Struggling With a Systematic Literature Review? Here’s a Better Approach

A Systematic Literature Review is not just about gathering research articles but a series of steps that includes identifying, evaluating, analyzing and synthesizing previous studies to address a particular research problem.

The Problem

Scientists find it hard to cope with the following tasks:

* Gathering relevant research papers from various sources.
* Defining clear research questions.
* Constructing proper search strategies.
* Formulating inclusion and exclusion criteria.
* Handling a great number of research articles.
* Evaluating the quality of selected studies.
* Detecting research gaps.
* Synthesizing the results.

Without a well-developed process, systematic literature review becomes rather labor-intensive.

The Better Way

First of all, a good systematic literature review needs to start with a specific research question and review protocol.

Afterward, scientists can construct their search strategies, choose databases for search, screen research papers based on certain criteria, evaluate the quality of studies, extract the necessary information and synthesize the results.

The review needs to clearly demonstrate what kind of studies were chosen, what was the rationale behind the choice and how the evidence suggests.

Concluding Thought

The systematic literature review is not just an expanded literature review. It is a rigorous, evidence-based process that provides insight into the current body of research.

If done properly, an SLR can point out research gaps, identify new trends, and provide a solid foundation for future research.