Literature Review
Academic literature analysis
Research Gap Analysis Framework
Identify and characterize research gaps in a literature — distinguishing empirical gaps (what hasn't been studied) from theoretical gaps (what hasn't been explained) from methodological gaps (how existing research should have been designed differently) — and building a prioritized research agenda.
Policy-Oriented Literature Review Framework
Conduct a policy-oriented literature review — synthesizing research evidence and real-world implementation experience into a policy brief that presents findings in terms of outcomes, costs, and feasibility rather than statistical significance, and distinguishes what the evidence supports from what requires political judgment.
Rapid Evidence Review Framework
Conduct a rapid evidence review within time and resource constraints — making transparent methodological concessions compared to a full systematic review, applying abbreviated search and screening, and producing an evidence brief that honestly communicates the confidence level appropriate for a rapid (vs. systematic) process.
Interdisciplinary Literature Review Framework
Conduct a literature review that integrates sources across multiple disciplines — mapping terminological differences that hide shared concepts, identifying complementary findings from different fields that point to the same underlying mechanism, and constructing an interdisciplinary synthesis that enriches the primary discipline's understanding.
Evidence Synthesis & GRADE Framework
Synthesize evidence across studies using the GRADE framework — rating evidence quality across five domains, applying domain-specific upgrades and downgrades, and producing strength-of-recommendation statements that correctly connect evidence quality to recommendation strength.
Theoretical Framework Literature Review
Review and synthesize theoretical frameworks in a research domain — mapping competing theories' core propositions, boundary conditions, and empirical support — and constructing a theoretical argument for which framework best explains the phenomenon of interest.
Critical Appraisal of Research Literature
Critically appraise research studies — evaluating internal validity, external validity, statistical quality, and reporting standards for different study designs — producing an evidence quality rating that weighs findings appropriately in a literature synthesis.
Scoping Review Framework
Conduct a scoping review — mapping the extent and nature of evidence on a topic without quality appraisal, charting key concepts, sources, and evidence types, and producing a landscape analysis that identifies where research is dense, sparse, and entirely absent.
Narrative Literature Review Framework
Write a narrative literature review — organizing the argument structure before searching, building a synthesis that groups sources by theoretical position rather than chronological order, and writing a critical analysis that reveals where the literature converges, contradicts, and contains unexplored gaps.
Systematic Literature Review Framework
Design and conduct a systematic literature review — building a reproducible search strategy, applying PRISMA-compliant screening protocols, extracting data with structured forms, and synthesizing evidence into a narrative that reveals what the literature collectively establishes vs. what remains contested.