Reviewing the Literature
The Literature Review
A literature review is a structured examination of everything that has been published on a particular topic, theory, or clinical question. The term “literature” refers to all relevant sources of information, including peer-reviewed journal articles, clinical guidelines, textbooks, and professional reports. A literature review helps nurses understand what is already known about a topic so they avoid repeating work unnecessarily, unless replication is needed to test accuracy, update findings, or examine a concept in a new population such as Indigenous communities, rural/remote settings, or Canadian health-care systems. A strong literature review does more than summarize sources. It critically analyzes and synthesizes evidence, identifies key themes, and provides a clear context for the research problem.
Dr. Fehr Tip:
A strong literature review helps you:
- Provide a context for your research.
- Avoid unnecessary duplication of studies.
- Justify why your research matters.
- Identify theories, methods, and findings relevant to your topic.
- Recognize flaws, gaps, or contradictions in existing research.
- Refine and refocus your research question.
Purpose of a literature review
A literature review involves an in-depth examination of research articles, books, guidelines, and other scholarly material related to your research problem. This step clarifies whether your question has already been answered, how extensively the topic has been studied, and what methods other researchers have used.
More than a search for information, a literature review connects existing evidence to your topic. It helps you identify what is known, what remains unclear, and where gaps exist. This allows you to determine the contribution of each source and to evaluate the strength of the overall evidence base.
Regardless of the type of study you plan to conduct, the core purposes remain the same. A literature review allows you to:
• Provide context for your research problem
• Justify why your study is needed
• Confirm whether your proposed work has already been done
• Identify where your study fits into existing nursing knowledge
• Learn from previous theories and findings
• Recognize flaws or limitations in past research
• Highlight gaps requiring further investigation
• Clarify how your study will add to nursing knowledge
• Refine or redirect your research question as needed
Writing a Literature Review
Writing a literature review involves three main steps:
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Research – Locating credible sources such as peer-reviewed nursing journals, Canadian clinical guidelines, dissertations, and academic books.
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Critical Appraisal – Evaluating each source for rigour, credibility, methodology, and relevance to Canadian nursing practice.
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Synthesis and Writing – Organizing and integrating the literature into a coherent narrative that supports your research question.
Many nursing students find it helpful to imagine the process as a funnel—starting with broad information and narrowing toward the most relevant studies.
A thorough understanding of the literature is essential for high-quality nursing research and evidence-based practice. Fink (2019) describes literature reviews as systematic, explicit, and reproducible processes for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing existing work. Novice researchers should review published research critically and comprehensively to understand the topic and identify meaningful research gaps.
Dr. Fehr Tip:
Don’t get overwhelmed by the “review families.” For undergrad projects, you’ll most often be expected to do a narrative literature review, not a full systematic review. Learn the basics here — the rest will come in grad school!
Types of Research Literature
Nursing research literature falls into two main categories:
Primary Literature
Original research studies, including:
• Qualitative interviews
• Randomized controlled trials
• Case studies and case series
• Cohort and case-control studies
• Theses and dissertations
• Conference abstracts
• Preprints
Common databases for accessing primary literature in Canada include:
CINAHL, PubMed/Medline, Embase, Emcare, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar.
Secondary Literature
Works that synthesize primary research:
• Systematic reviews
• Meta-analyses
• Meta-syntheses
• Clinical practice guidelines
Sources include:
- Databases: PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science.
- Search engines: Google Scholar (use cautiously).
- Grey literature: reports, dissertations, policy documents.
Tips for Searching:
Use Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
Track your search terms and results.
Review reference lists in key articles to discover additional studies.
Remixed from:
- An Introduction to Research Methods for Undergraduate Health Profession Students by Bunmi Malau-Aduli and Faith Alele (2023), published under a CC BY NC 4.0 license.
Media Attributions
- Dr. Fehr [avatar] by Katie on Canva using Canva AI image creation https://www.canva.com/ai-assistant/
- Figure 6.1 Different types of literature reviews synthesize evidence in different ways is by Resarch Assistant Ime Stavinga and is subject to the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
References
Alele, F., & Malau-Aduli, B. (2023). An introduction to research methods for undergraduate health profession students. James Cook University. https://jcu.pressbooks.pub/intro-res-methods-health/
Fink, A. (2019). Conducting research literature reviews: From the Internet to Paper. SAGE Publications, Incorporated.