Week 2

NUR695: Scholarly Paper Assignment Page 1

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NUR695 Scholarly Paper Guidelines

The major assignment deliverable for your capstone course is a scholarly paper to be written on a

topic related to nursing education. You are to identify an issue, need, gap, or opportunity associated

with:

a. any issue in nursing education at any level (e.g. pre-licensure; post-licensure, graduate);

b. nursing education as it relates to a selected patient population; or

c. nursing education as it relates to healthcare administration.

You are to develop a research question on your chosen topic and propose an evidence-based

intervention for the identified problem. A thorough investigation of research studies from the literature,

evidence-based practice guidelines, and/or models for best practices will support your proposed

intervention. You will describe and evaluate potential outcomes for the intervention and the metrics

that can potentially be used to measure the outcomes of the proposed intervention. You may choose

to complete the intervention and write about actual results if time permits. Should you elect to do this,

you must gain prior approval from your professor.

As part of this assignment, you will need to choose a healthcare journal for manuscript submission

and will follow the author guidelines for the chosen journal. The paper will be developed and

submitted to your professor for grading in sections throughout the course. Each section will be

reviewed and graded separately; this provides you with continuous formative feedback on the paper

throughout the course.

Basic guidelines are as follows:

1. The scholarly paper is to have a title page that follows the current APA manual guidelines.

2. Size and font style: Font size should be 10-12 point.

3. All work should have appropriate citations and reference lists.

4. Citations and references are to follow the APA manual format.

 References should be no more than 5 years old unless they are considered landmark

articles. Those from more than 5 years ago may reflect information and practice that is

outdated and generally is not used.

 Sources:

o Wikipedia (or similar sites) is not to be used as a reference.

o Taber’s and/or other medical dictionaries or encyclopedias are not to be used as

references.

 Follow guidelines on Scholarly Sources Handout posted in week 2

Topic Choice, Summary Statement & Journal Name for Submission of Manuscript to be

submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of Week #2

The first section of your scholarly paper is due in Week #2. In this assignment, you will identify your

topic and provide a summary of the scholarly work. Many students start their work with a topic that is

much too broad. The research question that you will post in Discussion Forum #1 this week is a part

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of this assignment. The research question will help to narrow your topic and must focus on an issue

related to nursing education.

For guidance, please refer to this week’s reading assignment, Chapter 11 in Oermann & Hays:

Writing for Publication in Nursing. This chapter discusses the “Writing Process” in depth. When

thinking of a focus for the scholarly paper it is important to ask yourself the following questions: What

difference will it make as a contribution to the profession of nursing? How will it be a meaningful

product that can be utilized by others?”

The final part of this week’s assignment is the selection of the peer-reviewed journal that would be

your choice for publication of your scholarly paper. Due to the short nature of the course, you are not

required to submit your paper for publication. You will be required to follow that journal’s author

guidelines for your virtual poster presentation in week 10.

Background/ Introduction to be submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of Week #3

The background/ introduction provides the reader with a clear sense of why the topic for the scholarly

paper was chosen, and includes the following elements:

1. Background knowledge-brief summary of current knowledge of problem being addressed, and

characteristics of the organization(s) in which it occurs.

2. Local problem-nature and severity of the problem.

3. Intended improvement – describes the changes and improvements in care processes and

patient outcomes of the proposed interventions

4. Study questions-clearly states precisely the primary improvement-related question that the

study intervention is designed to answer.

Literature Review to be submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of Week #4

The literature review includes identifying current nursing, medical, and other pertinent journals and

textbooks related to your chosen topic. Conducting a literature review includes a search of databases

in order to identify information relevant to your topic. Literature searches should be limited to peer-

reviewed professional nursing and medical journals, texts, and writings. NOTE: Include in your

scholarly paper the databases where you obtained your required 10 articles (ex. CINAHL, PsychInfo,

PubMed etc.).

After identifying the articles to be used in your literature review, conduct a critical analysis of each

article and summarize the findings. The literature you choose should support your proposed

intervention. While there is no page number requirement for the literature search it is typical that this

portion of the paper may be around five pages.

Articles over 5 years old will not be accepted, unless approved by instructor.

Proposed Intervention to be submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of Week #5

In this section, it is important to explain to the reader what you plan to do. What are the decisions you

made in designing your proposed intervention? Include any ethical considerations or issues you felt

were relevant, the setting in which the intervention will occur, the interventions that were selected and

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why, and how you plan to implement the intervention. (Please see Chapters 9&10 in Oermann &

Hays.)

Proposed Metrics and Outcomes to be submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of Week #6

In this section you will outline the metrics you would use to measure the success of your proposed

intervention. Include the source of your metrics (should be from the evidence-based practice

literature) and the hypothesized outcomes you anticipate from the intervention. Include risks and both

potential positive and negative outcomes.

Discussion/ Implications/ Conclusions to be submitted by Saturday 11:59pm MT of Week #7

The discussion section of the paper is a place to highlight the successes and the challenges that may

be experienced through the process of implementing the proposed intervention and the results of the

anticipated and unanticipated outcomes. The paper should end with clear and data-driven

conclusions and implications. You should highlight the lessons learned, including next steps for future

investigations and challenges to the proposed intervention. Include implications of policy, education,

practice, research and/or management as applicable.

Abstract to be submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of Week #8

The abstract is a brief comprehensive summary of the entire body of the scholarly paper and should

be approximately 250 words in length. It summarizes all key information about what is contained in

the paper, including the purpose of the project, methods, design, results, and conclusions drawn by

the author. The abstract is placed at the beginning of the paper, however, it is usually written after the

body of the paper is completed. Follow the guidelines for the abstract as required by your chosen

journal. Consult your 6th edition APA manual for abstract protocols and examples.

Final submission of a paper to be submitted by Saturday 11:59 pm MT of week #9

The final submission of your scholarly paper MUST be submitted in its entirety.

All work must be submitted electronically through Blackboard via SafeAssign.

Scholarly Paper Grading Rubric

Descriptors Points Comments

Topic Choice & Summary Statement

o Clearly stated.

o Clearly defined.

o Sufficiently narrowed down to be answered by the

selected methodology used for the intended

intervention to the problem.

 (Peer-reviewed journal selection – included in the Week

2 assignment submission)

10 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

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Abstract

o Comprehensive summary of the entire body of the

scholarly paper.

10 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

Introduction

o Clear sense of why the topic for the scholarly paper

was chosen, and includes the following elements:

1. Background knowledge-brief summary of

current knowledge of problem being

addressed, and characteristics of the

organization(s) in which it occurs.

2. Local problem-nature and severity of the

problem.

3. Study questions-clearly states precisely the

primary improvement-related question that

the study intervention is designed to answer.

15 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

Literature Review

o Literature searches for nursing topics on the web

and in databases are limited to peer-reviewed

professional nursing and medical journals, texts,

and writings (no older than 5 years).

o Provides an overview of relevant studies including

work from current nursing, medical, and other

pertinent journals and textbooks related to the

chosen topic.

o The articles evaluated are appropriate to answer the

stated problem, purpose, objectives or goals of the

problem.

15 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

Proposed Intervention

o Clearly states the decisions made in designing the

improvement project.

o Defines any ethical considerations or issues

relevant to QI studies and proposed intervention.

o Clearly identifies the setting in which the work will

be conducted.Do not include the name of the

institution or location (ex. Suburban hospital in

Midwest large city)

o Summary of the interventions chosen and why they

were chosen.

o Identifies the plan to implement quality improvement

appropriate to the problem statement.

o Target population is identified.

10 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

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Metrics and Outcomes

 Metrics used to measure the success of the

proposed intervention include the source of the

metrics (from the evidence-based practice literature)

and why they were chosen/their fit with the

proposed intervention.

 Intended improvement – describes the changes and

improvements in care processes and patient

outcomes of the proposed interventions

10 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

Discussion/implications/conclusions

o Clearly discusses data-driven conclusions and

implications that have broad applicability.

o Highlights the lessons learned.

o Identifies challenges and potential

methods/approaches.

o Describes the implications of the proposed

intervention, including the implications of policy,

education, practice, research and healthcare

administration as applicable.

o Recommendations for future research.

15

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

Final submission of paper

Overall Quality/Writing Skills/Format

o Guidelines for assignment were followed.

o Appropriate variety of sources used.

o Reference & internet links are current & accessible.

o Correctly cited using APA format.

o Presentation conforms to the author guidelines of

the chosen journal.

o Entire project is consistent with graduate level

scholarly work.

15 -2 points if not written in 3rd

person

-2 points if APA is incorrect

-2 points if not proofread

prior to submission

Total:

100