*Natural and Applied Sciences: Writing a Lit Review

This 5th edition describes the practical and useful methods for reviewing scientific literature in the health sciences. The goal of this text is to serve as a resource for students who need a practical, step-by-step set of instructions for how to organize, conduct, and write a synthesis of literature on a topic of their choice.

This book is a practical and readable guide that will show you how to successfully complete a literature review or research project plan as part of your final year assessment. It guides you through all the necessary stages from start to finish, beginning with preparation and planning, using and critiquing research and finally writing up and completing your project.

4th ed. Offering a step-by-step approach to conducting literature reviews, the Fourth Edition features updated examples and covers: how to select databases and evaluate their quality; selecting and organizing key words and other terms in order to effectively search databases and the Web; setting standards for evaluating the quality of research and other literature; extracting and recording information from articles and studies; synthesizing what the reader finds either descriptively or via a meta-analysis; recording and storing the results in a virtual file cabinet; and how to use bibliographic software.

This book takes you step-by-step through the process of approaching your literature review systematically, applying systematic principles to a wide range of literature review types. Through numerous examples, case studies, and exercises, the book covers often neglected areas of literature review such as concept analysis, scoping, and mapping.

This Second Edition of Diana Ridley's bestselling guide to the literature review outlines practical strategies for reading and note taking, and guides the reader on how to conduct a systematic search of the available literature, and uses cases and examples throughout to demonstrate best practice in writing and presenting the review. New to this edition are examples drawn from a wide range of disciplines, a new chapter on conducting a systematic review, increased coverage of issues of evaluating quality and conducting reviews using online sources and online literature and enhanced guidance in dealing with copyright and permissions issues.

A six-step model offers invaluable assistance for selecting a topic, searching the literature, developing arguments, surveying the literature, critiquing the literature, and writing the literature review.