This competency assessment assesses the following Outcome(s):
Investigate concepts for systematic change to improve patient outcomes.
Writing a Literature Review
Each summary of a selected journal article should include a section that addresses the main points or ideas found in the article. It should conclude with your own statement evaluating the quality of the article and relating the article to your own evidence-based practice topic.
Assessment Directions
The literature review assessment has two parts: Part 1 is the summation of six or more peer-reviewed current articles that relate to your evidence-based practice project; Part 2 is the abstract and keywords.
Assessment Part 1:
When summarizing the articles, address the following for each entry:
Introduction:
What parts of the topic does the source emphasize or de-emphasize?
Methodology
What assumptions does the author make about the topic or audience?
Did there appear to be any bias or slant in the source?
Were there any obvious omissions that seem important to the ideas being discussed?
Findings
Does the evidence clearly support the author’s main points?
Conclusion
What is the “take home” message that you learned from this article?
Relevance
How is this article going to be of benefit to you in the design and implementation of your evidence-based practice project?
Anyone reading your summation of each of the articles should be able to understand how each one individually contributes to your EBP topic.
Use the following process for Part 1 of this assessment:
Title of the article and keywords used
Summary of the article, addressing the bullet points listed above
Reference list
Each article summation should be 1 page (approximately 250 words).
For full credit, a minimum of six (6) peer-reviewed articles fewer than 5 years old should be reviewed.
Part 2: The Abstract and Keywords:
The abstract should be a synthesis of the chosen articles for the literature review. It is important that the abstract has a conclusion that addresses the cumulative strengths and limitations that were discovered within the chosen articles. An abstract is typically 100–250 words and is on a separate page from the main text.
Keywords represent both the EBP topic and the words frequently used to describe the topic. Choosing the most appropriate keywords will facilitate the literature review process and ensure that the most relevant articles are found. Combining search terms in a way that a database can understand is important. Use the Boolean operators to narrow the results to those sources that best represent the chosen topic. Avoid using keyword phrases. Keywords should be listed after the abstract and are written in lower case