Writing in Nursing
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Even though all disciplines are different, some rules apply to all kinds of papers. Every essay writer engaged in scholarly work needs to follow basic requirements, such as correct grammar and punctuation, concise and clear structure, and critical thoughts. Most often, especially in case of Walden programs, papers should be written according to APA standard.
To be able to deliver proper content, writers must be familiar with specific features of the profession. Many nurses are mostly concerned about working with patients. Just like writing, this kind of work requires necessary technical knowledge. Nurses also must be able to express their ideas in a correct way. Even though their papers will likely contain specific medical terms, everyone must be able to understand them. Thus, nursing writers must have the following sufficient skills:
- Creativity;
- An ability to provide a qualitative research;
- An understanding of various learning activities;
- Critical thinking.
Thesis
It’s impossible to tell all about everything in one paper, so writers need to narrow their topics and to choose their personal perspective. The writer’s position is a thesis statement, and it’s the most important part of any paper. The thesis must be true, informative, and significant. It also must provide new information or a new perspective. A strong thesis also addresses the opposite opinion or some point that contradicts to a currently accepted opinion, explaining why the author’s point is true and important.
The reader’s perception of a paper directly depends on the thesis. It must show that the author really has something to say and the paper is worth reading it. If you want to provide important and unique information, you must do a research, noting gaps in knowledge that you find in existing works and trying to fill them with your own contribution. You must support the ongoing discussion and share your own creative ideas, taking into account different viewpoints. A qualitative research is impossible without comparing different points and identifying gaps in knowledge.
Evidence
A proper research is a sufficient part of the high-quality healthcare. The whole success of this industry depends on an accurate research and the proper use of evidence. Given the importance of it, students must learn how to support all their ideas and assertions with evidence from existing sources. However, students also must be able to evaluate sources and generate their own critical opinion. This ability helps in finding sources that have the necessary information about a specific clinical issue. Writers must understand whether or not a certain source can be useful in their practice.
Therefore, you need to use credible sources. To do it, you can ask a librarian. We suggest using only authoritative web sources, journal articles, and other sources that have been reviewed by experts in this field.
Formatting
As we said above, research papers in nursing should meet standards of APA style. This format includes such basic elements as an introduction, a discussion, and references, as well as an abstract, a literature review, methodology, results, and appendices.
This structure is logical and clear. The introduction presents a topic of the paper, the literature review provides readers with information that is already known about this subject, and methods describe how the author collected data. Results and discussion are two other sections focused mostly on presenting and explaining results of the research, taking into account all limitations. However, the structure of any particular paper may differ from this model, so we suggest getting acquainted with common academic structures and reading your prompts carefully.
Methods
Nursing writers mostly use qualitative and quantitative methods. There are also mixed methods that imply the use of the combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The quantitative method, in general, implies collecting quantifiable data, while the qualitative method usually includes interviews or an analysis in the narrative form. The best method depends on a question of the research, so the writer must choose it taking into account the topic.
The chosen method shouldn’t affect the general approach to writing — the writer’s goal is to make it credible, presenting all information in a scientific manner, without bias. It’s important to choose only reliable methods if you want your work to be appreciated by readers.
Language
All instructors agree that good works are written using an appropriate language that reflects the discipline. All nursing writers must be familiar with a standardized nursing language because it allows providing better communication between nurses and other people who work in the healthcare industry. The use of the nursing language also creates a proper environment for a correct evaluation of nursing care.
The general goals of any nursing writer are to demonstrate developed thinking skills, to deliver a message clearly, and to provide professional communication using an appropriate language.