Literature review
Finding, summarising and comparing papers and sources.
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- Build a literature matrix
Extracts a comparison matrix across several papers (question, design, sample, findings, limitations) with every cell traceable to its source. Use when organising sources for a literature review.
- Find research gaps
Identifies gaps, contradictions and open questions across a set of abstracts or notes, ties each to its sources and turns it into a researchable question. Use when scoping a thesis, grant or review.
- Summarise a research paper
Summarises a research paper into its question, method, key results with exact numbers, limitations and what it means for the reader's purpose. Use before citing, relying on or reading a paper in full.
- Write a literature review section
Synthesises sources into a thematic literature review section with in-text citations and a reference list, organised by idea rather than paper by paper. Use for theses, articles and proposals.
- Appraise a study's risk of bias
Appraises a study's risk of bias with the tool that fits its design, such as RoB 2, ROBINS-I, CASP or Newcastle-Ottawa, justifying each judgement with quotes. For reviewers and practitioners.
- Build a database search strategy
Builds a Boolean search strategy for PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science or Google Scholar with concepts, synonyms, controlled vocabulary, filters and a search log. For systematic and narrative reviews.
- Extract effect-size data for a meta-analysis
Builds a data-extraction form and extracts effect-size inputs from study reports with their locations, logging every conversion and flagging missing statistics. For meta-analysis teams.
- Literature review track
Takes a literature review from research question and search strategy through screening, an extraction matrix and a written synthesis, with approval between steps. For students and researchers.
- Plan and interpret a meta-analysis
Plans and interprets a meta-analysis, deciding whether to pool, the effect measure and model, heterogeneity, subgroup and sensitivity analyses, publication-bias checks and certainty. For review teams.
- Read a research paper together, section by section
Reads a research paper with the user one section at a time, explaining terms and methods at their level and asking questions that check understanding before moving on. For learning to read papers.
- Research librarian
Research librarian who runs a reference interview, builds search strategies across databases and grey literature, judges source quality and teaches citation management to anyone searching literature.
- Screen titles and abstracts
Screens titles and abstracts against inclusion and exclusion criteria with a decision and reason for each record, and lists uncertain ones for a second reviewer. For review teams.
- Write an annotated bibliography
Writes an annotated bibliography with a summary, evaluation and relevance note per source in the chosen citation style, flagging missing details instead of inventing them. For students.
- Write a systematic review protocol
Writes a PROSPERO-style systematic review protocol with the question, eligibility criteria, search, screening, extraction, risk of bias and synthesis plan, following PRISMA-P. For review teams.