| Article # | Author & Date | Evidence Type | Population, Sample Size, & Setting | Study findings that help answer your research question | Limitations | Evidence Level & Quality |
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | ||||||
| 3 | ||||||
| 4 | ||||||
| 5 | ||||||
Directions
Purpose: This form is used to document the results of your evidence appraisal in preparation for your Capstone paper. It provides you with documentation of the sources of evidence used, the year the evidence was published or otherwise communicated, the information gathered from each evidence source that helps answer your research question, the limitations of that evidence, and the level and quality of each source of evidence.
Article #: Assign a number to each reviewed source of evidence. This organizes your Evidence Summary and provides an easy way to reference articles. However, please remember to organize the numbers in your paper’s References according to the order in which they appear in your paper (per AMA style, or style preferred by your preceptor).
Author and Date: Indicate the last name of the first author, or the evidence source, and the publications/communication date. It is important to list both author/evidence source and date because several documents may be from the same source.
Evidence Type: Indicate the type of evidence reviewed (example: RCT, meta-analysis, systematic review, prospective cohort study, case-control study, case report, narrative literature review, expert opinion).
Population, Sample Size, and Setting: This provides a quick view of the population, number of participants, and where the study took place.
Study findings that help answer your research question: Although there may be many interesting results, list only those findings that directly apply to your research question (whether supportive or non-supportive).
Limitations: Include information that may or may not be within the text of the article regarding known or likely “holes” in the research, such as biases, lack of generalizability to your population of interest, length of follow-up, etc. The authors of an academic journal article or systematic review will tell you most of these, but you may identify other limitations as well.
Evidence Level and Quality: Using information from HSC 4240 (which you’ve all had!), list the evidence level and quality rating in this column.
Please note: If your preceptor has given you a different tool (e.g., an “extraction tool”) that covers most of the same info, please use that instead of this! (But let your faculty supervisor know why you’re using a different tool!)
