This guide is primarily for students conducting systematic or rapid reviews for thesis/dissertation or course work.
This guide will teach you to:
This guide also provides basic information on how to conduct your search; for more in-depth help, book a research consultation with a librarian.
“A systematic review attempts to identify, appraise and synthesize all the empirical evidence that meets pre-specified eligibility criteria to answer a given research question. Researchers conducting systematic reviews use explicit methods aimed at minimizing bias, in order to produce more reliable findings that can be used to inform decision making.”
- Cochrane Library, About Cochrane Reviews
Source: “Library books,” CCAC North Library
Systematic Reviews are comprehensive analyses of all the scientific research on a specific question. They answer the question: what does the evidence say about this particular topic/issue?
A systematic review is not the same as a narrative review or a literature review. Unlike other kinds of reviews, systematic ones must be as thorough and unbiased as possible, and must also make explicit how the search was conducted.
Source: “Research - IMG_1367,” Nicola
A true systematic review:
If you are a student, you're probably not conducting a systematic review in the true sense, but are working on a systematic review-like project.
Grey Literature: Any literature that is not published in the traditional sense. See the page in this guide.
Meta-analysis: Statistical analysis of data that has been collected in a systematic review. Not all systematic reviews include meta-analysis, but all meta-analyses are found in systematic reviews.
Protocols: Plans for future systematic reviews. Protocols describe the research question and the intended search process.
Scoping Reviews: Reviews that determine the general state of a topic in question and locate gaps in the literature. They are more broad and less thorough than systematic reviews.
Rapid Reviews: Rapid reviews are a form of knowledge synthesis in which components of the systematic review process are simplified or omitted to produce information in a timely manner.
Allison Bell and the Gerstein Science Information Centre who provided inspiration and content for the original version of this guide.
University of Toronto Scarborough Library
1265 Military Trail, Toronto, ON M1C 1A4 Canada
Email help
416-287-7500
Map
About web accessibility. Tell us about a web accessibility problem.
About online privacy and data collection.
© University of Toronto. All rights reserved.