Systematic Methods for Literature Reviews: Systematic Review Methods (SRM)

Links to sections of this site are shown at left.  Section information is briefly shown below. The pages should open in your current web browser window.  

General/What/Why Brief information about the use of "systematic methods" for reviews (including which disciplines).
Library research models "Pictures"  showing the process of "reviewing the literature".
General steps Some specifics on systematic steps for completing a review.
Checklists Checklists for evaluating processes used.
Manage Information and guidance on managing the review.      
Books/Articles & More  Sources with recommendations and detailed descriptions/instruction/guidance.
Examples & related  Examples of published works that have used SR methods. 

Other notes on using this guide

1. Sections at left open in the current web browser window. Most other links in this guide open another web window or tab in your Internet browser.
2. It is assumed that users of this guide have levels of subject expertise for summarizing or otherwise working with the information they gather from resources related to their topics. This guide does not cover steps for the "final synthesis or summary writing" that is found in papers, theses, etc. That "thinking/writing work" is based on your knowledge and skills acquired from your coursework and your own reading and thinking. Even so, guidance for how to cite resources is here, and other writing assistance is available here.
3. Also, in these pages "SR" is used to indicate "systematic review".
4. This guide's content and presence/availability will be evolving.

Literature reviews in this guide are viewed as projects that search for and pull together information on a topic.  The information is gathered from a range of resources (possibly a large number of resources). The reviews usually then summarize, synthesize, critique, and/or use that information as "background" for a research project or for addressing research questions. The purposes, types of projects, and the "end products" for reviews do vary, and reviews are found in all disciplines.  A guide that covers "how to to a literature review" has been available here. 

The goal of this guide is to provide information and resources that can be used to develop literature reviews that are "more rigorous or systematic" than those completed using "traditional literature review approaches". This guide aims to support the use of systematic literature review methods.