How to Write a Nursing Research Paper
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Students of the Nursing department frequently face the need to compose research papers on a variety of subjects. Unfortunately, not all of them are skilled in writing as research is an advanced competency requiring months, if not years, to attain.
Here you’ll find useful tips for structuring and outlining your research paper and some valuable practical examples of composing its various parts.
What is a Nursing Research Paper
According to the nursing research paper guidelines, this type of academic assignment presupposes conducting in-depth academic research on some subject related to nursing.
Whether you’re analyzing a nursing theory and its application, the nursing profession’s standards, or a real-life case of nursing healthcare, you should present deeper and broader research than an essay requires. It means that research papers are typically longer, include more credible external sources, and require more diligence and time investment from the student.
How to Start a Nursing Research Paper
So, how to write a policy paper for a nurse or another nursing assignment of this type? The first step of writing is actually not writing at all. The pre-writing activities include researching the subject and narrowing down the topic to make it more manageable.
The criteria your topic should meet include:
- Not too narrow (you risk not finding enough evidence to support arguments).
- Not too broad (you risk presenting a superficial argument).
- Manageable and debatable (it’s no use speaking about self-obvious things).
- Relevant (the topic should not be outdated or resolved, with some space for debate left).
If your topic complies with these criteria, it’s time to move to the next step.
How to Structure a Nursing Research Paper
Structuring your paper requires compliance with the universal structuring rules, suggesting the “introduction-body-conclusion” format. Yet, a nursing research paper is typically larger than a simple five-paragraph essay, so your paragraphs in the classical sense of this word can transform into sections, each coming with several paragraphs inside.
A quick breakdown of components would look as follows:
- An introduction setting the context and introducing the major theme of the paper.
- The paper’s body covers several major arguments on the subject, all directed towards proving the major argument.
- A conclusion wrapping up all findings and suggesting some insightful inferences for the broader context.
By following this universal structure of a research paper, you’re always sure to be on the right path in terms of logic, coherence, and cohesion of the entire text.
How to End a Nursing Research Paper
Ending a nursing research paper means checking it thoroughly to avoid any typos and cohesion flaws. Once you’re done with the writing, take a pause and get back to your text in a couple of hours (overnight at best).
The process of proofreading and editing differs. When editing your paper, you should go through the content to check whether your arguments are consistent with the central thesis statement and whether the research paper flows well overall. While proofreading your text, make sure that you check every separate sentence in terms of the form of expression, that is, for typos and grammar mistakes.
Read the paper from the end to the beginning to focus on each sentence separately; this bulletproof strategy always helps writers to shift their focus from general content to separate words.
Nursing Research Paper Outline
Now let’s consider a sample outline our experts have prepared to illustrate the structuring principles discussed above. We have chosen the topic “The role of nurses in telehealth.”
Introduction: introduction to the concept of “telehealth” and the change to healthcare delivery it is likely to bring. Importance of nurses in telehealth integration. Thesis statement with the details of how nurses can contribute to telehealth adoption.
Paragraph #1 – review of telehealth and its contribution to healthcare access
Paragraph #2 – nurses and telehealth, how the role of nurse aligns with the principles and values of telehealth
Paragraph #3 – practical ways of involving nurses in telehealth delivery (with empirical research examples)
Conclusion: confirmation of the nurses’ ability to join the trend of telehealth adoption, specific ways in which they can contribute to the new trend, the value of nurses’ participation in the process, and the expected gains of the transition.
Nursing Research Paper Introduction
Now let’s consider our outline with some practical examples of how the nursing research paper sections can be composed. Here is an example of an introduction based on our outline:
Telemedicine, or home health, has emerged in the second half of the 20th century as a workable solution to broadening healthcare access to larger population categories. It is meant to relieve the burden of hospital visits and give patients home support and professional medical guidance on their condition without visiting a local hospital and paying for an expensive appointment. Nurses play a critical role in the mainstream introduction of telehealth – medical staff tasked with analyzing and attending to patients’ physical and emotional needs, educating patients about their condition, and rendering preventive care. This paper examines how nurses can partake in developing the telehealth trend to increase population access to medical services and improve public health.
Nursing Research Paper Body
After the introduction comes to the body of your nursing research paper. Here, you can include as many paragraphs as you please (depending on your assigned word count and expected structure). Still, each paragraph should have a clear idea and enough supporting evidence to illustrate that point and prove its legitimacy.
Here is an example of one paragraph for your guidance:
With telehealth being beneficial for the patients and the healthcare system in terms of cost savings and referrals, medical institutions’ task is to equip nurses with skills necessary for providing high-quality telehealth consultations. Major skills required from the nurses to effectively render telehealth consultation include professional experience, interpersonal skills, technical knowledge, ability to handle digital documentation, continuing education, and effective resource management (Johnson, 2008). Thus, medical institutions should direct their efforts toward equipping nurses with the required skill set to enable the sustainable and consistent provision of high-quality telehealth services.
As you can see, the reference (Johnson, 2008) serves as an example of APA referencing of the sources you used in the assignment. Make sure to double-check how to write a nursing research paper in APA format if this is the format your educational establishment requires.
Nursing Research Paper Conclusion
Based on the evidence provided in the paper’s body, you can now conclude that the nurse’s responsibilities are compliant with the nature of telehealth, thus making nurses the key change agent in the process of telehealth dissemination and broader accessibility. Also, by referring to the broader context of your topic, you can mention the potential positive outcomes of a trend towards telehealth and nurses’ contribution to public health improvement in the long run.
Nursing Research Paper Help
The task of writing a nursing research paper is often a demanding one for students, primarily due to the specific medical terminology, ethical considerations, and the precise application of nursing theories. Given the practical nature of the nursing discipline, students also frequently struggle with time management, juggling clinical practice with the rigorous demands of academic research.
Such challenges can lead to a less than satisfactory quality of work. In these circumstances, seeking professional assistance can prove invaluable. Engaging with vetted writers who specialize in nursing can help students craft well-structured, insightful research papers, while effectively managing their time and academic responsibilities.
