Evidence Synthesis / Systematic Review Consultations at University Libraries

Are you conducting a systematic review, scoping review, or another form of evidence synthesis? Montclair State University Libraries offers personalized consultation services to support faculty, staff, and students engaged in this growing area of research.

What is Evidence Synthesis?

Evidence synthesis (also known as knowledge synthesis) is a rigorous methodology that involves a systematic process to identify, evaluate, and combine findings from multiple studies to answer a specific research question. While it originated in the health sciences to support evidence-based medicine, it has since expanded into fields such as education, social sciences, and environmental studies. Researchers may use evidence synthesis to inform policy decisions, practice guidelines, and/or future research agendas.

Consult a Librarian

Librarians at the Montclair State University Libraries provide personalized research consultations for faculty, staff, and students. As capacity allows, librarians can offer feedback, guidance, and/or recommendations on these different aspects of the evidence synthesis process:

• formulating clear and focused research questions
• designing and refining comprehensive search strategies across multiple indexes/databases and grey literature sources (including filtering/deduplicating search results and setting up alerts for new relevant publications)
• registering protocol (and/or finding existing protocols)
• documenting search strategies for reproducibility
• using citation managers (e.g., EndNote, Zotero) to manage citations
• accessing the full-text of sources, including via interlibrary loan
• employing screening software (e.g., Rayyan)

In addition to one-on-one and small group consultations, we offer workshops on evidence synthesis topics. You can also explore our Evidence Synthesis Research Guide to learn more about the various types of reviews and the steps involved.

Questions?

Contact Jacob Bilek (bilekj@montclair.edu), Research & Instruction Librarian (STEM), or Bonnie Fong (fongb@montclair.edu), Head for Research & Reference Services.