NU360 Mississippi University Nursing Theory Henderson & Nightingale Paper

1 NURSING THEORY NOTES INTRODUCTION TO THEORY As professional nurses we do not often think in terms of theory. However, theory attempts to explain the world around us and assists us in making needed changes. We use many non-nursing theories, i.e. systems theory, change theory, management theories, but in this section we will focus on nursing theories. TERMS 1. Philosophy – a set of beliefs that are acquired and interpreted throughout a lifetime of experience with reality. 2. Science – a body of testable knowledge. 3. Fact – something known with certainty, always the same under the same circumstances. 4. Concept – general, intangible and symbolic ways of referring to reality. 5. Theory – systematically related sets of concepts that describe, explain, or predict the real world. 6. Model – a picture of reality, provides a way to visualize a theory in order to simplify thinking. 7. Paradigm – the network of science, philosophy and theory accepted by a discipline or person. The prevailing paradigm directs the activities of a discipline. 8. Metaparadigm – the most global perspective of a discipline, singles out the phenomena with a discipline deals in a unique manner, i.e. person, environment, health, illness, etc. WHY DO WE NEED THEORIES IN NURSING? 1. Theories can interrelate concepts in such a way as to create a different way of looking at a particular phenomenon. 2. NU360 Mississippi University Nursing Theory Henderson & Nightingale Paper

Theories can be the basis for hypotheses that can be tested. 3. Theories contribute to and assist in increasing the general body of knowledge within the discipline through the research implemented to validate them. 2 4. Theories can be utilized by the profession to guide and improve practice. 5. Theories must be consistent with other validated theories, laws, and principles but will leave open, unanswered questions that need to be investigated. 6. Theory supports professional autonomy by guiding practice, education and research. Running head: WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 1 How to Write a Formal Paper Student Name, Title School WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 2 Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………..….…….3 Title Page and Running Head..………………………………………………………..……….….4 Body of Paper…………………………………………………………………………….……….4 APA Format……………………………………………………………………………………….5 Paper Set-up……………………………………………………………………………….5 Referencing…………………………………………………………………………….….5 Quotes………………………………………………………………………………….….6 Words………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………8 Reference………………………………………………………………………………………….9 WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 3 Abstract The abstract is a brief summary of the written paper. One should be able to read an abstract and know quickly if this is what researcher is seeking. Typically, you will only have an abstract in formal research papers, such as the paper you will complete in NU 464 in the last semester of the program. Small papers not related to formal research will not have an abstract. I have placed this here so you will be aware of when and when not to have an abstract. Another key is to look at the rubric to see if an abstract is required. The abstract is different from the introduction in regards to including the research problem, theoretical framework, results, and conclusion in the abstract and not in the introduction. The abstract does not start with an indented paragraph. The abstract should range from 150-250 words. Lastly, the abstract will conclude with a five or less keywords that are crucial to this paper. Please note the word “keywords” will be indented and in italic font followed by a colon and two spaces. The key words will be in regular Times New Roman font. Keywords: formal writing, American Psychological Association WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 4 How to Write a Formal Paper The first paragraph of any formal paper should be the introduction. This should be a relatively small paragraph consisting of at least four sentences. The introduction will never have a heading. The title of the paper centered and not bolded will start the paper. The introduction will start the paper and introduce ideas. The last sentence of a formal paper should be the thesis statement. NU360 Mississippi University Nursing Theory Henderson & Nightingale Paper

The thesis is one sentence that summarizes the paper. One can utilize the beginning of the next sentence as a great thesis started. The purpose of this paper is to explain all components of writing a formal paper including: title page and running head, body of paper, American Psychological Association (APA) format, and words. Title Page and Running Head The title page is the first page of your formal paper. The title page should contain the title of the paper located in the upper half of the page. Important words should begin with a capital letter. The author’s name should be located on the next line. The title page will also have a running head inserted on the top left side exactly as shown in this example paper. The running head will be a shortened version of your title. Tab over to the right margin and click insert page number in the current position. You will need to insert a plain page number only. Be sure you have checked “different first page” because the header on the rest of your paper will be different. Please see the example on this paper. Body of Paper The body of the paper should be well organized so the reader will be able to understand what the author is trying to say. If the instructor provides you with a rubric of what to put in your paper, direct your paper exactly how the rubric is organized to ensure you receive all points. WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 5 Remember, the rubric is how instructors grade a paper. If you have all components on the rubric, you should do well on the paper. There may be assignments where a rubric is not provided. In this case, you would read your directions very carefully several times. One would ensure every topic or every question has been clearly answered in the body of the paper. Many times it will take at least one paragraph to thoroughly answer a single question or per topic. Make sure your ideas flow well. Do not be scattered in your writing. This shows immaturity in writing skills. APA Format APA is a writing style that most all healthcare professionals use in formal writing. APA format is the writing style you will be required to utilize on all written work turned in while enrolled in the Mississippi University for Women (MUW) Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program. Please take note of how the following acronyms have been written out first and then followed by the acronym in parentheses. The next time the author writes about the MUW RN to BSN program it can be done as shown. Paper Set-up Before the author starts typing a formal paper, one should set the paper up correctly. All papers should be in Times New Roman font with 12-point font size. All margins should be set to 1 inch margins for top, bottom, right, and left. The entire paper should be double spaced. Please use headings as this will help organize the paper. Please refer to how this paper has utilized headings. This paragraph has a level 2 header. Please reference the APA book p. 62 for more assistance on headings. The reference page should be an on a page to itself. Insert a page break at the end of your paper and this will put your reference page where it needs to go. The WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 6 reference page should be double spaced with the same Times New Roman font with a hanging indent. Referencing Referencing is a very important component of formal writing. Appropriate referencing made to information added to the paper will prevent cheating and plagiarism accusations. One will need to have an in-text citation where the information is added and the reference added to the reference list. NU360 Mississippi University Nursing Theory Henderson & Nightingale Paper

This author will provide two different examples of how to correctly cite information within the body of a paper. According to Horntvedt, Nordsteien, Fermann, and Severinsson (2018) student nurses who analyze the health needs of a patient population better understand why evidence based practice is important to their profession. Another way to cite this information is the following sentence. Student nurses who analyze the health needs of a patient population better understand why evidence based practice is important to their profession (Horntvedt, Nordsteien, Fermann, & Severinsson, 2018). The second time you reference this source you would cite it like the following sentence. According to Horntvedt et al. (2018) student nurses who analyze the health needs of a patient population better understand why evidence based practice is important to their profession. The following sentence is another way to site the same sentence when citing this source, a second time in a paper. Student nurses who analyze the health needs of a patient population better understand why evidence based practice is important to their profession (Horntvedt et al., 2018). Please note your APA book pg. 177 for more details on in-text citations. Quotes Quotes are sometimes utilized when an author feels he/she would lose the value or meaning of the sentence if he/she tried to paraphrase. To keep consistency, I am going to use the WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 7 same sentence in the article that I referenced above. You will see how I reworded the text to include the information but did not use the same words. When you use a quote in a formal paper there are special directions to be utilized in order to prevent plagiarism. For a quote less than 40 words please see the following example: “An assignment focusing on analysis of health needs was undertaken to help student nurses gain an understanding of the relevance of evidence based practice” (Horntvedt et al., 2018, p. 7). For quotes greater than 40 words please use the following example: An assignment focusing on analysis of health needs was undertaken to help student nurses gain an understanding of the relevance of evidence based practice. Nursing students were found to require further development of their critical appraisal skills and further improvement of the guidance from both academics and librarians was needed. (Horntvedt et al., 2018, p. 7) I hope you can see the difference in the two quotes. You can reference your APA book on p. 170 for more details regarding quoting. One more important point regarding quoting: A paper does not need quotes to be great. In fact, the less quotes the better. A formal paper in our program should have no more than one quote. Words There are many rules of writing one must follow to be an expert in APA format. I will share a few of these with you, but this is by no means a comprehensive list of rules. These are a few quick reminders for common mistakes. Do not use contractions in a formal paper. Always write out the words. Do not put personal pronouns such as: I, you, he, she, it, we, they in a formal paper unless special permission is given. For example, some papers want your opinion and that would be difficult without saying “I”. Subjects and verbs must agree. For example, WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 8 please note the following sentences. The cats has food. The cat have food. Correct version: the cats have food. The cat has food. Please do not say, “Us nurses”. That does not sound professional. When to use and not use a comma will be found in your APA book p. 88. Numbers are another point to note. Please refer to the APA book p. 111. This will help to know when to write out the number six or use the numeral 12. Conclusion In conclusion, every paper should have a short conclusion. This paragraph should never introduce a new idea. This paper should only conclude the points of discussion in the body of the paper. We have covered several topics in writing a formal paper. This paper is not perfect, but a great example to follow. Please refer to the APA book for more details on formal writing. WRITE A FORMAL PAPER 9 Reference Author, A. B. (date). Title of article. Name of Journal, Volume#, pages. doi as provided. Author, A. B., & Author, C. D. (date). Title of article. Name of Journal, Volume#, pages. doi as provided. Horntvedt, M. T., Nordsteien, A., Fermann, T., & Severinsson, E. (2018). Strategies for teaching evidence-based practice in nursing education: A thematic literature review. BMC Medical Education, 18(1), 172. …