UMUC Scientific Investigation in Nursing

UMUC Scientific Investigation in Nursing

UMUC Scientific Investigation in Nursing

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Instructions

Assignment 2—Literature Review, Part 1: Introduction and Selection Criteria (will be graded upon submission of part 2)

Your literature review will be submitted in two parts. For this assignment, you will be submitting only part 1.

The purpose of a literature review is to present relevant literature findings from nursing and related fields, show awareness of what is known about this scientific area and apply the findings to nursing practice.

The purpose of this assignment is to provide a basis for the remaining class projects that build on this literature review. Only quantitative research studies should be used.

Using the skills you developed in critiquing a research article, perform a literature review in a clinical area of interest. In your classroom, you will find a list of suggested topics, but that list is by no means comprehensive—choose something of particular professional interest to you. Consult your instructor if you have any questions or need help deciding on an appropriate topic.

In your final paper, you should

provide a clear rationale for an important scientific investigation related to nursing science
include at least four relevant, quantitative, peer-reviewed journal articles published within the past five years
It is strongly recommended that you send your articles via e-mail to the instructor for approval before your begin your review.

Your final paper, combining sections 1 & 2, should be 10 to 15 pages, including the cover page and references.

The following article offers helpful guidelines for constructing a critique of a nursing research article:

Cronin, P., Ryan, F., & Coughlan, M. (2008). Undertaking a literature review: a step-by-step approach . British Journal of Nursing, 17(1): 38-43.

Note that you will be submitting this assignment in two parts. You will not receive a separate grade for part 1, although late penalties will apply. You will receive your final grade for this assignment when you submit the combined paper including part 1 and part 2.

Submit pdf copies of the articles you are reviewing along with the assignment for both parts 1 and 2.

Part 1 (due as Assignment #2) should be 3 to 5 pages and follow this outline:

Introduction

State the topic you selected and why.
Provide some background information about the topic. Why is it important? Use data to support your argument.
Explain your search and methods – List a minimum of four keywords that you used for your search, the databases you used to perform your search, and how you selected the articles you are reviewing.
Review

List the articles you selected, briefly describing each article and why you chose those articles—for example, relevance to the research topic, methodology used, peer-reviewed content.
Summarize the purpose, population, methods, major findings and recommendations of each article.
Part 2 should be 7 to 10 pages and follow this outline:

Discussion

Discuss the overall findings of the articles. Compare and contrast the articles.
Conclusion and Application

Describe how these can be applied to nursing research and practice.
Be sure to incorporate your instructor’s feedback from part 1, and add the new part 2 content to submit one complete literature review paper of 10 to 15 total pages for your grade for Assignment #3.

Your final literature review will be graded on the following criteria.

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

• Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
• Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
• One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
• I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

• Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
• In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
• Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
• Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

• Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
• Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
• I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

• I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
• As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
• It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

 

LopesWrite Policy

• For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
• Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
• Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
• Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

• The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
• Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
• If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
• I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
• As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

• Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
  • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
  • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.