SOIL SCI 875: Systematic Reviews in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (Spring 2024) : Literature Review Types, Taxonomies

Literature reviews have long been a staple of academic activity. They are a process of collecting previously published information and reading, evaluating, and aggregating the information. They are also a specific genre of publication.

As a form of literature review, evidence synthesis, (systematic review and other review types within the systematic review family), have these same basic characteristics. These reviews are distinguished, though, from traditional narrative reviews by some important features. An evidence synthesis:

• Answers a research question by synthesizing information from previously published information either qualitatively, quantitatively, or with mixed methods, using methodological and statistical tools to do so; 
• Requires a highly regimented, exhaustive, and documented literature search process, intended to be transparent and replicable by others, as part of the overall research methodology; and
• Uses a priori inclusion and exclusion criteria to select the articles used in the review. This process is also part of its research methodology.

This guide has been developed to support you as you learn the process of conducting an evidence synthesis (aka systematic review). As part of that process, our librarians can consult with you to:

• Identify discipline-specific guidance, existing literature reviews, and protocols to inform your process,
• Recommend databases and gray literature resources to search for the research literature,
• Craft complex and productive search strategies, and
• Use citation management software and other tools to collect, organize, and screen records (citations, abstracts).

Grant, M. J., and A. Booth. "A Typology of Reviews: An Analysis of 14 Review Types and Associated Methodologies." Health Information and Libraries Journal 26.2 (2009): 91-108. 
DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-1842.2009.00848.x 
Link

Sutton, A., et al. "Meeting the Review Family: Exploring Review Types and Associated Information Retrieval Requirements." Health Information and Libraries Journal 36.3 (2019): 202-22. 
DOI: 10.1111/hir.12276 
Link