LITERATURE REVIEWSelect publications that you can relate to your AIM.
Analyze—how does a study relate to your topic and what components don’t—service area, geography, age bands, ethnicity or how the variables studied are aligned with your aim. Don’t try to make your studies fit. Do read the articles carefully for content, applicability and strength—population size, inclusion criteria, control of variables, etc.
Synthesize—several pubs will tell you the same thing—summarize those; cite each behind the statement and identify which ones said something different. Don’t be linear about the lit review.
No meta-analysis
At least 25 current references—unless you are citing a seminal publication, i.e.—NIH, NAM, CDC, etc.
No dot coms and very few select dot orgs—gov ok—and if dot orgs are representing scholarly work, such as professional orgs which employ double-blinded peer review. Think how these organizations might perpetuate their mission? —it helps to identify bias.
