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BIO 1115: Cell Biology

What is a Literature Review?

Introduce Your Topic

Your background begins as a literature review that provides a clear, concise synthesis of relevant information on your topic. The review should introduce relevant published articles which contribute to your topic. Your review should start by addressing the topic broadly and gradually narrow as the review progresses.

Synthesize Your Findings

Your findings are your groups evaluation of the literature reviewed. What do you consider the strengths and weakness of the studies reviewed; the comparison you did between studies; the research trends and gaps, and the important data that you found while researching your topic, etc.  As you read articles & studies, note key findings & conclusions.

Why Survey the Literature?

  • To help you understand a research topic
  • To establish the importance of a topic
  • To help develop your own ideas
  • To demonstrate knowledge and show how your current work is situated within, builds on, or departs from earlier publications
  • To practice scholarly communication

Take Notes (see Annotations below):

  • Write down, the authors names, article title, and date
  • Identify key points, objectives, & conclusions
  • Review the studies methods
  • Observe common/contested findings
  • Highlight important graphs or illustrations
  • Note important trends and influential theories

Central Question & Literature Review

 Central Question(s)

The 5 W's Method The PICO Method

How does extended microgravity space flight impact kidney physiology, volume regulation, and osmolarity responses in astronauts traveling to Mars?

 In adult patients suffering from IBD (P), how does encapsulated phage delivery of probiotics (I) impact the frequency & intensity of inflammation & stability of gut flora (O) compared to NSAID and immunosuppressant treatments alone (C)?

Literature to Review

ARTICLE: 

The kidney, volume homeostasis and osmoregulation in space: current perspective and knowledge gaps

(Engberink et al, 2023) Nature Professional Journal of Microgravity

ARTICLE: 

Encapsulation and delivery of phage as a novel method for gut flora manipulation in situ: A review 

(Yang et al., 2023) Journal of Controlled Release 

Annotation is Key!

Why Annotate? 

Answer: To save yourself time and frustration later in writing the outline and proposal! Truly, this is your opportunity to quickly evaluate a source for key ideas, important data, and helpful quotes which can easily be recalled for use in writing the introduction and experimental design. Why struggle to remember where you saw a key piece of information, when a quick, organized note and highlight could easily save you the trouble. Doing this work at the beginning of exploring sources will save you some real headaches later. Remember, an annotation is a critical evaluation (the notes) you make of a source and its key elements, conclusions and objectives. 

The Process: 

 

For More information

Article: How to Critically Analyze a Source - Cornell University 

Video: How to Create an Annotated Bibliography - Brock University

Digital Resources & Databases