Body of evidence

How it is used

Common in literature reviews and evidence-based discussion. It emphasizes overall patterns across multiple sources, not one isolated study.

Example sentences

1. The committee said one experiment was not enough and asked her to discuss the wider body of evidence on bilingual education.

   Here the term means the larger collection of studies that must be considered before making a strong academic judgment.

2. Although the newest article is persuasive, the overall body of evidence still shows mixed results across age groups.

   In this example, the term points to combined research findings, which may outweigh the impression created by one recent paper.

Common collocations

• overall body of evidence
• growing body of evidence
• evaluate the body of evidence

Related terms

• evidenceFacts, data or findings that show whether a claim or idea is true or likely to be true.
• literature reviewA critical summary of what has already been published on a topic, showing the main ideas, debates and gaps that a new study responds to.

More terms: Literature Review

• literature
• research gap
• theoretical framework
• seminal
• synthesize
• draw on
• build on
• primary source
• secondary source
• systematic review
• database
• meta-analysis