Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
Synopsis
1. Basics
Different disciplines have some differences in writing expectations, all writers are required to follow basic writing standards for instance, concise, clear writing, proper punctuation, critical thought demonstration and grammatically correct sentences. However, nursing students must also be familiar with the discipline goals and expectations.
Nurses are required to provide quality care to patients and their families; therefore, this demands both technical knowledge and expression of ideas appropriately. Nursing students are hence expected to learn how to present information concisely, and use technical medical terminology.
Nursing students are required to be conversant with the following goals among many others:
1. Critical thinking
2. Document research / knowledge
3. Creative ideas
4' Demonstrate understanding of learning activities
5. Explore nursing literature. Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
With this broad set of objectives,
1. Nursing students would benefit from learning how to write diverse literature, including scholarly reports, reviews, articles, and so on.
2. They should aim to write work that can be used in both the research and clinical aspects of the discipline. Instructors frequently ask nursing students to write position and reflective papers, critique articles, gather and analyze data, respond to case studies, and work collaboratively on a project. There may be differences between the writing expectations within the classroom and those in the workplace, the standards noted below, though more common in scholarly writing, require skills that are transferrable to the work setting.
Main Idea
a) Nursing students present their work from a particular perspective about a particular subject. when a student chooses a subject, his particular contribution, position, argument or viewpoint is commonly referred to as the thesis.
b) According to Gerring et al. (2004), a good thesis is one that is “new, true, and significant”
c) To strengthen one’s thesis, one can consider presenting an argument that goes against what is currently accepted within the field while carefully addressing counterarguments and adequately explaining why the issue under consideration matters (Gerring et al., 2004).
d) Thesis is particularly important because readers want to know whether the writer has something new or worthwhile to say about the topic. Thus, as you review the literature, before writing, it is important to find gaps and creative linkages between viewpoints with the goal of contributing innovative ideas to an ongoing discussion.
e) For a contribution to be worthwhile you must read the literature carefully and without bias; doing this will enable you to identify some of the subtle differences in the viewpoints presented by different authors and help you to better identify the gaps in the literature. Because the thesis is essentially the heart of your discussion, it is important that it is argued objectively and persuasively.
Evidence
* The goal being to provide high quality care, the healthcare industry places a premium on rigorous research as the foundation for evidence-based practices. Therefore, students are expected to keep up with the most current research in their field and support the assertions they make in their work with evidence from the literature.
* Nursing students must learn how to evaluate evidence in nursing literature and identify the studies that answer specific clinical questions (Oermann & Hays, 2011).
* Writers are also expected to critically analyze and evaluate studies and assess whether findings can be used in clinical practice (Beyea & Slattery, 2006). (Some useful and credible sources include journal articles, other peer-reviewed sources, and authoritative sources that might be found on the web. If you need help finding credible sources contact a librarian.). Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
Formatting
Like other APA style papers, research papers in nursing should follow the following format:
1.Title
2. Abstract
3. Introduction - One presents the issue under consideration.
4. Literature review - One presents what is already known about the topic (thus providing a context for the discussion), identifies gaps, and presents one’s approach.
5. Method - One would identify the method used to gather data.
6. Results
7. Discussion
8. The results and discussion sections, one then presents and explains the results in an objective manner, noting the limitations of the study.
9. References, and appendices. Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
Methods
Nursing researchers use quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods.
- Quantitative studies, researchers rely primarily on quantifiable data.
- Qualitative studies, they use data from interviews or other types of narrative analyses.
- Mixed methods studies, they use both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
A researcher should be able to pose a researchable question and identify an appropriate research method. Whatever method the researcher chooses, the research must be carried out in an objective and scientific manner, free from bias. Keep in mind that your method will have an impact on the credibility of your work, so it is important that your methods are rigorous. Walden offers a series of research methods courses to help students become familiar with the various research methods. Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
Language
Instructors expect students to master the content of the discipline and use discipline- appropriate language in their writing. In practice, nurses may be required to become familiar with standardized nursing language as it has been found to lead to the following:
1) Better communication among nurses and other health care providers,
2) Increased visibility of nursing interventions,
3) Improved patient care
4) Enhanced data collection to evaluate nursing care outcomes, greater adherence to standards of care, and facilitated assessment of nursing competency. (Rutherford, 2008)
Nursing students should demonstrate that; -
(a) They have cultivated the thinking skills that are useful in their discipline
(b) They are able to communicate professionally
(c) They can incorporate the language of the field in their work appropriately. Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
An example of writing a successful discussion post
1. Read the discussion prompt carefully.
A nursing student should pay special attention to:
1) Purpose: What question or required reading are you being asked to respond to?
2) Particulars: What is the word limit? When is the due date and time? What sources are you expected to draw on?
3) Response type: Are you being asked to reflect on personal experience, determine a solution to a problem, compare two ideas, or make an argument?
4) Formatting: What formatting has your instructor requested? If no specific formatting is indicated, follow general APA guidelines.
5) Expectations: How will your discussion post be assessed? Consult your course materials or instructor.
2. Prepare adequately.
1) Before beginning your post, make sure you have read all of the required readings with a critical eye.
2) Access your instructor's feedback on previous assignments. Based on that feedback, how do you want to improve in this next post?
3) After reading, spend some time jotting down your reactions, ideas, and responses to the reading.
4) Determine one-two of your strongest ideas, which you will structure your response around, by assessing the amount of evidence you have to support a particular assertion, response, or claim.
5) Logically piece together a rough outline of your evidence to make your claim both clear and persuasive. Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.3. Construct a draft.
a) Discussion post assignments often have multiple questions. Instead of answering each one in order, use a topic sentence to bring all points together into one central argument, claim, or purpose.
b) Use your evidence to build your response and persuade your readers by supporting your claim with course readings or outside sources (if permitted or required).
c) Make sure that each piece of evidence keeps your post focused, relevant, clear, and scholarly in tone.
d) Type in sentence case; in an online environment, ALL CAPS feels like yelling.
e) Make sure you have adequately cited all information or ideas from outside sources in your post and have added a full reference at the end.
4. Review and revise.
After writing your post, review your ideas by asking yourself:
* Is my main idea clear and relevant to the topic of discussion?
* Does my response demonstrate evidence that I have read and thought critically about required readings?
* Have I proposed a unique perspective that can be challenged by my classmates?
* Do I support my claim with required readings or other credible outside sources?
* Have I used a scholarly tone, avoiding jargon or language that is overly conversational?
* Have I proofread my response for grammar, style, and structure?
5. Submit.
* Copy and paste the final version of your draft into the discussion forum. Tips for writing frequent nursing assignments.
* Do a quick check to make sure no formatting mishaps occurred while uploading.
* Wait patiently for responses from your classmates.