Find 3 professional journal articles on your topic of choice. Try to find articles with differing viewpoints, for example promoting circumcision, or stating that circumcision is not necessary. Compare and contrast. Alternatively, seek different perspectives on the topic such as nursing point of view, patient experience point of view. The articles must be from professional, peer-reviewed journals. It should have been written in the last 5 years unless you cannot find anything in that time frame on your topic of interest. Nursing focus is preferred, but medical is ok if your topic does not have a nursing article on it.
Writing the paper:
- Proper APA format and nursing school paper format are expected with title page, running head, etc. The body of the paper (not counting title or reference page) should be 2-4 pages in length.
- Your paper must include:
- An introductory paragraph introducing your theme and what question(s) you wanted answered in the articles you read.
- For each article, write one paragraph summarizing the main points of the article-why did the authors write it? Are they asking a research question? Are they reviewing the most current information? Put the article citation BEFORE the paragraph (see sample paper below). As you have given the article citation at the beginning of the paragraph referring to it, you do not have to cite the article again in text. If you add information from another source, then cite it.
- The second part of the paper is about your opinion on the topic. For example, if you are reading articles on circumcision, or placentophagy (consuming the placenta in some way), does the information in the articles influence or reinforce your opinion about the topic?
- The third part: How will the information affect your nursing practice?
- APA format: The paper section header should be specific to your topic. Examples:
First section: “Benefits and Risks of Consuming a Human Placenta” (Topic summarized)
Second section: “Personal Opinion on Benefits of Consuming Encapsulated Placenta”
Third section: “Influence of Research on Personal Nursing Practice.”