Graduate Research

When thinking about literature reviews, it's helpful to know that there are many different types of reviews.

Generally, all literature reviews involve locating, selecting and synthesizing the sources your select. However, the scope of the literature you select and the type of analysis and synthesis you provide depends on whether you're working on a course paper or conducting comprehensive research about a topic.

• Narrative literature reviews are often required for a course assignment. You may be asked to locate 5-10 peer-reviewed sources and other non peer reviewed sources based on your topic -- and then write a paper that synthesizes key points discussed in the sources. 

• Narrative or traditional literature reviews may also be included in a thesis or dissertation but they often require a more comprehensive approach to locate a broader scope of sources. A thesis or dissertation literature review (or literature review chapter) may also apply a systematized approach in searching and reporting about sources to ensure students capture both historical and current sources, and writers often evaluate the strengths and limitations of the sources and any gaps found in the literature. This type of review is sometimes referred to as a 'systematized (narrative) review'.

The following article includes an overview of the various types of literature reviews.

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

• Systematic reviews are another category of literature reviews. Systematic reviews are commonly used to inform health-related interventions, policy development, and educational interventions. They use rigorous methods that include well-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria and strive to be comprehensive in their approach to identify, evaluate, and synthesize all the existing evidence about a topic. They also adhere to transparent and reproducible practices for conducting searches and reporting evidence. Some systematic reviews also include a meta-analysis that utilizes statistical methods to analyze and evaluate individual research studies.

The Cochrane Handbook notes that systematic reviews should be conducted by a team of researchers and "were developed out of a need to ensure that decisions affecting people’s lives can be informed by an up‐to‐date and a complete understanding of the relevant research evidence" (Lasserson, Thomas, & Higgins, 2019, 1.1 Why do a systematic review? section). 

Higgins, J. P. T., Thomas, J., Chandler, J., Cumpston, M., Li, T., Page, M. J., & Welch, V. A. (Eds.). (2019). Cochrane handbook for systematic reviews of interventions (2nd ed.). The Cochrane Collaboration. https://training.cochrane.org/handbook 

For librarian assistance related to conducting a systematic reviews, please see our Evidence Synthesis research guide or contact Corinne.Bishop@ucf.edu