The term systematic review is occurring more frequently in relation to longer student assignments at undergraduate and taught postgraduate level. Whilst chiefly in Medical, Health and Life Sciences subjects, this has extended to areas such as Education and Business Studies (Social Science Research Institute, UCL Institute of Education, 2019).
However, are you actually being required to undertake a formal Systematic Review along the lines of Cochrane or other groups?
Elements may include:
It is essential to clarify with the Programme Lead or Module Tutor the precise requirements of the assignment.
Boland, Cherry and Dickson (2017) provide an excellent, detailed but accessible introduction to the Systematic Review process, aimed as Masters' students carrying out a review for their dissertations. This includes a brief survey of other types of review (p 10). Wormald and Evans (2018) produced a concise Editorial on the importance and limits of Systematic Reviews. Aveyard (2023), whilst not covering Systematic Reviews specifically, has a very useful overview of literature reviewing, with chapters such as 'How do I develop a question for my literature review'. A volume edited by Zawacki-Richter et al. (2020) looks in detail at the specific stages involved in Systematic reviews in educational research.
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Aveyard, H. (2023) Doing a literature review in health and social care: a practical guide. 5th edn. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
Boland, A., Cherry, G. and Dickson, R. (2017) Doing a systematic review. 2nd edn. London: Sage.
Social Science Research Institute, UCL Institute of Education (2019) EPPI Centre. Available at: https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=3210 (Accessed 30 October 2023)