Research Papers on Nursing

Nursing research papers requires you to demonstrate your understanding of relevant course concepts, theories, and bodies on knowledge.

Per se, you are required to exhibit the ability to apply them in solving problems in real-life cases.

Research papers on nursing topics encompass key scholarly working in the nursing school.

Before embarking on the writing endeavor, you should deliberate on a number of things, including:

a) What scholarly writing style to adopt.

b) What references or materials to use.

c) Where to source for the relevant materials.

d) What format and referencing style to use.

e) The purpose of writing the work.

Note that it is evident that the nature of the research usually influences the approach adopted by a particular research paper.

As is in the case of a medical research paper, nursing research papers could adopt either the quantitative or the qualitative approach.

Elements of Good Research Papers on Nursing

Elements of good research papers on nursing should be defined the by the purpose of scholarly writing in nursing.

This purpose entails effective documentation of plans-of-care via the nursing process, which is extremely essential for graduate students

Such writing is essential in nursing case management, care assessment, and nursing practice and policies documentation.

Scholarly writing is also important to the nursing community for the publication of journals.  

Besides the respective elements key to how to write a research paper, good research papers on nursing are characterized by several attributes.

Such attributes are as discussed below.

a) It should have clear objectives and direction 

This is an essential attribute in research papers on nursing. 

It requires you to ensure that the nursing research paper clearly stipulates what it intends to achieve and the processes it utilize in realizing the stipulated objectives.

Clarity in the research paper’s intentions is a critical element.

Starting from the introduction, the reader should be able to understand what you intend to realize in your study.

This is usually achieved by ensuring that you develop a clear thesis statement that acts as the focal point for the whole research study. 

b) It should be replicable

This is one of the most important rules on how to write research papers on nursing.

As is in the case of all scientific research papers, it should be possible for other researchers to replicate your study. 

They should be able to produce similar results within similar environments. In this, you should provide a clear research process that can be followed by researchers. 

Such a process particularly focuses on the research methodology. 

Per se, the research methodology should be clearly stipulated and in adequate details. 

This is relevant in making it easy and possible to adhere to all the entailed research steps and parameters when need be.    

c) There should a logical flow of ideas

When writing research papers on nursing, it is important to ensure that your research paper flows logically from the thesis statement/research question to methods and conclusions. 

This entails incorporating a logic path that effectively explains how your conclusion was arrived at. 

Accordingly, you should illustrate how your hypothesis is consistent with the attained results. 

It is important to note that no matter how strong your points could be, lack of logical flow of ideas could render it incoherent and irrelevant. 

You must be able to demonstrate how the evidence you collected works towards supporting your thesis statement. 

All data collected and information used should be organized in a manner to answer the research question. 

Information that is not geared towards realizing this intention should be excluded.   

d) It should be written in a clear manner

As an important attribute in research papers on nursing, this entails employing the most appropriate written language skills. 

As such, the nursing research paper should have the right language levels and exhibit good coherency. 

Readers should be able to wholly understand what is being communicated. 

You should understand that effective communication is one of the most critical attributes of a research paper. 

Besides your evidence being strong and accurate, you should ensure that your written communication is to the expected standards. 

This requires you to clearly understand your target audience and go ahead to produce work that they can easily relate with.

Structure of Good Research Papers on Nursing

Skills on how to write a nursing research paper demands that you adopt the appropriate structure.

In this, the nursing research paper should assume the usual structure of a research paper or structure usually employed in scientific fields.  

This is a more theoretically-inclined structure and may adopt sections such as introduction, literature review, methodology, results, discussions, conclusions, and references.  

Differently, as noted in the case of psychology research papers, some of the parts the structure should incorporate include introduction, literature review, materials and methods, results, discussion, conclusion, and references. 

a)    Abstract

This is usually the first part of research papers on nursing. In ideal cases, it should be written the last. 

It should be a comprehensive and concise summary of the whole research project article. 

Accordingly, the abstract should provide accurate information of the paper’s contents, including: 1) purpose,

2) results, and

3) conclusions. 

The reader should be able to get the whole picture of paper by reading through the abstract.   

It is important to ensure that it is succinct. In this, although the length of the abstract could vary depending on the institution, instructor, or publisher, it should usually be about 150 words. 

b)    Introduction

This is essentially considered the first part of the actual writing of research papers on nursing. It is supposed to provide a background for the entire research study. 

It highlights the objective of the study (thesis statement), motivation behind it, entailed research processes, and results. 

The introduction should be brief but detailed. 

Importantly, it you should be able to capture the interest of the reader. 

c)    Literature review

This is another important part of a research paper on nursing. 

Its purpose entails identification of current medical, nursing, and healthcare-related sources pertinent to the nursing research topics under study. 

Literature review should be conducted using a systematic internet search process. This process search should seek to identify relevant journals, books, and policy documents. 

Note that you should use reliable sources only. 

Importantly, the literature review should encompass a critical analysis of ideas in the respective sources. 

It should also demonstrate your understanding of works pertinent to the nursing research topics under study. 

You should as such use it to create a solid foundation for novel ideas and concepts in the research paper you are working on.  

d) Materials and methods

This is an extremely critical part of research papers on nursing. Typically, it determines the accuracy and relevancy of the involved research study. 

This section requires you to provide all the steps followed in the research study process. 

Important elements in the materials and methods section include population, sampling, and research study design. 

e) Results

The results section seeks to present all the data gathered in the materials and methods section. 

Such presentation should be done in the form of text, figures, and tables. 

Graphical information is usually preferable in this section. 

All the figures and tables should be well labeled using the correct units. 

f) Discussion

The discussion section should explain in details the results presented in the results section. 

This discussion should seek to explain the meaning of the research study data. 

A good nursing research paper must be able to elucidate the implications of the study results. 

Such implications should be used to explain themes that support the thesis statement. It should merge the data acquired and the research issue(s) under study. 

g) Conclusion

The conclusion should cover the keys points in the entire research study. It is basically a summary of the major highlights of the research paper. 

In this, it should seek to incorporate all the essential or central points in each of the nursing research paper section. 

It should as well conclude by highlighting the relationship between the study results and the thesis statement.