Research Support

The Trent Library offers a suite of services designed to support your research across all stages of the scholarly communications cycle, from initial literature reviews to publication and dissemination. Below, you'll find an overview of the key services we offer.

Book a Librarian appointment online.

Contact us at library@trentu.ca to learn more about how we can support you in your research.

Trent library offers personalized consultation meetings as a starting point to supporting your research. Meet in-person or virtually, in our office or yours, to discuss how we can help with literature searches, data management, or publication strategies. Consultations are always tailored to suit the requirements of your project or research area.

“A knowledge synthesis attempts to summarize all pertinent studies on a specific question, can improve the understanding of inconsistencies in diverse evidence, and can identify gaps in research evidence to define future research agendas.”  from Kastner, M. et al. What is the most appropriate knowledge synthesis method to conduct a review? Protocol for a scoping review. BMC Med. Res. Methodol.12, 114 (2012).

The research methodology of knowledge synthesis varies across disciplines and comprises several types of reviews (quantitative or qualitative) including, but not limited to narrative, systematic, scoping, integrative, rapid, and realist. This type of research demands considerable resources and time, typically spanning from two to over twelve months for completion, depending on the topic and type of review.

Whether you're in the health sciences, social sciences, or any other discipline, we can assist with knowledge synthesis work, including systematic and scoping reviews. This includes identifying relevant databases, selecting appropriate keywords, and advise on strategies/tools to help with the review process. Our goal is to save you time and ensure you have access to the most relevant, high-quality sources for your research.

To learn about the different ways librarians can support your knowledge synthesis project, please visit Support for Knowledge Syntheses.

Please visit our Knowledge Syntheses Research Guide to learn about different types of syntheses, processes, timelines and tools. 

We know demonstrating the impact of your research is important. Our librarians can offer guidance on how to find and responsibly use tools to assess the reach and influence of your work, including providing advice on identifying journals for publication.

Interested in boosting your library research skills? Book a one-on-one session with one of our librarians. We can help you improve your research skills, information literacy, advanced database searching, and more.

Book a Librarian appointment online.