Why it matters

  • A snapshot of the current state of knowledge of a topic

    Discover and convey to the audience what ideas have already been established on a topic and its strengths and weaknesses.

  • Pushes the
    knowledge frontier

    Assess the validity and quality of existing work and test new theories and hypothesis.

  • Points the way forward for future research

    Uncover research gaps and unanswered questions and provide recommendations for action.

What you'll get

  • Define the problem in a way that clearly articulates the goals and objectives of the work

  • Mastering the art of conducting effective literature reviews and technical analysis including data extraction, synthesis and analysis.

  • Effectively summarize and report your findings for dissemination to a wide audience

  • Opportunity to practice what you are learning through assignments and on-going support.

Course curriculum

  • 1

    What is a literature review?

    • What is a literature review?

    • What is the purpose of a literature review?

    • A roadmap for conducting literature reviews
  • 2

    Initiating the literature review

    • Formulating the research question

    • Developing the research protocol
  • 3

    Conducting the literature review

    • Implementing the search strategy

    • How to conduct preliminary screening of articles

    • How to conduct subsequent screening of articles

    • Assessing the quality of articles during the screening phase
  • 4

    Organizing the resources and research findings

    • A landscape of reference management software

    • Organizing the research
  • 5

    Extracting, synthesizing, and analyzing the data

    • Desiging the data extraction template

    • What are the dos and don'ts of data analysis and synthesis?
  • 6

    Reporting the findings

    • Reporting and communicating the findings

    • Uncovering insights

    • Course recap
Watch Intro Video

Course Overview + Roadmap

Meet your instructor & teaching assistant

Senior Instructor

Cynthia Eldridge

Cynthia, CEO & Founder of Impact for Health International, brings with her two decades of development experience. She has held roles in a multitude of sectors, from Ministry of Health in Malawi to NGO at Marie Stopes International to donor at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. As an instructor, Cynthia places as much importance on having fun as she does on the content!

She holds a Masters in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from LSHTM/LSE. She has lived in Malawi and has in-country working experience in Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, and more!

Teaching Assistant

Miraal Mavalvala

Miraal holds an MSc in Public Health from McGill University and has experience in sexual and reproductive health and infectious diseases in South Asia and North America. She is from Pakistan and has lived in Malaysia.

Coming soon!

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