FIRST, collect, read, and outline all the relevant articles.

SECOND, summarize the articles according to the independent variable, the dependent variable, the procedures, the results, and the conclusions.

THIRD, look at the results statements across all the articles you have reviewed.

Outlining research articles

1. Reference: author(s), year, title, journal (book), volume, pages

2. Hypothesis (es)

3. Subjects

4. IV or IVs

5. DV or DVs

6. Procedures and measures of the DV(s)

7. Statistics used, including significance level

8. Summary of results

9. Conclusions

Exercise

Create an outline of one article of your choice

Follow the steps above Use the format provided as a template

and add your information

How to read and write a literature review

Look at the results/conclusions across the articles you have reviewed.

If there is agreement of the results from the various papers, your project may be an extension.

continued

If there is disagreement among the results, there are contradictions, then try to identify potential sources of the discrepancies:

the IV info: were the same things investigated across the studies? the concept may be the same but defined differently;

the DV info: were the same measures used?subjects: differences in subject variables (age, race,

gender, social economic status, etc.)

procedure info: were there differences in procedures among the studies? The aim of your study may be to explore the differences.

Article outline form

Article title

IV Subjects DV Statement results

Procedural differences

#1

#2

Hypothesis 1Hypothesis 2Hypothesis 3

Continued…

Keep these summaries on the forms provided for the preliminary literature review. This form allows you to look at all the research at a glance.

Writing literature review

Literature reviews include 4 parts: Introduction Summary Conclusion (how do you get to your

hypothisis?) Hypothesis(Williams, 2008)

1. Introduction

1st Section: Introduction Includes :

1. A sentence introducing the general topic of current interest and its importance.

2 A sentence that specifies the focus within the topic area that you have reviewed and plan to do research on.

2. Summary

2 nd Section: Summary Summary review of your articles. Each article summary should include:

1. The results and conclusions that are of primary interest to your specific topic; 2.The specifications of the variables that are of primary interest to your project.

3. Conclusion

3rd Section: Conclusion Is a summary of summaries, which

includes: 1. What we know on the specific topic

from the articles:how they agreehow they disagree

2. What we still don't know on the specific topic

4 Hypothesis

4th Section: Hypothesis Includes -

The statement of the problem that needs to be researched based on the review of what we know and what we don't know.

The specific hypothesis (prediction) or research question that will be investigated by your research is clearly stated.

  

Tips for writing a literature review

1. When a number of authors have reported similar results, group their findings together.

2. When a large number of authors have reported a common finding, use "e.g.".

3. One or more paragraphs may be devoted to describing a work of a particular individual when the work is central to the current interest.

4. Don’t use direct quotes too often, unless necessary.

5. Provide details of the methods if conclusions of different studies vary, probably due to methodology.

Writing guidelines:

Journals: editorial guidelines Focus on communicating about the

research ,rather than on writing in an impressive and entertaining way

Clear, concise, to the point APA publication manuals writing

guidance Citing sources : APA style

Editing

Editing crucial to the literature review Spelling and grammar checks Technical editing Citations Reference lists Appendices

In conclusion

Developing skills to become a critical consumer of research is essential for both the clinician and the researcher

Guidelines for evaluating research studies and for writing a literature review provide the framework from which to practice an EBP approach and planning and writing a literature review