Conduct a Systematic Review

• Systematic reviews and literature reviews are commonly confused.
• The main difference between the two is that systematic reviews answer a focused question whereas literature reviews contextualize a topic.

Systematic review

• Definition
  • High-level overview of primary research on a focused question that identifies, selects, synthesizes, and appraises all high quality research evidence relevant to that question.
• Goals
  • Answer a focused clinical question
  • Eliminate bias
• Components
  • Pre-scientific eligibility criteria
  • Systematic search strategy
  • Assessment of the validity of findings
  • Interpretation and presentation of results
  • Reference list
• Number of Authors
  • Three or more
• Timeline
  • Months to years
  • Average eighteen months
• Requirements
  • Thorough knowledge of topic
  • Perform searches of all relevant databases
  • Statistical analysis resources (for meta-analysis)
• Value
  • Connects practicing clinicians to high quality evidence
  • Supports evidence-based practice

Literature review

• Definition
  • Qualitatively summarizes evidence on a topic using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret studies.
• Goals
  • Provide summary or overview of topic
• Question
  • Can be a general topic or specific question
• Components
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Discussion
  • Conclusion
  • Reference List
• Number of Authors
  • One or more
• Timeline
  • Weeks to months
• Requirements
  • Understanding of topic
  • Perform searches of one or more databases
• Value
  • Provides summary of literature on a topic

Kysh, Lynn (2013): Difference between a systematic review and a literature review. Available at: https://figshare.com/articles/Difference_between_a_systematic_review_and_a_literature_review/766364

Check the following recourses to ensure a systematic review does not already exist or is currently in progress on your topic.

• Have a clear and focused question.
• Identify synonyms and related terms (relevant concepts, terminology, spelling differences, colloquialisms, etc.)
• Use truncation to ensure you get all the variations of the terms (i.e. Canad: -a, -ian).
• Identify your search limits and criteria.
• Document your search:
  • Search terms and strings
  • Number of results for each search
  • Date of the search
  • Filter usage (date, language, etc.)

• Yes! Managing sources is instrumental to a successfully organized systematic review process and product.
• Especially when sifting through thousands of citations, citation management is time efficient.
• Systematic Review guidelines require you to track what you search, what you find, document what you keep and discard and the rationale as to why you made you those choices.
• Citation management software allows you to keep track of everything in one place.
• Export your citation records to a citation management tool. Make sure to check for duplicate records.
• Some software will allow you to share your citations with other, which is beneficial if you are working on a systematic review with other scholars. 
• Some recommended citation management software include: Zotero, Mendeley and EndNote Web.
• For more information and guidance of citation software, visit the University of Guelph’s Managing Your Sources Topic Guide.