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Pharmacology Research Project Guidance: Doing a Systematic Review

Help, resources and links to guide you through your research project.

A systematic review seeks to answer a focused question by finding existing studies in published literature. These studies are then evaluated for relevance and quality to produce a summary of the evidence. This summary might include a meta-analysis of data from the included studies to give an overall statistic that summarises the effectiveness of the intervention under investigation. 

A systematic review is not an easy option. You will need to become familiar with subject databases and develop your literature searching skills. It will take time to develop a comprehensive search strategy to find relevant studies. You will also need to learn how to use EndNote to manage your search results and filter them. Your librarian can support you with this process.

Steps involved in doing a systematic review

There are seven steps to doing a systematic review.

  • Step 1 - create a protocol for your study which outlines the research question and gives details of the criteria being used to select relevant studies.
  • Step 2 - choose which databases to use for your search. You need to search multiple databases to ensure your search is comprehensive. Google, Google Scholar and Summon are not suitable. Explore the databases listed on the Doing your literature search page and select the most suitable ones (look at the Other useful sources as well as the Key databases).
  • Step 3 - develop a comprehensive search strategy which incorporates synonyms, uses search operators and other advanced search techniques. The strategy used will need to be adapted for each database.
  • Step 4 - run the search on each database, keeping details of the search strategies used on each one.
  • Step 5 - download all the results into EndNote where you can manage the filtering process. See the Using EndNote page for guidance.
  • Step 6 - deduplicate your results then filter using title and abstract to identify potentially relevant studies. Then get read the full-text of those studies to select a final set of key papers which are then evaluated for bias and quality.
  • Step 7 - writing up the results including a PRISMA diagram of the filtering process and a meta-analysis if appropriate.

For detailed guidance on each of these steps see our Guide to doing a systematic review:

Video intros to doing a systematic review

We have produced a playlist of five videos to support students doing a systematic review:

  • Video 1 - getting started, an overview of the process.
  • Video 2 - covers the first four steps in doing a systematic review, including creating a protocol and searching for literature.
  • Video 3 - covers the fifth and sixth steps in doing a systematic review. It focuses on using Desktop EndNote to manage references and screening the literature.
  • Video 4 - covers writing it up and creating a PRISMA diagram.
  • Video 5 - a more detailed video on using EndNote for managing references collected for a systematic review.

If you are unable to view these videos on YouTube they are also available on YuJa (University username and password required):

Support from your librarian

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Jackie Skinner
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Please contact me if you have a query about literature searching, accessing resources, referencing or using EndNote/Mendeley.

Use the buttons above to email me or make an appointment (in person or online).
Quick query in semester-time?

Come along to my weekly drop-in on Tuesdays 13:00-14:00 in the Chemistry Building foyer (starts Tuesday 15 October 2025). I am also usually on the Study Advice and Academic Liaison Desk on the Ground Floor of the Library on semester-time Tuesdays 11:00-12:00.
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