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The convention of a structure is used in the article by Papastavrou, Efstathiou, and Andreou. Structure keeps the article organized and easy to read. Nursing articles usually use APA citation style for the structure. APA style format includes sections in the following order: abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion, conclusion, and references. Since the article written by Papastavrou et al. was a nursing research study, the authors used APA style to organize their findings of the study. The organization allowed readers to find the information provided understandable and well organized. The authors structured their study in APA format using APA’s order beginning with an abstract and concluding with references. APA format requires an introduction section of an article to introduce the problem under study. Similarly, in the introduction section of Papastavrou’s et al. article, authors included the main purpose of the study and importance of the information provided. It explained why dignity is being studied stating that it was a problem in hospital life, as in the following claim: “patient dignity has been the subject of considerable debate” (Papastavrou, Efstathiou, and Andreou, 2016, p. 93). It also explains the meaning of dignity in order for readers to have the same understanding of this term as authors have. According to Papastavrou et al. dignity is described as “respect, protecting privacy, emotional support, treating all patients equally and maintaining body image” (p. 94). This determination helps the readers understand the operational definition of dignity. Therefore, the reader will be able to use the term, dignity, same way authors are using it in the article. The next quote gives an explanation of the importance of dignity behind the hospital’s walls. “Respect of human dignity … is conceived as an essential component and is acknowledged as a core attribute of nursing care” (p. 93). The authors have used those examples in order to make a reader believe that dignity is something that a nurse should take care of in healthcare settings. They state that nurses should know what dignity is and should use it properly toward their patients. Also, the authors referred to different countries, such as United States, Australia, Asian countries, and Canada, as an example for patient dignity during nursing care (p. 94). This reference allowed the authors to prove that this topic is important not only at one particular place but in many countries. The introduction was structured in a way to make the reader understand the meaning and importance of dignity.

Going farther into the article, Papastavrou, Efstathiou, and Andreou (2016) structured a step by step explanation of their study. This is included in the method section. Then structure continues into the findings section where the results of their study are explained. Further, the authors continue their ideas by describing and analyzing research results and earlier studies. At the end, the conclusion is provided to explain the further reactions of this particular research. They specified how the information provided by them will be useful in future studies and in future nursing life. A short report to submit to the “Directory of Nursing Services in Cyprus” (p. 101) was created in order to improve everyone’s dignity inside the hospital. Throughout the article, authors tried to convince readers that nurses should change their attitude towards patients. They have provided claims that patient dignity is important but based on their findings nurses promote it poorly to the patients. The APA structure of the research article used by authors helps the readers understand what the authors wanted them to know in a more powerful way.

So far, the genre convention of structure was described in the paper. The second powerful genre convention used by authors in this academic research article is a convention of references. At the very end of the paper, as usually used in the APA format journal articles, authors listed many references they have referred to in the text. The list of references includes articles authors used to refer throughout the text. Those are the sources that have studied similar topic as discussed in the article by Papastavrou, Efstathiou, and Andreou. Authors are referencing different articles in order to check how their study relates to earlier findings. Mostly, different sources are used in the introduction and discussion sections of Papastavrou et al. article. Those are the two places where they explain the importance of patient dignity and discuss their observations from the study they have created. In the discussion section Papastavrou et al. (2016) stated “Students recognized the vulnerability of some patients to dignity loss, supporting Baillie and Gallagher’s and Jacobson’s findings” (p. 100). Using Baillie and Gallagher’s and Jacobson’s study, authors pointed out that the students were talking about the same thing what other researchers have talked about; therefore their own study is supported by the earlier study. Also, the above quote allows the reader to see the picture of a poor nurses’ behavior towards patients. With the picture in mind and referenced study, the reader will have a clear understanding of poor nursing promotion of patient dignity and believe the finding.

Throughout the discussion section, there are repetitions used by authors. Such repetitions are the phrases which are used to announce the usage of information from the previous study. The examples are: “in previous studies”, “a number of cases stated that”, “supported by”, “that is in line and supports previous studies”, “this are different from the literature supporting that”, and “this has not been previously studied” (Papastavrou et al., 2016, p. 99-10). Listed phrases help authors to point out that they are using not only their own finding of their study to illustrate how nurses promote dignity toward patients, but yet use support from different other sources.

To make the study more credible or significant, the authors referenced organizations and famous people. In the introduction paragraph, they wrote that “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides a legal framework for the Member States of the United Nations, supporting dignity as a fundamental human right” (Papastavrou et al., 2016, p. 93). Reading this particular statement most of the readers would agree on the definition of dignity because the Declaration of Human Rights has established its importance. Even if the reader would not be familiar with The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they would still believe the claim made by Papastavrou et al. because the name suggests that those rights are to protect people in everyday life. Going farther into the article, the authors present “Contemporary nursing philosophical accounts of dignity” (p. 93) and “Standards of nursing practice” (p. 100). Those references helped writers to illustrate what are the norms nurses should follow in order to correctly promote patient’s dignity. They also provide the explanation about the importance of dignity in the hospitals. Giving more support for the importance of dignity, in the introduction section of the paper writers went back in time and referred to “the Ancient Greek and specifically … Aristotle’s philosophy and Sophocles’ tragedy ‘Antigone’” (p. 93) to give a greater acknowledgment for their study. Referencing to Ancient Greek Aristotle and Sophocles will give a credit to the article since they are very famous in the philosophical thinking. Referring to earlier studies, human rights organizations and great thinkers led the authors to their finishing point of achieving their main goal of the study. This way, the reader of the article will be able to understand how nurses promote patient dignity and why it is important to have a great dignity in the hospitals.

In the process of writing the article, authors Papastavrou, Efstathiou, and Andreou have used two genre conventions in order to identify how nurses promote patient dignity and the importance of dignity in the hospitals. The genre conventions used by writers are structure and reference. While reading any scholarly article it is important to know how the authors write in a particular discipline. Each discipline uses a particular genre style in writing. For example, Papastavrou’s et al. (2016) article described above is writing in the discipline of nursing. Understanding genre conventions used in the discipline of nursing is beneficial in a way that it gives a reader an easier path of identifying information given by authors. A convention of structure allows skimming over the information a reader is most interested in or need to know. References proclaim the credibility of the article. If no or little-referenced sources are used in the discussion, there is a great chance of having poor evidence and low credibility. Genre analysis is useful because it provides the readers with knowledge of genres that are used in the particular discipline.

References

Papastavrou, E. , Efstathiou, G. , & Andreou, C. (2016). Nursing students’ perceptions of patient dignity. Nursing Ethics, 23(1), 92-103