Nursing research

Group Synthesis: Worth 10% 1. Background 10 pts. 2. Research is summarized & synthesized appropriately 70 pts.

3. Implications for nursing practice discussed 10 pts.

4. Questions remaining 10 pts. Total 100 pts.

Discretionary points will be deducted for APA formatting, spelling, and grammar errors.

From Syllabus: Each student will participate in a group of three to four. The articles and selected for the critiques must be in the same subject. The students will then synthesize their critiqued articles into a review of literature and implications for practice.

1. State the background of the problem. Tell the reader why we should care about this

issue. You may briefly cite the articles’ reviews of literature for this part of the paper. (In a true review of literature you would need to actually go to the original sources, but let’s try to keep things in perspective.)

2. Summarize the research articles you have critiqued including their findings. You should have six to eight articles now, so it would be helpful to include a table, chart, or visual representation of the articles. Synthesize the articles, i.e. weave them together, discuss how they fit, how they contradict, how they paint a picture of reality. Include their limitations.

3. Discuss the implications for practice from this research. Do the results of these studies support changing our practice at this time or do the limitations of the studies prevent their use?

4. Discuss the questions that remain unanswered. Identify areas for further study. Identify pitfalls to avoid or things that should be considered when conducting research on this topic.

Tips for group projects

1. Start yesterday. You’ve already done most of the legwork. Now all you need to do is the

brain work. 2. Divide the tasks and set deadlines. Have a backup plan in case of unexpected

circumstances. 3. One person should be in charge of integrating everyone’s work into the project. The

project should not be Franken-paper (i.e., each part of it having a different writing style, use different terms, or have different syntax and grammar). This person should also be responsible for making sure that APA format is strictly followed.

4. Everyone in the group should proof the final product. Everyone gets the same grade regardless of effort, regardless of “who is at fault”.

Grading Rubric CRITERIA Excellent (4) Good (3) Fair (2) Poor (1) Not Demonstrated

(0) Weighting

Content

*Clear language *Information is accurate and thorough *Sufficient and accurate supporting information * Main idea is clearly stated

*Language used is mostly clear *Information is accurate and fairly thorough *Sufficient and accurate supporting information * Main idea is clearly stated

*Language used is not very clear *Information is inaccurate or not thorough *Supporting information is insufficient but mostly accurate * Main idea is not clearly stated

*There are many issues with language usage *Information is inaccurate or not thorough *Supporting information is insufficient or inaccurate * Main idea is not clearly stated

*The assignment was not completed *The assignment is poorly written, and the information used is inaccurate and insufficient * There is no attempt to address main idea *The language used was inappropriate

50%

Organization

* Well-organized; appropriate flow * No citation errors * Appropriate length * No format errors

* Good organization and flow * Few citation errors * Appropriate length * Few format errors

* There are issues with the organization and flow * There are a few citation errors * The length is not appropriate * There are a few format errors

* There are issues with the organization and flow * There are many citation errors * The length is not appropriate * There are many format errors

*The assignment was not completed *The assignment is not organized in any way; formatting is incorrect * Proper citations were not used

30%

Mechanics

No spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors

Spelling, grammar, or punctuation are mostly error-free

A few spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors

Many spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors

*The assignment was not completed *The assignment is full of spelling, grammar, or punctuation errors

20%

100%