Guides: Searching for Literature for Evidence Synthesis: Home

The National Institutes of Health Library defines evidence synthesis as the following:

Evidence synthesis is a process of identifying, selecting, and combining multiple studies to inform practice and policy decisions around a topic or specific research question. The process should be done in standardized ways to avoid bias and to be transparent and reproducible. There are many types of evidence syntheses. Systematic reviews are a well-known evidence synthesis review type, but there are other types (e.g., rapid, scoping, umbrella, narrative, meta-analysis with systematic review).

source: https://www.nihlibrary.nih.gov/services/evidence-synthesis

Steps in Evidence Synthesis

This guide will give resources on #1, 2, 3, 4 & 7.

1. Write a Research Question & Register Protocol	Choose a Research Framework (i.e. PICOT, PCC, etc.) - University of Maryland has a research guide with the different frameworks for research questions: https://lib.guides.umd.edu/SR/research_question Register your protocol (which states your rationale, hypothesis and planned methodology on a registry (i.e. PROSPERO, OSF, etc.)
2. Select Databases	Choose databases based on research question and discipline
3. Write & Translate Search Strategies	Use keyword and controlled vocabulary in various databases Use filters and other advanced searching functions (such as searching for terms only in the abstract/title or limit to a specific publication time period) Translate controlled vocabulary and subject headings to different databases Documenting the Search Strategy (to add to Methods section)
4. Citation Management (using Zotero)	Compile evidence from each database into a citation management software to de-duplicate results.
5. Article Screening	Determine inclusion and exclusion criteria
6. Data Extraction	Use a form or table to capture data from articles to summarize and analyze
7. Synthesize Results	Try using a Literature Review Matrix

For more detailed information, refer to the Cornell University Library's A Guide to Evidence Synthesis: Steps in an Evidence Synthesis

Guidelines to Follow

PRESS Peer Review of Electronic Search Strategies: 2015 Guideline Statement
PRISMA-ScR
The PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was published in 2018. The checklist contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items to include when completing a scoping review. Scoping reviews serve to synthesize evidence and assess the scope of literature on a topic. Among other objectives, scoping reviews help determine whether a systematic review of the literature is warranted.
JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis
This manual guides authors who wish to conduct systematic and scoping reviews following JBI methodologies. Each chapter is devoted to the synthesis of different types of evidence to address different types of clinical and policy-related questions.

Searching for Literature for Evidence Synthesis

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Credits

This guide was created using resources from the Evidence Synthesis Institute.

The National Institutes of Health Library defines evidence synthesis as the following:

Steps in Evidence Synthesis

Guidelines to Follow