title: Synthesising the literature as part of a literature review.
abstract: This article examines how to synthesise and critique research literature. To place the process of synthesising the research literature into context, the article explores the critiquing process by breaking it down into seven sequential steps. The article explains how and why these steps need to be kept in mind if a robust comprehensive literature search and analysis are to be achieved. The article outlines how to engage in the critiquing process and explains how the literature review needs to be assembled to generate a logical and reasoned debate to examine a topic of interest or research in more detail.
authors.affiliation: University of Manchester, England.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wakefield
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards*; D012107:Research Design; D012196:Review Literature as Topic
keywords: Critical analysis; critique; evaluation; integrative review; literature review; literature search; research; research question; search strategy; synthesis