Do’s and Don’ts in writing a scientific literature review for health care research- Pubrica
                     DO’S AND DON’TS IN  
WRITING A SCIENTIFIC  
LITERATURE REVIEW 
FOR  HEALTH CARE 
RESEARCH
An Academic presentation by
Dr. Nancy Agens, Head, Technical Operations, 
Pubrica  Group: www.pubrica.com
Email: [email protected]
Today's Discussion
Outline In Brief
Purpose of Literature Review in Healthcare 
Research  Context of Literature Review Writing
Do’s and Don’ts in Literature 
Review  Conclusion
In Brief
Healthcare research is a rapidly growing hey field necessitating the 
 need to do an adequate and comprehensive review of existing  
literature on the subject. Clinical literature review services are in the  
know-how of writing an effective literature review article.
Seven Steps of  
Writing a  
Literature Review
Purpose of The whole purpose of research is to increase the collective 
 Literature  understanding on the topic and contribute productively.
 Review in  The number of publications, research, and journals are  
Healthcar increasing by the day with an increasing need for dedicated
e   medical writing or literature review services with 
Research domain-  related expertise.
 Clinical literature review services are providing immense  
support to busy clinicians and researchers on how to write a 
 literature review.
The purpose of a proper literature review can be 
 summarized as below : -
Contd..
Literature review help explore previous research conducted in the field of interest, 
 the limitations and conflict areas identified and the need for further research.
It also helps one in understanding and formulating one’s area of research in a 
 better manner and justifies the methodology used.
 Literature review article helps connect the statistical findings of the research 
with  prior research statistics.
It also conveys that the researcher is serious and dedicated about the research and 
 intends to complete the project.
Contd..
 Literature review writing help is needed in preventing duplication of research  
and avoiding redundant fields and is needed for good quality research paper.
Literature review is the preliminary step in any dissertation as part of an  
academic requirement. How to write a literature review is also an important part 
 of the curriculum.
Context of There are various circumstances under which one must do a 
  literature review.
Literature I ntroduction to a primary research topic – This sets 
 Review  cthoentext for the research article or dissertation by analysing  
previously published literature and clearly defining the place of 
Writing  the current research.
S ystematic review –It is related to m eta-analysis and 
provide  a quantitative or less often qualitative statistic 
summarizing  several papers.
Secondary data analysis projects- It is a research project on 
 its own and begins with a clear research question. The project  
aims at analysing available data in answering the question.
Do’s and  1. The research question should be clear and crisp,  
Don’ts in  preferably one that can be analysed quantitatively.
Literatur 2. Picking up the right articles is an art and one should  
e  Review have clear inclusion and exclusion criteria to perform 
 a relevant review.
1. 3. Citations should be recent and relevant in thecurrent context.
Do’s
4. Citations should include not only those studies with  
clear-cut outcomes, it should also include those that are 
 inconclusive or require further research.
Contd..
5. Critical appraisal of the studies cited with an analytical review of the 
 same is to be done.
6. Adequate number of citations is often defined by the journal and that 
 needs to be followed.
7. Organise and document the data in a format that best suits and justifies 
 the research study.
2. Don’ts 1. Research question should not be ambiguous as it will 
 result in a haphazard start to the research study.
2. Deviations or inconsistency in following the defined  
inclusion and exclusion criteria make the findings unreliable.
3. Citations that are old and outdated in the current context
are to be avoided.
4. Bias in citations that intentionally quote only those that are  
congruent in their conclusions to the current study should 
 be avoided.
Contd..

5. Not weighing the studies under consideration for the quality of research result 
 in inclusion of poor-quality literature that make the outcomes unreliable.
6. Too few or too many citations fail to convey the crux in the correct proportions.
7. Data organised in a haphazard manner becomes inconclusive and does not 
 interest the reader and sends a wrong message about the quality of the 
study.
Contd.
.
Basically, depending on the requirement of the topic of literature research, whether it 
 is recent or been around for several years, whether most facts are clear or unclear,  
whether researchers agree or disagree on most matters and what is the outcome  
needed out of the literature search in context of the objective of the current study.
In short, the review should be well-structured and should have some form to the flow 
 of information.
Conclusion
Setting the factual context of the current research study is 
 the first step to participate in the ongoing ‘dialogue’ on the  
subject and contribute positively to that area of research.
L iterature review services help the busy researcher 
and  how to write a literature review article.
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