17 Aug Briefly provide a general picture of the methodological approach.

1. Structured Abstract

The abstract should be a total of about 250 words maximum. The abstract should be a single paragraph and should follow the style of structured abstracts with the following headings:

 Purpose: Place the question addressed in a broad context and highlight the purpose of the review.

 Methods: Briefly provide a general picture of the methodological approach.

 Results: Summarize the article’s main outcomes.

 Conclusions: One or two sentences present the conclusion (which is linked to the objectives).

2. Introduction

Introduction provides information about the context, indicates the motivation for the review, defines the focus, the research question and explains the text structure. It should include:

 Subject background. The general topic, issue, or area of concern is given to illustrate the context.

 “Problem”. Trends, new perspectives, gaps, conflicts, or a single problem is indicated.

 Motivation/justification. The author’s reason for reviewing the literature, the approach and the organization of the text are described.

Length Between 10% and 20% of the core text (introduction, body, conclusions).

3. Material & Methods

Systematic reviews must have a methods section. This section enables motivated researches to repeat the review. The material and methods section contains, for example, information about data sources (e.g. bibliographic databases), search terms and search strategies, selection criteria (inclusion/exclusion of studies), the number of studies screened and the number of studies included, data analysis tools etc. Make sure that data sources are clearly identified. Precision has first priority in the material and methods section.

4. Result/Findings & Discussions

A coherent structuring of the topic is necessary to develop the section structure. Subheadings reflect the organization of the topic and indicate the content of the various sections. Possible criteria for structuring the topic are:

 methodological approaches

 models or theories

 extent of support for a given thesis

 studies that agree with another versus studies that disagree

 chronological order

 geographical location

In writing the findings, cover one idea, aspect or topic per paragraph. Avoid referring to only one study per paragraph; consider several studies per paragraph instead. Frequently link the discussed research findings to the research question stated in the introduction. These links create the thread of coherence in your review article. Link the studies to one another. Compare and discuss these relationships.

You may include tables and figures to display novel findings and/or relationships of the variables.

5. Conclusion

Answer the research question set in the introduction. It should include implications of the findings, interpretations by the authors (kept separate from factual information) and identification of unresolved questions. Make sure to have a clear take home message that integrates the points discussed in the review. Make sure your conclusions are not simply a repeat of the abstract.

6. Directions for future research

Based on unresolved questions, you may suggest studies for future research,