Research Paper - Literature Review (APA 7th edition)

Note that there is no heading that says Introduction. The paragraph or two that follows the title on the first page of your text is assumed to be your introduction. Your introduction follows the title of your paper (note that the title is bolded). You should start your introduction with a powerful statement or two to stimulate interest. You should identify the purpose of your paper. Remember that formal papers are in third person, so no I, me, we except in specified areas. The introduction should include the purpose of the project and the Methods.

Significance of the Practice Problem

Start this section with identification of the practice problem. This section should also answer the question “why is this important?” You should address the significance to the patient/client (e.g., pain, suffering, quality of life, impact on income potential, etc.), the family, healthcare system (e.g., impact on cost or delivery systems), and society (e.g., cost of care, need for healthcare policy). Discuss the incidence and/or prevalence and include the financial impact if possible. You might discuss the impact on length of stay, readmission, home health care requirements, disability and/or mortality. Also, you should address any quality, safety, legal, and ethical implications. This discussion must be substantiated by citations from professional literature.

Research Question

This section should include your research question , but also should include the three objectives that will assist you to answer your question. This section contains your operational definitions of the variables in the question. If you use definitions from the literature, be sure to cite them.

Theoretical Framework

This section should include the theoretical framework that supports your MSN Project. Describe the theory or model that served as the foundation for your project. This may be a nursing theory or a theory from another discipline if pertinent and applicable.

Synthesis of the Literature

Synthesize at least 30 primary research studies (15 during NURS 502 & 15 during NURS503) and/or systematic reviews; do not include summary articles. This section is all about the scientific evidence rather than someone else’s opinion of the evidence. Do not use secondary sources; you need to get the article, read it, and make your own decision about quality and applicability to your question even if you did find out about the study in a review of the literature. The studies that you cite in this section must relate directly to your research question. This is a synthesis rather than a study-by-study review. Address the similarities, differences, and controversies in the body of evidence.

Practice Recommendations

So. . . using available evidence, what is the answer to your question? This section is for you to summarize the strength of the body of evidence (quality, quantity, and consistency), make a summary statement, and based on your conclusions drawn from the review, give a recommendation for practice change based on scientific evidence. This would logically be the intervention of your PICOT question. You might want to design an algorithm and include it in as a figure. Perhaps you found substantiation for usual practice, and you recommend reinforcement and education regarding this best practice.

Project Description

Describe the form that the literature review will carry out, how many articles, and how many years old. Add the websites that you will research for the search of articles, keywords that you will use for your search

Here you should include the impact that your research will have. It must also include that it will be kept for 5 years in a locked office of the home of the principal investigator, and that after that time has elapsed, it will be destroyed.

This section may be in first person.

Project Evaluation Results

This section must include how you will evaluate the planned change project. Remember that you must have evaluated the outcome(s) identified in your PICOT question

Here you should mention the tables A and B that you will use for the evaluation of the results of your literature review. Describe each of the tables (A & B) that are at the end of the template . Tables and Figures should follow the References

This section may be in first person.

Discussion and Implications for Nursing and Healthcare

Discuss the conclusions you can make from the project evaluation results: review and answer your PICOT question. Examine, interpret, and qualify the results. Discuss internal validity and limitations of the project evaluation. Take into account sources of potential bias and other threats to internal validity, the imprecision of measures, and other limitations and weaknesses of the evaluation (adapted from APA, 2010, p. 35).

Describe the implications of your project and the project evaluation on nursing practice and healthcare. Do not overstate the significance. Identify the impact on the appropriate microsystem. Include any recommendations you have as a result of this project and project evaluation. Also, include what you might recommend with replication of this project and project evaluation and your potential next steps for this practice problem.

Plans for Dissemination

This section should include your plan for sharing the results of your project within the institution and within the professional community. Discuss who you invited to the presentation of results at the institution and how you presented the information. Describe the response of stakeholders to your presentation and about the potential for sustainability. Also, discuss your plans for presentation at regional or national meetings and/or publication. If publication is planned, discuss what journal you will submit your manuscript to and why. The dissemination must be among the classmates with a PowerPoint presentation; a poster with a brief summary of project plan, evaluation, and results to be exposed in the hall at Ana G Mendez, SFC; and a hard copy to be left at the library to be reviewed for those students of facilitators interested in the topic.

This section may be in first person.

Summary and Conclusion

The conclusion should start with a statement regarding the intent of the paper and your achievement toward that intention. Remember that the introduction is a preview, and this section should contain a summary.

When completed your summary and conclusion, do not include a categorical conclusion, which means, that you should not mention the results of your literature review, otherwise, this would give the impression that your project has ended. It must include the importance of what has been reviewed so far, and the need to finalize the literature review in order to have a more conclusive result.

References

Remember that this is a reference list rather than a bibliography. A bibliography is everything you read to prepare the paper but a reference list is only what you cited. If there is not a citation for a reference, it should not be here. PLEASE make sure that your references here and your citations throughout the paper are in APA format. Take the time to make sure that they are correct. We have already formatted the paper for you with this template.

Figure 1

Figures included here are most likely going to be figures illustrating your data analysis.

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Appendix A

NOTE: Order these appendices in the order in which they were referred to in the paper.

Summary of Primary Research Evidence (this table may be single space)

Legend:

Level I: systematic reviews or meta-analysis Level II:  well-designed Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)  Level III:  well-designed controlled trials without randomization, quasi-experimental  Level IV:  well-designed case-control and cohort studies  Level V: systematic reviews of descriptive and qualitative studies  Level VI:  single descriptive or qualitative study  Level VII: opinion of authorities and/or reports of expert committees

Appendix B

Summary of Systematic Reviews (SR) (this table may be single space)

Legend:

Level I: systematic reviews or meta-analysis Level II:  well-designed Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)  Level III:  well-designed controlled trials without randomization, quasi-experimental  Level IV:  well-designed case-control and cohort studies  Level V: systematic reviews of descriptive and qualitative studies  Level VI:  single descriptive or qualitative study  Level VII: opinion of authorities and/or reports of expert committees