Systematic Reviews and Evidence Based Practice: Carrying out a Systematic Review

1. Begin with a clear and focused research question. (PICO) see CASP for frameworks to help develop questions eg PICO, PICOT EPOE, SPICE also further reading
2. Before you start, check for existing research
3. Register the protocol
4. Formulate and conduct the search: see the searching the literature section of this guide for more information on the search.

• Identify main search terms (listing synonyms/alternative terms).
• Decide on inclusion/exclusion criteria.
• Create and record a search strategy 
• Carry out the search in chosen databases
• Save the search strategies (for each database).
• Remove duplicate papers 
• Apply inclusion/exclusion criteria.
• Save all relevant papers.
   

        5. Critically evaluate what you have found.

Systematic Reviews: a Simplified, Step-by-Step Process  © 2021 by Emily P. Jones & Michelle Cawley is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

1. Use ETHOS to search for existing theses, search USearch for ethos up to 2022

2. Search the Cochrane Library and PROSPERO for any recent systematic reviews and protocols.

3. Use dictionaries and encyclopedias to check terminology used.

The Library Catalogue  and JISC Library Hub Discover are good places to find key texts.

Further sources - see the Evidence Based Practice tab in this guide 

1. Open Science Framework - free, open platform to support research and enable collaboration
2. TRIP - Library has access to free version, not PRO
3. Campbell Systematic Reviews
4. "evidence-based" journals
5. Institutional repositories

Planning your research

Has a protocol been registered for this research topic?

Check Cochrane Library, PROSPERO  for existing protocols 

What type of study best suits your research? Have a look at the webpages below for more explanation.