S

methods
lf f
Saves yourself from work!
k!
Why perform literature review?

Know the subject matter better

Suggest new research topics, questions & 
National Insstitute of Epidemiology  NIeCer 101                                               National Insstitute of Epidemiology  NIeCer 101                                              
Chennai HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS  Chennai HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 

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1/14/2016

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Lit review : Not just a summary

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
Information seeking
SScan the literature efficiently using manual or 
th lit t ffi i tl i l
computerized methods to identify a set of potentially 

National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
useful articles and books

Chennai
Critical appraisal
Cii l i l
the ability to apply principles of analysis to identify 
those studies which are unbiased and valid.
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Lit review: Organized search

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              

Identify lacunae Develop 
As appears 
As appears questions for 
q
in the literature further 
research 
National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai

Organize information Synthesize results
relate it to the  f h ti
summary of what is 
research question  and isn't known

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Information retrieval identifying, within a large 

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
document collection, a subset of 
documents whose content is 
most relevant to user’s need

Database organization 

National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai
(database management)
Series 1
Series 2
Structure of query 
Series 3 (user defined )
(user defined )

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Database structure and management

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
Database National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai

Indexing 
•Cover all the terms
•Cover all the terms 
in the database
•Common and 
frequent terms
•Used as delimiters
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Appropriate place to search

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
General info 
• HON certified sites
Systematic reviews/     
Systematic reviews/ g
•Web Search Engines – Google
g
Meta‐analysis / EBMs
•Cochrane Library 

National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai
•Map of Medicine etc
Specific query
•PubMed // Scopus / Google 
p / g
Scholar database etc

Archived full text articles
•Free Open Access 
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•Fee Based – From Libraries

Pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed)
HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai

MeSH (Medical Subject Headings) is the NLM
controlled vocabulary thesaurus used for indexing 
articles for PubMed.
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 Database on Lung
Database on Lung

Searching a database
Searching a database

• Boolean query: AND/OR/NOT
• Boolean query: AND/OR/NOT

Lung OR Infections
Lung AND infections
Database on Infections

Database on Infections
National Insstitute of Epidemiology  NIeCer 101                                               National Insstitute of Epidemiology  NIeCer 101                                              
Chennai HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS  Chennai HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 

nie.gov.in
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1/14/2016

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Searching a database

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
• Boolean query: AND/OR/NOT
Database on Lung Database on Infections

National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai
HUMAN VALUES
Lung NOT
Usability,Infections
Desirability nie.gov.in

Searching Pubmed : Boolean query
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Selecting studies :for Literature review

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
Tabulate info from 
Tabulate info from
each study & 
Compare

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Chennai
Compare methods,  
results, findings etc
! Select those of good 
quality
lit
Read and critique 
studies

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Example table of literature

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
Citation Design Objectives Study Sample  Measurable  Authors
p p
population size outcome &  Conclusion
results
National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai

Chronologically placed
RECENT

PAST
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•Includes quality studies 

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
Writing a literature review

NIeCer 101                                              
relevant to topic
•Explain each study 
using paraphrasing 
rather than direct 
h h di
• Purpose of review
• Organization of review 1 Introduction quotes
•Scholarly, but brief, 

National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai
• Basis for ordering critique of study’s 
• Most important to least Empirical  strengths and 
• Earliest to most recent 2 literature weaknesses

Concise presentation of the 
research knowledge about a  3 Summary
selected topic—what is known 
and not known nie.gov.in

HEALTH RESSEARCH FUNDAMENTALS 
NIeCer 101                                              
Content from studies ‐ presented honestly and 
‐ not distorted

Ethical
E hi l Weaknesses of a study 
‐ addressed ; not necessary to be highly critical
Issues
National Insstitute of Epidemiology 
Chennai

Sources should be accurately documented

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