NHM 612: Nutrition and Exercise in Health and Disease

A literature review is a very practical part of the research process.  It's how you build on other research in the field - identify best practices and tools and learn what doesn't work.  I'm happy to help you find articles to build up your topic's literature review. Also, take a look at the literature reviews you find in scholarly articles you read to get a good idea of how to structure your own and find more articles.  

There are several different kinds of articles frequently found in the literature for medical and health sciences. 

• Case report – a description of a particular service or event, often focusing on unusual aspects of the reported situation or adverse occurrences.
• Case series – a description of more than one case.
• Case-control study – An observational study in which the cases have the issue of interest  but the controls do not.
• Cohort study – An observational study of a particular group over a period of time.
• Randomized Controlled Trial – An experimental study in which users are randomly allocated to one of two or more options, where some get the option of interest and others get another option (e.g. a standard service).
• Scoping review - A type of knowledge synthesis that uses a systematic and iterative approach to identify and synthesize an existing or emerging body of literature on a given topic. The key differences between systematic reviews and scoping reviews are differing purposes and aims. The purpose of a scoping review is to map the body of literature on a topic area. The purpose of a systematic review is to sum up the best available research on a specific question.
• Systematic review – An approach that involves capturing and assessing the evidence by some systematic method, where all the components of the approach and the assessment are made explicit and documented.  Some systematic reviews include a meta-analysis (see below).
• Meta-analysis - A method of synthesising the data from more than one study, in order to produce a summary statistic. 

Content Contributor: Booth A & Brice A (2004) Evidence Based Practice for Information Professionals: A Handbook. London: Facet Publishing.

Randomized controlled trials, systematic and scoping reviews, and meta-analyses are considered to be stronger forms of evidence and will be more desirable for your research paper.

The ABC's of appraising articles

In the age of open-access publishing, it is easier than ever to have a journal article published. It isn't always clear if the article went through the peer review process, so it is important for you to take a critical look at the information you find in an article. Here are some criteria to consider applying to articles.

• Authority – what are the qualifications of the authors? Was the article published in a reputable journal? 

• Accuracy – is the information reproducible or cited by other sources? Are references cited throughout the article?

• Bias – does the author have a conflict of interest? PubMed now includes conflict of interest statements when this information is supplied by the publisher. 

• Currency – when was the article published? Is the information out of date for your purposes? 

• Comprehension – is the information written at an appropriate level for its audience? How does the information compare with other sources on this topic? Is the article relevant to your research?

PICO Method

P: Patient, Problem or Population – What are the most important characteristics of the patient and their health status?

I: Intervention – What main intervention are you considering (medical, surgical, preventative)

C: Comparison – What are the alternative benchmark or goldmark standards being considered, if any?

O: Outcome – What is the estimated likelihood of a clinical outcome attributable to a specific disease, condition or injury?

T: Type of Question/Study – You can have questions of different types. They can be categorized as a diagnosis, prognosis, therapy, etiology/harm, or prevention question. What study design would best answer the question: randomized controlled trial; cohort study; case controlled study; case series; case series; case report etc.

UM Libraries Interlibrary Loan Service (ILL) provides you access to articles and books we don't own by borrowing from another library on your behalf. ILL is free for you and you can request as many items as you want! Once you log in to your account and update your personal details, you can request items whenever you want. Articles are delivered electronically within 48 hours of requesting while print books may take up to 10 days. While there is no fee for ILL, you will be charged for late or lost materials.