Introduction
A literature review is a process of summarizing a research that you have already worked on1. The work you have done may contain a given topic, and while doing the literature review, one has to evaluate the literature on that particular topic. The literature review has some set of objectives. The first objective is to deeply analyze the topic that is under discussion. Secondly, it focuses on summarizing the information found in that particular literature. Lastly, the literature review aims to do a comprehensive survey in the area of literature you have chosen. Consequently, one should consider some vital areas. There should be an order of writing the literature review and which order must be up to date2.
On the other hand, there are several ways in which a literature review differs from normal essays. When writing an essay, one mainly focuses on a given topic and uses available sources and quotes to support the arguments in the essay. However, the literature review aims at an open-ended discussion. The literature review has some impact on the writer. It enables an individual to understand the methodologies used in the topic, assists one in summarising the topic, and prepares one to undertake new reviews, among other important things. The two main types of reviews are the systematic review and the narrative review3. Narrative review undertakes search methods, while systematic review undertakes critical methods. This assignment is going to do a literature review on how effective carotid massage is as a reversion technique in comparison to the Valsalva for adult patients in a prehospital setting experiencing SVT. The assignment is going to establish the methods used while doing the review, the results of the review, and the general discussion on the review.
Methods
In this literature review, the suitable method used in this case is the PICO method4. P refers to the population, I refers to intervention, and C is for comparison, while O means the outcome of the result. For instance, in the above question, the population is the adult in SVT in the prehospital setting, the intervention is the Valsalva Manoeuvre, there is no comparison case, and lastly, the outcome is the incident of the reversion. After identifying the question and formulating it, the next step is to do the research5. The most resource place for getting the required information is the library. The library has many books and journals providing information on the question, but in this case, the sources used are peer-reviewed journals. However, there are other reliable sources of information, such as Trove and Victoria University institutional repository.
After identifying the sources of the information, the next procedure is to search for the journals themselves. There are various skills essential in this step. For instance, the writing skills6. The first step is to sign up in the library database, go to the search panel, and type the name of the journal. It is important to note that googling is not effective in this step. The reason is that Google’s results will only be abstract, not all the information needed. The library database is arranged in alphabetical order, to search the information needed, it is important to browse alphabetically then choose on the health and medical sciences7. You need to have searching skills because one word may be referred to using different names. It is, therefore, essential to know the keywords in each case.
Result
The outcome of the search gives a range of books. However, it is important to choose a respected journal that is peer-reviewed and has a good reputation. In this case, the Excellence for Research in Australia is the most applicable8. It provides quality journals by comparing one journal to the other. It provides almost 21000 peer-reviewed journals. The journals are grouped by A*, A, B, and C, with A* as the highest quality information resource. Apart from that, the other indicator used in this case is Ulrich’s Web. It provides over 300,000 journals and magazines. When confirming if a journal is previewed in this case, one should look at the left side. In the last part, the journal citation report also provides effective journals. It ranks by providing the most recent cited journals in the field9.
One looks at how many times any journal has been cited. The most recent citation, for instance, is two years, which is the best group. The Scopus also provides essential information on journals. It provides the trends of the citation. Scopus is more highly applied in the science department than in the humanities. Reputation and relevance are important aspects of search results. The audience you are relaying information to consider the reputation and relevance of any journal. If you have gotten your perfect article on the database but have a problem viewing the full text, there is a link provided for you to access all the articles.
Discussion
When doing your research, the first thing that you should have in mind is the research question. The PICO method outlines how the question is grouped into different sections to ease your work. Apparently, the researchers differ in how they provide information in the articles. However, it is important to follow the steps in order to make sure you get the best out of the research10. There are various variables, such as AND, OR, and BOTH, which are important guides when browsing search engines. After the research, it is important to have a referencing way. The best and the easiest style is the footnote referencing.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, one needs to have a chart from reliable journals from which the information came. The above method is the best one as it aims to ease the process of doing the literature review. Apparently, doing a literature review requires knowledge of planning. In this assignment, the easiest method is PICO. The method eases the load of the literature review by providing an easy methodological approach. It is, therefore, essential to stick to the steps that have been illustrated.
Reference
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