Literature Synthesis

Example of a Ven Diagram using animals

Whales

FishShrimp

7

6

5

1. Shrimp

a. Have legs

2. Whales

a. Breathe air

b. Live birth

3. Fish

a. Have scales

4. Shrimp & Wales

a. Nothing unique to just the two

5. Fish & Whales

a. Have fins

b. Have a backbone

6. Fish & Shrimp

a. Breathe underwater

b. Lay eggs

7. Fish, Shrimp & Wales

a. Live in the water

b. Can swim 1

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Example of a Ven Diagram using animals

Summary of the above diagram:

Whales are animals that live in the water, breathe air, have a live birth, can swim, have fins and a backbone. Fish are animals that live in the

water, breathe underwater, lay eggs, can swim, have fins, scales and a backbone. Shrimp are animals that live in water, breathe underwater, lay

eggs, can swim and have legs.

Synthesis of the above diagram:

When evaluating these 3 animals, all live in the water and can swim, yet there are differences among the animals. Whales and fish both have fins

and a backbone, whereas shrimp do not. Two of the 3 animals are able to lay eggs (shrimp and fish) whereas whales have a live birth. Whales

also have the unique ability to breath air, whereas both fish and shrimp can breathe underwater. There are no similarities between shrimp and

whales. Lastly, 2 of the 3 animals have characteristics unique to themselves: fish have scales while shrimp have legs.

Hopefully you can see the summary is simply a list of characteristics of each animal, whereas the synthesis is making direct comparisons of the

animals to one another. This helps to highlight the similarities and differences among the animals, which helps to develop a better sense of how

these animals cam compare to one another. The goal here is to then see how each of these animals can be substituted for different studies. The

goal would then be to synthesize the studies reviewed, in this case 3, highlighting the similarities and differences across studies. For example,

using the PIO or PICO question, start by seeing how each of the PICO/PIO components are similar and different [ie mean age of the population,

any differences in intervention (dose or duration), and the outcome (hopefully that is consistently measured, but it’s important to identify if it’s

not].