Systematic Reviews and Related Evidence Syntheses

This guide contains information about

• Selecting the appropriate evidence synthesis
• Tools to support evidence syntheses
• Requesting help from an information specialist (subject librarian).

Systematic reviews are one type of evidence synthesis. A systematic review is a research method aimed to answer a question(s) by collecting, appraising, analyzing, and synthesizing studies matching specified criteria. They are conducted in medicine, public health, education, social sciences, engineering, and other disciplines. A systematic review will take a year or more to complete and requires a minimum of two participants.

Other types of evidence syntheses include literature (narrative) reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews, umbrella reviews and meta analyses. See Which Review is Right for You for more information and help identifying the correct evidence synthesis for your project.

Texas A&M University affiliated students, faculty, and staff working on systematic reviews, scoping reviews, rapid reviews, and other evidence syntheses may request a consultation with an information specialist (subject librarian).

All subject specialist librarians can provide a base level consultation on an evidence synthesis.

What does a base level consultation include?

• Consultations with an individual or groups working on the evidence synthesis
• Assistance finding existing related reviews
• Help defining a search strategy including:
  • Databases recommendations
  • How to use keywords and controlled vocabulary terms to improve results
• Guidance on citation management software (EndNote, RefWorks, Zotero)
• Help logging into TAMU Libraries Covidence systematic review software.

Additional evidence synthesis support

Depending on their availability, some subject librarians may choose to provide more in depth support for reviews. This level of support must be negotiated with the librarian and usually means recognizing the librarian as a co-author.