work on research, description and analysis activities using nursing literature/articles both individually and in small groups of 4-5 students.

“Caring” in an area of nursing

The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate that you can question and analyze the quality of the evidence in the literature about caring in a nursing topic.

Students will work on research, description and analysis activities using nursing literature/articles both individually and in small groups of 4-5 students. Small group work will include completion of in-class worksheets, small group discussion, and peer review of evolving student writing.

Each student will be producing an individual paper on “Caring” in an area of nursing of your choice. You are expected to incorporate selected references that you find in your own library searching, which will start during the in-class library workshops. Below is the outline of your paper.

Part 1: Introduction and Literature Review 10 points
Introduction
Describe caring as you have experienced it in your practice. Use a clinical example to “grab” the reader’s interest. You may describe caring as you have experienced it or how you have seen it expressed in your practice or the practice of a colleague. An example helps the reader understand your position, and also will anchor your reference choices.

Explain how your experience of caring fits into or reflects the professional literature on nursing practice and the discipline of Nursing. This section should include references that help you justify why caring is of concern to the discipline of nursing (as per ANA, AACN, Nightingale, NLN, Swanson article). Be sure to include proper citations for the sources you use. (Begin your reference page and turn it in with this section)
Literature review
Then, begin reviewing your 3-4 sources, from the articles you selected from the CINAHL database. You must choose 3-4 different articles and MUST include definitions from each of these sources.
• Describe the article: is the issue?
• What does the author offer as reasons?
• What are the author’s conclusions?
• Now, review the evidence as presented in your article. What question or questions would Browne and Keeley ask of this evidence? How strong or weak would they say this type of evidence is?
• This analysis needs to be present in each article you review.
• Finally, how does this paper apply to your paper/concept?

Part 1 is due on week 5, July 22, 2014 You must upload 1 copy into CANVAS and bring 1 copy to class for the peer review assignment.

Part 2: Synthesis, Application, and Conclusion 15 points.
• Incorporate any feedback you received from me and from your peer review.
• Based on your critical analysis propose your own definition of the concept of caring. See the PowerPoint slides from Kim Sharp (WACC) that describes synthesis.
• You should have pulled elements from each of your articles together with your own ideas of what goes into a definition of caring for your chosen population.
• Then, provide an example of how you might apply your definition of caring at the individual, group or community level of nursing practice (select one of these) and its significance to your clinical practice with this population.

Conclusion
• Write a 1-2 paragraph conclusion summarizing what you have learned about the writing process related to this paper and what the articles have added to your understanding of working with this topic. What was challenging for you? What part did you enjoy most? What did you learn about your writing/searching skills?

Paper presentation
• Title Page and Reference List in APA format
• Writing mechanics – overall impression of the complete paper
o Ease of understanding for the reader
o Logic of the paper and flow of ideas
o Care in editing

Part 2 is due week 8, August 12, 2014. The final paper is to be in APA format, have a cover page, and to be uploaded into Canvas. Points will be lost for papers that are not submitted on time

Grading rubric: This is what I will be looking for in your paper.

Part 1: 10 points
Introduction: Caring in Practice
Caring in Discipline of Nursing
Analysis of Articles
4 sources from the scholarly literature with the elements as described above including the review of the evidence according to Browne and Keeley and the utility of the article for your topic. Part 2: 15 points
Synthesis of articles and your definition of caring.
Application of definition of Caring in Practice
Conclusion
What you have learned about writing in this process
What the literature has added to your understanding of your population.

Paper presentation (APA format)
Title page and Reference list

Overall impression of the paper, including:
o ease of understanding for the reader,
o logic of the paper and flow of ideas
o complexity of ideas
o depth of application of literature to your topic
o care in editing