How to Write a Nursing Research Paper

How to Write a Good Nursing Research Paper?

Nurses are the backbone of healthcare. Without them, doctors would have serious challenges serving patients. These professionals bridge patients with doctors and often use written communication to convey messages to doctors. Thus, nursing students need to master written communication.

Nursing students may sharpen their written skills by composing a nursing research paper. While some students have more polished written skills, any nursing professional can hone theirs. This post shares insights to help you develop your written communication and compose academic assignments in nursing. Keep reading below to learn and benefit from these nursing research paper guidelines.

What Is a Nursing Research Paper?

We need to define a nursing research paper before examining more details on how to draft it better. A nursing research paper is a thesis-controlled academic assignment drafted with a particular nursing-related topic in mind. This topic can be a student’s preferred choice or one a professor assigns. You must write this piece by providing supporting evidence.

Practicing nurses undertaking clinical practice or research may also be required to write this type of assignment. The writing process follows systematic research that explores specific facts, applies nursing theories, and allows the researcher to draw original, valuable conclusions. A nursing paper can be of any length, ranging from five pages to 10+ pages.

How to Start a Nursing Research Paper?

How you start this assignment matters a lot. This section discusses guidelines to help you begin the composition process on the right footing. First, you must understand the instructor’s prompt and guidelines, including styling requirements. Second, ask your professor for clarification if you don’t understand anything before starting. It’s better to ask twice or thrice and do the right thing than to assume you know everything and miss the mark.

Third, always start the process immediately after clarifying the prompt. Postponing the home task reduces the time you need to do a good job and sets you up against a tight deadline. Remember, people are more prone to errors when rushing through things than when doing them with ample time. Below are valuable tips to start you off.

• Brainstorm and polish your topic. Since you are sure of what you must do, go ahead and brainstorm a topic if the instructor didn’t provide one.
• Research your topic. As you know what you want to write about, proceed and research the subject with the best online and offline sources.
• Draft a punchy thesis statement. Develop a powerful thesis to guide your writing and serve as your strategic guidepost.
• Since you have your primary argument, outline your piece to know where to place the thoughts you researched.
• Start writing. Finally, get down to the composition without worrying about imperfections because you will eliminate them during editing.

How to Structure a Nursing Research Paper?

Understanding correct structuring is essential to your quest on how to write a policy paper for a nurse. Your instructor will give you their preferred formatting and styling requirements. Below is a basic format to follow.

1. Cover Page. Start with a cover page containing your name, course number, instructor’s name, and the deadline date, centered at the paper’s top.
2. Abstract. Draft a concise summary of your paper to inform readers about its topic, significance, and key points.
3. Introduction. Commence the assignment’s introduction with a clear and compelling statement of your preferred topic.
4. Body. This section is your assignment’s gist, where you present your primary research findings. It gives readers full information about your topic to help them understand it better. It also features various perspectives on the issue and analyzes your data.
5. Results. This section shares the insights and conclusions your research has led you to. It discusses any shifts in your perspective while working on the project.
6. Discussion. This part concludes the paper with a comprehensive summary of your topic and findings. You may end with thought-provoking questions or urge readers to research the subject further.

How to End a Nursing Research Paper?

Correct ending is another element to consider when you want to fully understand how to write a policy paper for a nurse. This final stage wraps up your insights and arguments. Crafting a perfect ending requires the following steps:

• Revisit your thesis statement. Start by restating your thesis to reinforce your paper’s central message.
• Summarize key points. You also need to recap the main points you discussed in the paper’s body.
• Underscore your main argument. This section also reaffirms your study’s significance and your paper’s overall message. It discusses why your findings matter in a broader context.
• Offer a thoughtful reflection. Your paper’s parting short also shares your personal reflections or insights about the topic. It shows readers how your understanding improved during research and if you discovered any unexpected findings.
• End impactfully. You may finalize your nursing assignment with a potent closing remark. Additionally, you may leave readers with thought-provoking messages, a reflection on your topic’s broader implications, or a call to action.

Nursing Research Paper Outline

Outlining is essential if you want to write excellent research pieces. It’s good to collect materials from reputable sources, but that’s like collecting building materials. Besides thorough research, you need a blueprint that shows you where to place specific ideas. Otherwise, you will be like a builder trying to build a house without an engineering plan.

This section shares guidelines to help you master the art of outlining. Below is a sample outline you can use to compose a great essay.

1. Introduction (with a thesis statement)
2. Main heading/idea of paragraph 1

• Topic sentence
• Supporting detail 1.
• Supporting detail 2.
• Interpretation of data and transition to the next paragraph.

III. Main heading/idea of paragraph 2

• Topic sentence
• Supporting detail 1.
• Supporting detail 2.
• Interpretation of data and transition to the next paragraph.

1. Main heading/idea of paragraph 3

• Topic sentence
• Supporting detail 1.
• Supporting detail 2.
• Interpretation of data and transition to the next paragraph.

1. Conclusion

If possible, every paragraph should contain approximately the same number of words. Depending upon how you organized your outline, write your paper directly from your outlined structure.

Nursing Research Paper Introduction

Your nursing paper requires a punchy introduction. This section is your opening point that determines if readers will want to read your paper or not. It’s your only chance to make a lasting first impression. Inversely, a poor introduction disorients and confuses readers, forcing them to log out of your paper.

A good introduction serves the following five purposes.

• Grabs the reader’s attention.
• Introduces your topic.
• Presents your thesis statement.
• Explains your study’s relevance.
• Outlines your research’s main points.

So, how do you write a nursing paper that achieves these goals? Below are tips to inspire your writing.

Introduce the Topic

You must start by introducing your topic to show the reader what it is and why it matters. Emphasizing your study’s importance and highlighting its benefits is a good start that showcases why your topic matters. This way, the reader focuses on the paper’s positives from the onset.

Also, it must interest the reader and hook them to your paper. You may make the intro more engaging by introducing it with a thought-provoking question, stats, or a popular quotation.

Set the Background

Setting your paper’s background differs depending on its nature. For instance, an empirical paper can offer an overview of relevant previous studies on the topic and show how your study differs from its predecessors. In this case, you can expose any gaps or limitations in previous research and how you intend to fill them, if possible. This way, you show the reader that you know what others have done in that field.

If your paper is argumentative, you may narrow down its topic and provide a general background to establish its context. However, don’t place everything here because you have an entire body section to argue your case.

State the Research Problem

Your intro should also state your research problem or question to show readers how your contribution addresses it. You may demonstrate how your research fills gaps in previous studies by addressing the same topic from a different angle.

Specify the Paper’s Objectives

Your introduction must also show what you want to achieve in research. You can do this by presenting a thesis statement or proposing a research question with a hypothesis. When drafting a thesis statement, keep in mind it should range between one and three sentences and must only state your stand on the topic with particular arguments.

Outline the Paper’s Structure

The last part of your introduction gives readers a brief project overview. You should describe the paper’s structure to make it easier for readers to understand its flow. Additionally, you may highlight the important points you wish to make. Offering an outline here is vital, especially if your research paper doesn’t follow the traditional intro, body, and conclusion structure.

Cite the Sources

Remember to cite all the sources you referred to in the introduction. Otherwise, you might end up in hot soup and stand accused of accidental plagiarism. Ensure to cite the sources using your tutor’s preferred style.

Nursing Research Paper Body

Your nursing paper should include a body section where you give readers the gist of what you promised them. Here, you offer full details, present your research, and analyze your findings. Below are ideas to help you create engaging body sections for your research paper.

• Structure your ideas. You must organize your paper into sections or paragraphs, each addressing a specific topic element.
• Support with evidence. You need to back up your arguments with credible evidence, like data, research findings, or expert opinions. This way, you make your work look and sound more credible because you expose readers to a wider thought pool from other respected scholars and contributors.
• Offer diverse perspectives. Your body section must also acknowledge and explore different viewpoints on your topic. It would be best to show the readers the thoughts that support your thesis and those that oppose it. However, you can nullify the opposing ideas by showing how your thesis holds out against them.
• Utilize engaging examples. You also need to make your paper more relatable, authoritative, and practical by using relevant examples. This way, you show readers that your ideas aren’t utopian but have a huge impact in real life.
• Pose thought-provoking questions. While your paper seeks to answer a research question, posing thought-provoking questions is one way of making that process more engaging. These questions make your readers think critically about your contributions and the topic at large.

Nursing Research Paper Conclusion

The conclusion is your paper’s last puzzle piece and the grand finale of a long discovery journey. Here, you finally step back, satisfied that you finally got what you sought. However, a great conclusion isn’t a mere summary. Instead, it reflects the entire research process and offers you a chance to evaluate your methodology’s shortcomings and strengths. It may also offer suggestions for future research into the subject.

So, how do you compose a conclusion that doesn’t give your assignment an anticlimax? Below are ideas to help you do it and a sample conclusion outline.

• Summarize your main findings. Include all significant results or discoveries your research made in the final concise wrap-up.
• Rephrase the research question/problem. Restate your thesis statement and show whether you achieved its objective or not.
• Discuss the findings’ implications. It’s the right place to explain why they matter. You may include any practical applications or theoretical implications.
• Acknowledge limitations and recommend future research. Your conclusion should admit any methodological shortcomings of the study. It must also suggest future studies into gray areas needing further investigation.
• Wind up with a concluding statement. Finalize the paper with a statement that connects all the main ideas of the conclusion research paper and underscores their importance.

APA Format for a Nursing Paper

How to write a nursing research paper in APA format? Formatting your nursing assignment in APA isn’t difficult. Below is the general format your article will have.

• A title page formatted in the APA style
• Running head and page numbers.
• Double-spaced text.
• 1-inch margins on all sides.
• Times New Roman 12-point font.
• Headings (according to your instructor’s guidelines).
• Citations.
• Reference page.
• Left-aligned text.

Bottom Line

The little secrets are out, and you, too, can write excellent nursing papers. What’s next? The ball is in your court to apply the insights we shared in this post to improve your writing. We hope to see you at the top of the game, enjoying excellent grades in your future nursing assignments.