This guide will help you:
Non-systematic literature reviews, or narrative reviews are a method of knowledge synthesis, but do not have the stringent methodologies or reporting standards of systematic-type reviews. Narrative reviews do not require a clinically focused research question and inclusion/exclusion criteria are not usually explicitly described. Because a systematic search of the literature is not required for this type of review, a methodology section is not mandatory. Included studies are not evaluated for quality and no risk of bias is performed. Narrative reviews may address more than a single question and are useful for addressing general debates, identifying current lack of knowledge, providing rationales for future research, or speculating on types of interventions available.
Why are literature reviews important?
Literature reviews give context: They explain the information landscape around a topic and they can capture the state of research in your field.
Literature reviews help identify where further research is needed in a field. It finds gaps and raises questions that need to be answered.
Literature reviews prove that you know what you’re talking about! A well-written lit review gives legitimacy to your claims and contextualizes them to others. It shows your expertise in a topic.
For clinicians, “literature reviews can save valuable time when reviewing or searching for information about patient care by condensing a great amount of information into a few pages. The clinician can read one paper instead of sifting through the whole of the literature to find the answer to a clinical question…”
| Literature Review | Systematic Review | |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qualitatively summarizes evidence on a topic using informal or subjective methods to collect and interpret studies. | 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 | Provide summary or overview of topic |
|
| Question | Can be a general topic or a specific question |
|
| Number of Authors | One or more | Three or more |
| Timeline | Weeks to months |
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| Requirements |
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| Value | Provides summary of literature on a topic |
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To learn more about systematic reviews and other evidence synthesis methods check out:
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