Announce the specific issue that you have chosen as a focus for this series of interlocking sessions. For example: What are the causes of mortality and morbidity among under-fives?

Explain that students will research what their discipline contributes to our understanding of this question by conducting a literature review. To do this effectively, the next sessions will support them to discover:

•  what their discipline aims to study and learn about and with what tools
• how best to define their literature search and use databases such as PubMed®, POPLINE, Cochrane Library
• how best to read and analyse academic papers
• how to manage citations

Emphasise that students should review only articles from their own disciplinary perspective.

In addition to working within their own disciplines, students will exchange knowledge about the variety of disciplines in the group. They will recognise the value of sharing knowledge from different perspec- tives to address public health challenges.

The last stage of this ‘jigsaw’ will focus on the social determinants of health. Drawing from the findings of their literature reviews, students will identify the different levels at which factors have impact, from individual to global. Together they will then map the causal factors per level, in order to create a research framework.