Conducting a Systematic Literature Review may be challenging for some students. This secondary qualitative method of data collection helps to synthesise evidence from existing research reports thereby enabling the researcher to solve current problems or understand issues as the case may be.

If your supervisor or school permits or requests a systematic review methodology, then you should be happy. It is efficient, easy and highly effective for those who understand how it should be carried out.

In case you need help with your systematic literature review, Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts is your sure plug and you can start a conversation on WhatsApp (+234-706-818-0074). However, if you can handle it yourself, no qualms! The following steps should help you deliver distinction-standard research work.

1. Choose the right topic: To conduct a systematic literature review, you must ensure that there is sufficient evidence (previous research work) on the subject matter. i.e. Conducting a systematic literature review on "Causes of Unemployment" may be a lot easier than a literature review on "History of the Igala Kingdom" and this is because there is a lot more research on the causes of unemployment than the history of the Igala kingdom. You have to be moved by evidence in choosing your topic and not sentiments, feelings and ambition. Read this book for guidance on choosing a topic: Dissertation Hack: The Secrets Of Distinction

2. Choose the right database: systematic reviews are carried out on a database, an electronic repository of published research papers, journals and more. This means, going to google.com for such a search will be a colossal waste of time. The database will depend on the context, for instance, searching Google Scholar (scholar.google.com) may be highly beneficial to search for "Female Genital Mutilation in Nigeria" as opposed to conducting the same search on Web of Science, ERIC, Science Direct, Scopus or PubMed because those platforms have research in other countries and few studies on developing economies. The idea is, to choose a database with evidence relating to your context and not play to the gallery because your supervisor says so.

3. Gain mastery of systematic review procedures; for a systematic review, you need to understand the keywords of your topic, the applicable search strings, your criteria for inclusion, the exclusion criteria and how the database works. It's not a big deal if you cannot handle it, there is available support to get this done and this is acceptable in research work.


4. Understand how the data will be presented and analysed: Usually, qualitative systematic reviews are analysed using thematic analysis which is similar to the approach to analysing transcribed interview data.

Just four steps and you will end up with a high-quality systematic literature review. However, it requires a lot of work, especially during the search phase; you need to review and select appropriate evidence among other activities.

At any point, the team at Oliveserah Business and Academic Concepts can help you (WhatsApp: +234-706-818-0074). Here's a shocker, a good systematic literature review can also be used as a basis for collecting evidence for your literature review chapter.

Let's deal with that in another episode.

Image credit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynD5wajaLg
Links for Further Reading:
1. https://libraryguides.griffith.edu.au/systematic-literature-reviews-for-education
2. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363833158_DISSERTATION_HACK_THE_SECRETS_OF_DISTINCTION_IN_RESEARCH_PROJECTS
3. https://www./conducting-systematic-literature-review-/?published=t&trackingId=U14y780n%2Bzm94zLvpDNZzw%3D%3D