The following is a list of general guidelines for the course paper:
-Submit your topic for approval by writing your first module paper.
-The paper should be 10 pages in length, double-spaced. It must be typed
with 1″margins on all sides and 10 or 12 sized font. If the font size is larger, this
will be considered in counting the final number of pages.
-A minimum of 12-15 journal articles must be used – that is, these articles must be empirical/data based on peer-reviewed, reputable journals. It is strongly advised that students begin seeking these articles early in the semester because the library may have to obtain these article via inter-library loan. You must have hard copies or electronic copies of these articles and not simply read the abstract. Please note that websites and popular press books and article are not appropriate sources to include in your literature review. Also, please use secondary resources, such as books, sparingly. Websites are not appropriate for research papers.
-APA citation format must be used. It is your responsibility as part of the course requirements to learn this citation format.
-Proofread your paper several times as all final papers will be considered final
form and grade reductions will be made for spelling, grammar, and typos.
-There should be NO empty gaps of space!!!
-Please use all headings and subheadings listed below.
General Outline for Course Paper:
1.Title Page Your name(s)
2.Abstract (100 words or less)
3.Introduction: Clearly state the topic of the paper and why it is important to health care
professionals.
a.Statement of the Problem: Why are you researching this topic? And, why is it important that these questions be answered?
b.Literature Review: Explore all relevant research in detail. This should be the most extensive section of your paper and should involve exploring topic by topic rather than article by article (i.e. integrate topics rather than discussing each article separately).
c.Summary: Briefly summarize your overall research and what you think about it all. This section is the transition into the next section.
Methodology: If you were to design a study that would attempt to answer these research questions. What would that study look like and involve?
a.Subjects: Who would the subjects be, and where would you get them?
b.Instrumentation: What would you use to collect your data?
Procedures: Systematically, describe what would be involved in carrying out this study.
5.Results: Describe how you would attempt to analyze your data. The trick here is to answer your research question(s).
6.Discussion
Implications and Conclusions: What questions about this topic remain unanswered? And, what practical application do you see in this research? In other words, what have you learned about this topic from the perspective of how this information might influence practices as a health care professional.
b.Limitations: What problems did you see with the research? This includes methodological issues such as internal and external validity as well as practical and practitioner-based issues.
c.Suggestions for Future Research: Where does this leave us? What further research needs to be done to answer these unanswered questions? How does this compare to your literature review (provide citations).
References
