There are many different types of reviews that can be conducted and they are all based on the type of question you are asking. Skim below to find the review that's right for you.
Before you begin searching you must first determine what kind of review is most appropriate for your question, timeframe, and resources.
A librarian can help, the earlier you ask the more we can do.
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A literature review is a generic term for published materials that provide an account of what has been published by scholars and researchers on a particular topic. They help researchers by providing context, informing methodology, identifying innovation, and minimizing duplicative research. You will be asked to write one as an assignment for class, or you may also write one as part of the introduction to a research article or dissertation. This type of review does not follow any standardized methodology.
A literature review should:
Writing the Literature Review (Pt 1) & Writing the Literature Review (Pt 2) - a two part video for graduate students on writing a literature review
The Literature Review: A Foundation for High-Quality Medical Education Research - a "road map" for planning a literature review
Narrative Reviews tend to be mainly descriptive, do not involve a systematic search of the literature, and thereby often focus on a subset of studies in an area chosen based on availability or author selection. Narrative Reviews are meant to give an overview of a topic; including a wide variety of studies and summarizing the critical points of current knowledge of a particular topic. This gives the researcher the chance to offer unique perspectives and interpretations, thus, while informative, narrative reviews can often include an element of selection bias. Examples of narrative reviews include: integrative, state-of-the-art, and critical reviews among others.
Narrative Reviews: Flexible, Rigorous, and Practical - a discussion of what narrative reviews are with examples
Labelled as the "broadest type of research review methods", integrative reviews allow for the inclusion of experimental and non-experimental research. They present the state of the science, contribute to theory development, and have direct applicability to practice and policy; they may combine data from theoretical literature in addition to empirical studies. Allowing for the inclusion of a variety of data types they may also serve to define concepts, review theories, review evidence, and analyze methodological issues.
Stages of an Integrative Review:
Writing Integrative Literature Reviews: Guidelines and Examples - a discussion of how to organize and write integrative reviews
A state-of-the-art review considers mainly the most current research in a given area or concerning a given topic. It often summarizes current and emerging educational trends, research priorities and standardizations in a particular field of interest. The review aims to provide a critical survey of the extensive literature produces in the past decade; a synthesis of current thinking in the field. It may offer new perspectives on an issue or point out an area in need of further research.
Understanding State-of-the-Art Literature Reviews - a discussion on what they are, why they are important, the process to write one, and strengths/weaknesses
A Scoping Review provide a preliminary assessment of the potential size and scope of available research literature; aiming to identify the nature and extent of research evidence. They can also be used to identify key concepts within a field and clarify definitions in terminology. Scoping Reviews are useful for examining emerging evidence in instances when it's unclear what specific question should be addressed. Usually address broader topics and are not typically assessing the quality of individual studies.
Authors may find it helpful to use the PCC (population, concept, context) question framework when formulating a research question.
PRISMA for Scoping Reviews - checklist of 20 essential reporting items
JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis - comprehensive guide to conducting scoping reviews
A Mapping Review seeks to identify the linkages between the literature. Mapping focuses on characteristics such as study design, geography, or funding. You're characterizing and categorizing the quantity and quality of the literature to identify gaps and describing the layout of the evidence base. Mapping often focuses on published items but, doesn't have to; some mapping studies include other media such as books, newspapers, or grant proposals.
What is a "mapping study?" - a discussion of mapping reviews with an example of the process
Rapid Reviews are a form of knowledge synthesis in which components of the systematic review process are simplified or omitted to produce information in a timely manner. Aspects of the process such as the scope of the question, the comprehensiveness of the search strategy, or the quality of the appraisal may be limited. They still aim to be rigorous in their methodology but set limits on the process in order to shorten the timeframe of review completion. The authors then explore the effects these limited methods may have had on the results.
Rapid Review Protocol - a guide to the steps in a rapid review
Advances in Rapid Reviews - article series about rapid review methodology
Systematic Reviews involve a detailed and comprehensive plan and search strategy with the goal of reducing bias by identifying, appraising, and synthesizing all relevant studies on a particular topic. Often, systematic reviews include a meta-analysis component which involves using statistical techniques to synthesize the data from several studies into a single quantitative estimate or summary effect size. A systematic review requires a team effort and many hours and months of work gathering hundreds (sometimes thousands) of articles and then reading, evaluating, sorting, including/excluding, and analyzing them; all documented and based on a set of very rigorous standards.
The Hope Brings Strength Health Sciences Library is not equipped at this time to assist with systematic reviews.
Why equating all evidence searches to systematic reviews defies their role in information seeking
Meta-analysis is the statistical procedure for combining data from multiple studies. When the treatment effect (or effect size) is consistent from one study to the next, meta-analysis can be used to identify this common effect. When the effect varies from one study to the next, meta-analysis may be used to identify the reason for the variation.
An Umbrella Review addresses the growing number of systematic reviews and research syntheses being published each year. An umbrella review, or a review of reviews, is a systematic review that only considers other systematic reviews as an eligible study type for inclusion.