Knowledge Synthesis

Knowledge synthesis is an umbrella term for literature reviews that use transparent and reproducible methods to gather and synthesize research studies in order to answer a research question. Examples of knowledge synthesis reviews include:

• Systematic reviews – a review that seeks to answer a research question by identifying, selecting, critically appraising, and synthesizing all relevant research.
• Scoping reviews – a review that seeks to map the existing literature on a topic.

Services for U of G researchers

We provide training, expertise, and support to U of G researchers who are conducting knowledge syntheses. We can help you with:

• Selecting an appropriate type of review
• Refining a review topic
• Identifying common components of a review
• Locating guidance on methods for conducting reviews
• Developing a search strategy by choosing databases, generating keywords, and using controlled vocabulary, operators, and search modifiers
• Learning to extract and manage citations

Currently our service does not include:

• Conducting knowledge syntheses on behalf of researchers
• Executing searches
• Extracting or managing citations
• Providing advice on critical appraisal, data extraction, or data synthesis (including meta-analysis)
• Co-authorship

Get started with Covidence

Covidence is a cloud-based review management software that facilitates the collaborative completion of knowledge syntheses. U of G Covidence accounts provide unlimited reviews, collaborator accounts, and customer support.

Who can use Covidence?

• Covidence is available to all U of G and University of Guelph-Humber affiliated faculty, staff, students, alumni, and retirees.
  • Alumni or retirees without a U of G email address? Contact library@uoguelph.ca.
• If you are collaborating on a review with someone who is not affiliated with U of G, you can invite them to join your review. If they do not have a Covidence account, they will be prompted to create one free of charge, but they will not be able to create any reviews of their own.

Get assistance

• Connect with us to ask a question or to book an appointment. 
• Find online self-help materials on conducting a systematic review, scoping review, or other knowledge synthesis
• Get help with Covidence:
  • Learn the basics of Covidence on the Covidence Academy page. 
  • Search the Covidence Knowledge Base for answers to common questions.
  • Join a monthly live Covidence 101 webinar or watch a recent recording.
  • Contact Covidence support.
• Learn more about our appointments.

Upcoming workshops

• There are no upcoming workshops at the moment. Check back soon for more, or browse our full workshop calendar to see the other workshops we offer.