Standards, Protocols, Guides
- Guides & Handbooks - CochraneAll resources from Cochrane on systematic reviews and other forms of secondary research. Includes the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, the Cochrane-Campbell Handbook for Qualitative Evidence Synthesis, and more.
- JARS-QuantAPA's Journal Article Reporting Standards, with guidance particular to meta-analyses, analytical methods, experimental or non- design work, and more.
- PRISMA: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-AnalysesPRISMA is an evidence-based minimum set of items for reporting in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. PRISMA focuses on the reporting of reviews evaluating randomized trials, but can also be used as a basis for reporting systematic reviews of other types of research, particularly evaluations of interventions.
- Reporting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses in Environmental Research (ROSES)Created for work in conservation and environmental management. Includes forms, flow charts, checklists, and other documentation for systematic reviews and systematic maps.
- What Works Clearinghouse (WWC)The Institute of Education Sciences focuses on evidence-based work in all parts of education.
- Guidelines and Standards for Evidence Synthesis in Environmental ManagementThe Collaboration for Environmental Evidence (CEE)'s guide to evidence-based work in the environmental sciences.
Searching the Literature
The sources you choose will depend on your research question and the disciplines in which relevant research may be conducted. View all databases available through Belk Library here.
Some commonly used databases include:
- Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowScholarly and peer-reviewed publications, magazines on a wide range of topics including: marketing, management, company profiles, industry profiles, market research reports, SWOT analyses and more
- CINAHLPlus with Full Text This link opens in a new windowCINAHL Plus With Full Text: Database of nursing and allied health journals with additional materials that include nursing dissertations, conference proceedings, evidence-based care sheets, audiovisuals, and continuing education modules.
- Engineering Village This link opens in a new windowSearches Compendex, thereby indexing journals, conference proceedings, and more in engineering and technical fields around the world. Includes technical standards from SDOs such as ASTM, IEEE, IET, and others. Coverage starts in the 1800s and continues to present day.
- Medline This link opens in a new windowMEDLINE® contains journal citations and abstracts for biomedical literature from around the world. PubMed® provides free access to MEDLINE and links to full text articles when possible.
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowOver 11 million citations from Medline and additional life science journals.
- Web of Science This link opens in a new windowIndexes tens of thousands of scholarly journals across all disciplines, as well as conference proceedings, monographs, and more. Pulls data from several different databases, but is traditionally strong in the sciences. Coverage (in Science Citation Index Expanded) starts in 1900 and continues to present day. Previously known as Web of Knowledge.
Citation Managers
It is not uncommon for the work of secondary research to involve thousands (if not tens of thousands) of papers. Citation/reference managers help with deduplication, organization, annotation and, finally, citation. Many programs also facilitate note- and file-sharing among groups.
Belk Library supports Zotero.
