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| Introduction | |
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| Why do a literature review in health and social care? | |
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| What is a literature review? | |
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| Why are literature reviews important? | |
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| Literature reviews present the whole jigsaw | |
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| Analysis of many papers can lead to new discoveries | |
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| The importance of a comprehensive or systematic approach | |
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| Why is there so much available information? | |
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| Evidence-based practice | |
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| Why does one piece of research often contradict another? | |
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| The importance of a systematic approach to the literature review | |
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| The systematic review | |
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| Less detailed systematic reviews | |
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| Narrative reviews | |
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| Why you should be doing a 'systematic' rather than a 'narrative' review | |
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| The literature review as a research methodology | |
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| Can I undertake a literature review for my dissertation? | |
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| In summary | |
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| Key points | |
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| How do I develop a research question? | |
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| The importance of a research question | |
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| Identify a research topic | |
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| How do I begin to select a good topic? | |
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| Identify a research question | |
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| Hints for writing a good research question | |
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| Refining the research question | |
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| Remind yourself (often) of your question | |
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| Use of theory and a theoretical framework | |
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| Reconsideration of your research question | |
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| Writing up the development of your research question | |
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| Tips for writing up the development of your research question | |
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| In summary | |
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| Key points | |
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| What literature will be relevant to my literature review? | |
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| Types of research you are likely to encounter | |
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| Systematic literature reviews | |
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| Quantitative research | |
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| Types of quantitative research | |
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| Qualitative studies | |
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| Types of qualitative research | |
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| The merits of quantitative and qualitative research | |
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| The use of secondary sources | |
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| What does the term 'hierarchy of evidence' mean? | |
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| Why do some literature reviews include predominantly RCTs? | |
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| Does the 'hierarchy of evidence' apply to my literature review? | |
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| Identifying your own hierarchy of evidence in your review | |
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| Should I always focus my search on research findings? | |
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| In summary | |
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| Key points | |
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| How do I search for literature? | |
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| Developing a systematic approach to searching for literature | |
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| Identify the literature that will address your review question | |
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| Inclusion and exclusion criteria | |
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| Carrying out your search strategy | |
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| Electronic searching | |
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| Recording your searching strategy | |
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| Additional methods of identifying relevant articles | |
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| Use of abstracts to confirm the relevance of the paper | |
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| Getting hold of your references | |
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| Managing your references | |
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| Strengths and limitations of your searching strategy | |
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| Tips for writing up your search strategy | |
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| In summary | |
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| Key points | |
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| How do I critically appraise the literature? | |
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| Getting to know your literature | |
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| The importance of critical appraisal | |
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| What is critical appraisal? | |
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| Do I need to critically appraise all the literature I include in my review? | |
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| Getting started with critical appraisal | |
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| Identifying research, theoretical, practice and policy papers | |
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| Critical appraisal tools | |
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| Which appraisal tool should I use? | |
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| Critical appraisal for new researchers | |
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| Critical appraisal of theory | |
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| Critical appraisal of research | |
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| Critical appraisal of review articles | |
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| Dealing with existing literature reviews in your review | |
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| How should we critique quantitative studies? | |
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| Additional resources for critical appraisal | |
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| Critical appraisal of qualitative studies | |
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| How should we critique qualitative research? | |
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| Critical appraisal tools for qualitative studies | |
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| Critical appraisal of practice literature | |
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| Critical appraisal of policy and guidelines | |
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| An approach to evaluating information contained on websites | |
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| Now I have critically appraised all my literature - what next? | |
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| Tips for doing your critique of the literature | |
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| In summary | |
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| Key points | |
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| How do I synthesize my findings? | |
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| Combining the evidence | |
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| Three 'advanced' approaches for summing up the literature | |
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| Meta-analysis | |
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| Meta-ethnography | |
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| Meta-study | |
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| A simplified approach | |
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| Providing a summary of your information | |
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| Comparing and contrasting the results of each study | |
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| Working with codes and themes that do not support each other | |
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| Discussion of the strength of evidence | |
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| Be aware of results that appear too neat | |
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| Be creative! | |
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| Writing up your results | |
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| Writing your critical appraisal of each paper | |
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| Telling a story with your data | |
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| Incorporating your critical appraisal | |
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| What do I do if I cannot really answer my research question? | |
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| Tips for writing up your synthesis of the literature | |
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| In summary | |
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| Key points | |
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| How do I discuss my findings and make recommendations? | |
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| Statement of findings | |
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| Strengths and limitations of your study | |
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| Discussion of unanswered questions and future research | |
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| Tips for writing up your discussion section | |
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| Key points | |
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| How do I present my literature review? And other key questions | |
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| A suggested structure | |
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| Top tips for writing up your literature review | |
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| Key points in presenting your literature review | |
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| Commonly asked questions | |
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| What is the difference between a dissertation and an essay? | |
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| How should I structure my work? | |
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| Should I use first or third person? | |
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| How should I use references? | |
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| How do I avoid plagiarism and misrepresentation? | |
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| What is the role of my supervisor? | |
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| Glossary | |
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| References | |
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| Index | |