Literature Review

The Final Report for a Literature Review

Components of the paper

The title should be brief and narrowly focused. It will become a permanent part of your curriculum vitae, so give it considerable thought.
The abstract is a succinct summary of the paper's methods and results.
The introduction provides a rationale for why the study was done. Think of the introduction as a funnel. It can begin with a broad introduction to the issues, but quickly narrows its focus to the specific research problem being investigated. It should first convince the reader that there's an important research problem that needs resolution and second, lead the reader to conclude that the obvious next step in solving the problem is your study. By the end of the introduction the reader should understand what your study will be about and why it's an important study to do.
The methods section ought to contain enough detail to enable another investigator to replicate your study. This should include how articles were selected (inclusion and exclusion criteria) and what measures were extracted from the articles.
The results section is the meat of the paper. Typically the first results presented describe the sample of articles on which the remaining results are based. Begin with a disposition of all the articles returned by your search. For example: "Of the 74 articles, 17 were eliminated because the methods were not adequately described and in 24 patients were not randomized to treatments." Next, present the basic information about the remaining studies-the ones you are analyzing-in the form of a table. Include information such as year of publication, sample size, treatments/outcomes (if these varied among the articles), etc. Following this, report the data that bear most directly on the primary hypothesis of the study. Secondary results can be presented later, but you do not need to report all the data you collected. Make sure the results are well-organized and reflect a story-line.
The text should refer to tables and graphs but should not reiterate the information contained in them. The text can, however, guide the reader toward the message contained in the table or graph: "Table 1 shows that the treatment and control groups were comparable in age and disease severity." "Pain was about 30% lower in the treatment group relative to the control group at all three times of measure, as shown in Figure 3."
The discussion should be an interpretation of the results. Begin by providing an answer to the research question posed earlier. Include the weaknesses of your study and how those weaknesses could influence the results. After taking the weaknesses into consideration, what is the meaning of the study for the field of medicine? What questions has the study resolved? What questions or directions for future research has the study generated? What methodological approaches would be appropriate for future investigators?

Writing Tips

Start by articulating in 1-2 sentences the primary message of your study. Tape this to your computer screen as a reminder of where your writing should be headed. It is very easy to get lost in the minutiae and lose sight of what you really want to say. You are telling a story; remember its plot.
Your first goal, in the words of author and writing instructor Annie Lamott in her book Bird by Bird, is to write "a really shitty first draft." Turn off the mental editor and get all your ideas down on paper as quickly as you can. Do not agonize over word choices. Do not stop to look up anything in the library. Leave blanks where you can supply missing information later.
Let your first draft rest for a few days before looking at it with a critical eye.
In revising your writing, strive for good organization, clarity and brevity.

Tables and graphs

If you can, put your most important findings in a graph. Use tables for results of secondary interest.
Use tables to organize results for several related measures such as demographic data or the 5 subscales of a survey.
Include enough information in tables and graphs that they can stand on their own and don't require the reader to refer to the text to figure out how to read them.
Tables should include descriptive statistics, not just p-values.
Avoid 3-D graphs.
Don't try to put too much information in a single graph or table.
Make tables and graphs large enough to be readable without straining.
Embed tables and graphs in the text rather than sticking them all at the end of the paper. Separating them is useful for typesetters but unnecessary and annoying for a paper such as III.

Links to writing sites

Hunter College Writing Center (http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/) Excellent collection of articles on all aspects of writing, including writing a research paper.
Purdue University Online Writing Lab Handouts (http://owl.english.purdue.edu/writinglab/) Another good collection of articles on all aspects of writing.
Writing Research Papers(http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~bioslabs/tools/report/reportform.html) No, you don't write from beginning to end.

Evaluation criteria for III papers (The following guidelines are given to reviewers )

The question. Does the student address an area of uncertainty related to medicine or health? Is the answer to the question important? Are there recognized methods capable of answering the question?
The concepts. Does the student display an understanding (usually through literature review) of the important concepts, issues, and previous developments that bear on the question?
The methods. Does the student present observations that are a product of the chosen methods and that address the original question? Observations can include information from published articles, large data banks, laboratory measurements, questionnaire responses, and/or interview summaries, as well as the student's subjective interpretation of interviews, published articles, questionnaires, and other sources of information.
The conclusions. Do the conclusions drawn demonstrate an understanding of the inferential link between observations and conclusions, including the limits to which conclusions can be generalized?
The presentation. Is the investigation presented in a well-organized and readable fashion, conforming to the style of a journal in the appropriate discipline, including technical requirements for abstracts, references, tables and figures? Does the paper conform to accepted practices for citations of the published work of others? Plagiarism is a serious offense. It consists of representing a statement, thought, or idea of another person as your own. To avoid this, use footnotes when quoting or paraphrasing another person's views. In addition, include a complete bibliography of works consulted.

Additional criteria for critical review papers: Does the study

1. Identify a specific unresolved question relevant to the practice of clinical medicine, its scientific base, or the administration, regulation, or financing of medical care?

2. Describe a systematic search to identify as comprehensively as possible the existing literature?

3. Critically review this literature with particular attention to methodological strengths and weaknesses?

4. Summarize the current status of this question with particular attention to areas of uncertainty?

5. Recommend a logical next step for research? A hypothesis to test and suggested experimental approaches would be appropriate.

Common problems

The introduction doesn't set the context for the study. Make sure the introduction is not too general and really pertains to the issues of your study.
The methods are not described in sufficient detail.
The results lose the forest for the trees. There is no plot or story-line, just a swirling sea of statistics.
The information in tables and graphs is reiterated in the text.
Tables and graphs aren't used to best effect. They may leave out important information, be too busy or be difficult to interpret.
Poor organization. Organization means that related ideas are placed near one another and that there is a logical flow from one group of ideas to the next. An outline is the best tool for developing the organization of the paper.

Preparing the Petition | Methodological Standards (Users' Guides) | Sample Petition | Final Report