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Scoping & Systematic Reviews

In this guide you will find information about how to conduct a scoping and systematic review plus information on how librarians can support your in the process.
This Guide is a Work in Progress.

Critical Appraisal

Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, and its value/relevance in a particular context by providing a framework to evaluate the research. During the critical appraisal process, researchers can:

  • Decide whether studies have been undertaken in a way that makes their findings reliable as well as valid, and unbiased
  • Make sense of the results
  • Know what these results mean in the context of the decision they are making.
  • Determine if the results are relevant to their patients/schoolwork/research.

Burls, A. (2009). What is critical appraisal? In What Is This Series: Evidence-based medicine. 

Critical appraisal is included in the process of writing high-quality reviews, such as systematic and integrative reviews, and for evaluating evidence from RCTs and other study designs.

Information on this page is from John Hopkins University Library

Critical Appraisal Tools

  • The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine: Critical Appraisal tools at the University of Oxford provide worksheets and calculators to assess systematic reviews, diagnostic, prognosis, and RCT article types. 
  • Critical Appraisal Skills Programme: CASP provides worksheets to appraise randomized control trials, systematic reviews, cohort studies, case-control studies, qualitative research, economic evaluations, diagnostic tests, and clinical prediction rules.
  • JAMA Series on Step-by-Step Critical Appraisal: This section links to the 'User's Guides to the Medical Literature' series of articles designed to promote the incorporation of evidence into practice.
  • JBI Critical Appraisal Tools: JBI's critical appraisal tools assist in assessing the trustworthiness, relevance, and results of published papers.

Evidence Grading

Evidence grading is a systematic method for assessing and rating the quality of evidence that is produced from a research study, clinical guideline, a systematic review, or expert opinion.

More information on Reporting Evidence and Tools for Evidence Grading can be found in the JHU Library Guide.