GUIDELINES FOR ASSIGNMENT #1:
Evidence for Translation and Best Practice
The student is to choose a topic and rate the evidence related to translation of evidence into practice. The student then is to choose the 3 best strategies/practices/interventions that are supported by the evidence to address the practice issue. Describe the search methodology. Include a matrix related to translation of evidence (not a general overview of the topic). Only include evidence related to this assignment and not all of the evidence you have rated since beginning doctoral school. If there is duplication on any material from NU 608, please place your 608 paper, with duplicated areas highlighted, in the dropbox with your paper file. Turnitin.com will identify any areas of similarity from NU 608 and we must be able to compare papers if needed.
All assignments will be based on this topic so choose one that is meaningful to you. Remember to keep the topic related to nursing and not medicine. If you need feedback about the topic, discuss with your instructor.
The paper should be carefully written in a formal style, based on primary sources, provide an integration of ideas, and be 5-6 pages in length, not including title page, reference list, and matrix. Organized flow, logical progression of ideas, and clarity in thought processes are essential.
| Criteria | Points |
|---|---|
| Introduction paragraph (one paragraph). There must be a thesis statement at the end of the paragraph that explicitly tells the reader the purpose of paper and what will be discussed. | /2 |
| Describe the system in which you currently practice (even if you are not yet an advanced practice nurse). Be specific about your system. Give the reader a sense of place about your system. Describe the practice issue, policy, or clinical/administrative issue that you are interested in addressing. Why did you choose this topic? Describe your search methodology? What databases were accessed and what search terms/keywords were used in the search? Include a description of your hits. | /4 |
| Provide a synthesis/overview of your rating of the evidence related to your issue or topic. Pay particular attention to gaps in the evidence or areas that are not well supported. This section may be based on the last assignment for NU 608. If there is any duplication of content, submit a copy of your NU 608 paper in the Assignment #1 dropbox with duplicated content highlighted on the 608 paper. This section is an overview related to your topic… Include a brief historical perspective in the development of the evidence that addresses your issue/topic. | /4 |
| What 3 strategies/practices/interventions are best supported by the evidence? Briefly describe the interventions and an overview of the supporting evidence. Present the evidence in a matrix format (see below for matrix guidelines). Provide a synthesis of the rating of evidence related to the strategies/best practices/interventions recommended to address your clinical issue. | /6 |
| Conclusions: summarize the essential points of paper (one paragraph). | /2 |
| Title Page and Reference page: Primary, peer-reviewed from scholarly journals. Number to include at least 10 from scholarly journals. May include other sources from appropriate literature in addition to minimum of 10 scholarly journal references. If applicable, include an appropriate clinical practice guideline. | /1 |
| Matrix (in Appendix): Provide a matrix of evidence related to the translation of evidence into practice systems. May include applicable NU 608 evidence, but should include new evidence as well. Use the matrix format that you used from NU 608. Include a copy of the method used for rating the evidence in the appendix. | /6 |
| Total | /25 |
Deductions:
Papers must be submitted to turnitin.com and students are to review the report generated by this software system. Students will be given the opportunity to submit revisions of the paper to turnitin.com. The final report is to be submitted in the assignment #1 dropbox with Assignment #1 and the highlighted NU 608 matrix of evidence (if applicable). Please make sure each of these is a separate pdf file. Assignments submitted without a turnitin.com report will not be accepted and will result in a 10% point deduction for failure to submit properly on initial submission.
All files should be submitted in pdf. Assignments not submitted in pdf will not be accepted and will result in a 10% point deduction for failure to submit properly on initial submission. Papers over the page limit will not be accepted and will result in a 10% point deduction for failure to submit properly on initial submission. Scholarliness of the paper, correct grammar, appropriate spelling, and correct use of APA are expected. Deductions for APA errors, grammatical & spelling errors will be made at the discretion of the instructor.
Assignment #1 Helpful Hints
Here are some helpful hints regarding assignment #1. Most likely, you will continue the issue you began in NU 608. If you want to change issues/problems/topics, that is fine with us. We do recommend that you choose a topic for NU 611 and stay with it throughout this particular course. Choice of an issue does not mean that you are approved for this topic for your project. Remember to choose an issue that is appropriate for the track you are in. For example, if you are in the Adult Acute Care NP track, you need to choose a topic that is in the adult acute care population. If you have questions about the appropriateness of your topic, discuss with your instructor.
1. The introduction section of your paper should begin with some general statements. Try to share something that is interesting or attention grabbing. The last sentence in the introduction paragraph (one paragraph) will be your thesis statement which tells the reader the purpose of the paper and what will be discussed. Don’t pose your thesis statement as a question. It should clearly state that the purpose of the paper is to…..
2. Describe your system in which you currently practice (even if you are not presently an advanced practice nurse. We know that many of you are in the BSN to DNP program and do not have a specialty yet). Be specific about your system. What kind of institution is it, where is it located, how many beds, etc. Give the reader a sense of place about your system. Describe your practice issue for us. Be clear and succinct. Why did you choose this issue? Is there a problem on your unit/in your system that really needs your focus? Has some problem resulted in negative patient outcomes? You also will need to describe your search methodology. We want to be sure you are doing a thorough search and need to see what databases and any other sources you have accessed. Include the number of hits you have obtained.
3. When we say provide a synthesis of the evidence, we are not talking about a listing of studies…we are referring to an overview of the literature. What is out there? Where are the gaps? This section of your paper should probably be around 1 ½ pages in length, depending on how much literature there is related to your issue. Again, do not include a listing of each study and what was found, give a synthesis. Ex. In relation to pain management of breast cancer patients, 5 of the 20 studies reviewed concluded that nurse practitioners do not….(citation 1; citation 2; citation 3; citation 4; citation 5). However, we don’t want to see something like, “Three studies found X. Two studies found Y. Five studies found Z.” If you are confused and want to see an example of what is meant by a synthesis, look at an article in the background or literature review section. If there is any content in this section that is from your last paper in NU 608 (there may be since we are asking some of the same questions in this section), then submit a copy of your NU 608 paper in the Assignment #1 dropbox with duplicated content highlighted (only on your 608 paper) for faculty review.
4. The section identifying the best strategies (also called best practices or interventions…same thing) recommended to address the clinical issue is worth a good deal of points. Always look at the rubric and see where the most points are allocated and pay particular attention to that section. You can refer to clinical practice guidelines, research studies, systematic reviews…whatever the best rated evidence you have. Choose the 3 interventions that are best supported; identify and discuss those and the supporting evidence. Again, provide a synthesis or overview of the practices. This section is not the same as the section above where you provide an overview/synthesis of the evidence related to translating evidence on your issue or topic into practice. This section is specific only for the strategies. Include in the matrix (located in the appendix) a section of the evidence supporting the best practices. Separate these studies from the others so we can see what kind of evidence you found to support the conclusion that your three chosen practices were indeed the best of all interventions. However, in the synthesis portion of this section of the paper, you need to state how these are the three best practices.
5. The conclusion paragraph is just a restatement of the main points of the paper. This section should be short & sweet and to the point. Do remember though that paragraphs are at least 3 (and some say 5) sentences. Conversely, don’t have an overly long paragraph….I recommend not longer than 1/3 of a page. After that you just lose your reader. I’m not sure why that is, but it is tiresome to read long paragraphs. Make your point in a succinct, but substantive way and move along.
6. Matrix: When organizing your evidence, we recommend that all evidence you review should be included in a matrix (located in the Appendix). Pull out the studies for this particular assignment. Computer software programs like endnote can help you organize your searches. One of the most difficult things in doctoral study is trying to organize the massive literature you come across. If you start from the beginning with a system for organization, this will really benefit you. Remember our biomedical library personnel. They are wonderful resources for information. Feel free to contact them for helpful hints as well. The matrix should focus on content related to translating evidence into practice. Don’t include every study about your topic, just those related to putting the evidence in to practice. Separate out those studies in your matrix about implementation strategies/best practices. We don’t want to see a listing of all studies you’ve ever looked at related to this topic. Tell us what method you are using to rate the evidence. It is your choice, but we need to know what you are using and provide us a copy in the Appendix
7. Title Page and Reference Page: Use the APA formatting text 6th edition title page (found in doc sharing). There’s really no reason to lose this point. It’s a freebie….just type in your appropriate information on the title page and put into your paper. Use the 6th edition for your reference page citations. We will be looking at the text to compare to your references page. I’m sure you’ve already been told this, but we (USA CON) are really sticklers about plagiarism, nonintentional and otherwise. We take this very seriously and are actively checking assignments. Submit your paper to turnitin.com in adequate time to get multiple reports back, if needed. Their first report comes back very quickly. Subsequent reports, if you need to resubmit because your similarity index is high, take longer…sometimes up to 24 hours, maybe more. Of course, 0% similarity is best, but realistically there will be names of people, reports, commissions, groups, models, books etc. that come back highlighted. We don’t worry about those and neither should you. What we look for is text/content that comes back highlighted. Look at that and see if the content should be paraphrased. We don’t like to see direct quotes at this level of higher education so try to paraphrase those. Also, refer to the section in the apa formatting manual about plagiarism, it has some good points. Delete your title page and reference pages before submission so you can get a true snapshot of your paper and possible problem areas. Use the revision opportunities with turnitin.com if you have highlighted areas of similar content. I would not submit a report that showed that I have any % of the text in my paper similar to some other source. Instructors check those and there’s no need to have a red flag on your paper from the time you turn it in. We wish you much success on your first paper for NU 611 and hope that these extra guidelines and explanations are helpful! If you have any questions about Assignment #1, please post in the Q&A.
