Presenting a research synthesis or summary

Content

Make your synthesis short and visually appealing. Your methodology should be clearly stated and hyperlinked references should be included. Aim to give a clear indication of the weight of the evidence in relation to your question.  Think about who will be reading the summary and what they need to know.  The implications for your readers, or “main messages”, of your summary is not the same as the overall summery of what you have found.   

Executive summary

The format differs to a traditional academic abstract in that the more attention-grabbing material is presented first. The aim is to give a quick overview for busy leaders.

For more information, please see Canadian Health Service Research Foundation: communication notes: reader-friendly writing 1:3:25.

Appearance

Consider the overall appearance of the document: is it divided into clear sections or is it cluttered and text-heavy?  Is it visually appealing?

Using images in you summary

Images may be decorative or you could include visual representations of data such as tables or graphs. Remember to consider the copyright status of any images you use.  You could use images you have created or use Creative Commons to search for images.  All images must be attributed accordingly.

Infographics can be used to display information in a clear, visually-appealing format. For more information, please see the following article on infographics.

Adapted from training entitled Instant evidence based medicine: how to quickly synthesise research, delivered by School of Health and Related Research, University of Sheffield on 6th September 2018, Glasgow.