Abstract
Systematic review methodology was developed primarily to evaluate the effectiveness of drug trials in health care. Over the last decade this methodology has been expanded and developed in a number of different discipline areas including the social sciences (for example The Campbell Collaboration) and education (for example Evidence Informed Policy and Practice Centre). The following report describes the experiences of the first author who has conducted a systematic review as part of her PhD thesis. The report contains information on the differences between traditional and systematic reviews of the literature, on the identification of systematic reviews, on the processes involved in conducting a review and an overview of current resources. We argue that, even when it is impractical to adopt the full systematic reviews approach, elements of the method may well be incorporated into literature review guidelines for Psychology undergraduates and postgraduates.