Literature and Systematic Reviews for Public Health

A literature review is a critical and comprehensive analysis of existing research and scholarly writings on a specific topic or research question. Literature reviews involve reviewing and synthesizing a range of sources, such as articles, reports, conference papers, and other academic materials and grey literature.

Literature reviews provide a deep understanding of the current state of knowledge in a particular field or subject area.

A literature review is not a summarization or description of each article you have reviewed--you must critically analyze the literature and relate it to your research question.

Identify gaps: Identify areas where further research is needed--perhaps opportunities for your own research?

Establish rationale: Explain why your research is relevant and necessary.

Contextualize of your research: Summarize and discuss previous studies related to your topic and position your research within the broader conversation.

Evidence-based practice: Public health professionals use the findings from various studies to inform decision-making and interventions.
 

A literature review may be only one portion of your thesis or capstone, typically in the beginning or the introduction of your work. Or your entire thesis or capstone may be the review--this is probably called a systematic or scoping review.

Literature Review: Generic label for a description of some literature, may only summarize the current state of research. Comprehensiveness and completeness vary.

Systematic Review: Systematic, methodological search for and analysis of (hopefully) all literature that answers a specific research question. Strict rules to follow in the execution and reporting.

Scoping Review: Systematic, methodological search for and analysis of the state of evidence for a given topic; identifies gaps where further research is needed.