How to Produce Evidence Summaries
Day 1: Tuesday 4th November 2025, 9.30am -12.30pm (GMT)
Day 2: Wednesday 5th November 2025, 9.30am -12.30pm (GMT)
Can't make these dates? Register your interest here and we will be in touch when we have new dates.
About the course
This online course will introduce participants to the concept of rapid research synthesis and explore simple ways to quickly bring evidence together to inform decision making and produce simple, short evidence summaries. During the day we will undertake a search for high quality evidence to answer a clinical question. We will then look at ways of identifying the findings/key themes from the research and present various methods/tools to quickly bring the results together to form a useful briefing of the evidence quickly and effectively.
We will mostly draw on examples from the health sciences but the course is suitable for anyone who wants to develop skills to summarise evidence quickly and present it in a user-friendly format.
This course focuses on summarising evidence quickly, in order to produce an evidence summary (e.g. a brief overview of the evidence in a particular topic). If you need to formally conduct a rapid review, please see our Rapid Review Methods course.
Please note this course does not cover how to conduct a systematic review. If you are interested in systematic review training, please see our Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis course. For conducting qualitative reviews, please see our Evidence Synthesis of Qualitative Research in Europe (ESQUIRE) course.
Feedback from previous attendees
"This was usefully pitched between a basic searching course and a full-blown systematic review tutorial."
"This course covers a lot of ground in a very accessible and approachable way, and there are things I can take forward and share with colleagues."
"Clearly and effectively presented."
"The course was very engaging."
Who will benefit from the course?
If you are new to research synthesis or need to expand your skill set to include rapid synthesis then this course will be ideal. It will offer an introduction to synthesis for those who do not need to undertake full scale systematic reviews, but would like to be able to bring research findings together simply and quickly to produce an evidence summary or briefing. Typical participants might be:
- Health librarians and information specialists
- Postgraduate students
- Academics & researchers
- Health and social care clinicians/practitioners
Course prerequisites
A knowledge of searching bibliographic databases would be beneficial. If you are looking for training on systematic literature searching, please see our Systematic Approaches to Searching for Evidence course.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course participants will be able to:
- Identify suitable evidence within different time frames
- Summarise the evidence critically
- Present the summary in a variety of forms
- Know how and when to use tables and graphics to enhance the summary
Course faculty
Angie Ryan, University Teacher, School of Medicine and Population Health and Course Lead
Dr Lukasz Lagojda, Research Associate, School of Medicine and Population Health
- Dates and times
-
Day 1: Tuesday 4th November 2025, 9.30am -12.30pm (GMT)
Day 2: Wednesday 5th November 2025, 9.30am -12.30pm (GMT) - Fees
-
The fee for this course are under review.
Current UOS Staff/Students
Current University of Sheffield staff and students are eligible to book at a reduced rate. An active @sheffield.ac.uk email address is required to book at this reduced rate.
Please see Booking and payment section for further details.
All fees are VAT exempt.
- Booking and payment
-
Payment can be made via credit / debit card or PayPal.
Non-University of Sheffield applicants - If your employer is paying your fees and they require an invoice, please ensure you have your purchase order details before making your booking.
Current University of Sheffield staff and students – If you would prefer to be invoiced or to pay via an internal transfer, a purchase order will be required before you make your booking. Please contact your department administrator or finance team for help with this.
Difficulties making your booking?
If you are having difficulties making your booking, please contact the Online Store directly at onlinestore@sheffield.ac.uk
- Course Delivery/Requirements
-
This course will be delivered using the University's 'Blackboard' platform.
* NHS staff - important note: We are aware of issues caused by NHS firewalls. We recommend registering with an alternative/non-NHS email and using a non-NHS device when attending the course if possible. Thank you *
Requirements:
- Reliable and stable internet connection.
- A PC or laptop
- Webcam and microphone (preferably a USB headset)
- Preferably a quiet room where there will be no/minimal disruption.
- Ability to access Google applications (e.g. Google Docs, Google Sites, Google Sheets).
- Contact
-
For further information please do not hesitate to contact us:
Email at scharr-scu@sheffield.ac.uk.
The content of our courses is reviewed annually to make sure it is up-to-date and relevant. Individual modules are occasionally updated or withdrawn. This is in response to discoveries through our world-leading research, funding changes, professional accreditation requirements, student or employer feedback, outcomes of reviews, and variations in staff or student numbers. In the event of any change we'll consult and inform students in good time and take reasonable steps to minimise disruption.
Information last updated: