apa format for article review

apa format for article review

APA format for article review

1. Introduction

This paper provides a structured summary of the article “Nursing Minimum Data Set for a Family Healthcare Centre”, focusing on the sections that are relevant to a psychiatric nurse working in the family healthcare centre. Using the framework of evidence-based practice, this paper will address the following growth points: the need for further research using varied methodologies in the FAMHC setting, utilization of a classification system that supports patient care and nursing administration, and ways in which the NMDS can guide the nurse toward better care and improved outcomes. The NMDS research article, with its emphasis on improving patient outcomes, supporting nursing care and administration, and its potential to guide practice, is relevant to all nurses who seek to influence the quality of care through evidence-based practice. This paper will clarify the connection between the NMDS and psychiatric nursing practice in a FAMHC and will provide direction for further research on this topic. The intent of this paper is to inform and interpret. In doing so, the author of this paper has chosen to use an academic critique style to give the reader a detailed understanding of the NMDS research article: its purpose, how it relates to the clients and types of care in a FAMHC, and its relevance and applicability to the field of psychiatric-mental health nursing. By making these connections and providing a framework for how the NMDS can guide the psychiatric nurse to improve care and outcomes for the mentally ill, it is hoped that there is an increased understanding of the importance of the NMDS in all nursing traditions. Moreover, it is desired that this paper will inspire other nurses to do comparative work with the NMDS and other classification systems to aim to improve the health and quality of life for patients and families.

2. Summary of the article

The study hence aims to find out if writing within a structured writing journal will allow their students to shift the level of PLOC and in turn, promote academic attainment. Eighty-six undergraduate sports studies students from a post 92 academic institute were allocated to two groups taking identical modules within the programme of study. The treatment group took part in a 6-week writing intervention in which they wrote a structured diary on their learning and sporting experiences. The diary entries were written in a booklet provided and were to be completed within their own time within the six-week intervention. The control group was asked to take part in their usual practice requiring no additional diary writing. All students completed a PLOC measure at the start and end of the 6-week intervention. The treatment group continued to write in their diaries for an extra two weeks in which they were asked to reflect back upon their diary entries and evaluate their experiences before completing a PLOC measure and semi-structured interview. At the end of the academic year all students’ academic grades were recorded. Findings within the study suggest that the writing intervention allowed students to shift levels of PLOC. Quantitative analysis of the PLOC measure at the start and end of the intervention illustrated a significant increase in intrinsic motivation and a significant decrease in amotivation for the treatment group whilst the control group were significantly lower in identified regulation and significantly higher in amotivation. An interaction effect showed that the more the students engaged with their diary, the greater the increase in intrinsic motivation. Additional analysis of the experimental groups PLOC scores in relation to their academic grades suggested that a higher state of intrinsic motivation at the end of the intervention was associated with higher academic grades. Interview data provided supporting evidence for the above findings. The treatment groups’ final reflections upon their diary entries indicated an increase in self-determined behaviour, enjoyable experiences, value and importance in their learning and sporting experiences. Data collected from an on-task cognition thought listing exercise suggested that cognitive engagement with the writing task allowed the students to gain a clearer understanding of their experiences.

3. Evaluation of the article

The hypothetical arguments themselves do have face validity, unfortunately, they are often based on traits of the Enneagram types that are not universally accepted. One must remember that the Enneagram is a dynamic system, traits are just a generalization of behaviors caused by a certain motivation. People of the same type can have different behaviors in different situations. This is another issue the authors did not address. They assumed that the traits each type has are very pronounced, this may or may not be the case. It would be unclear if the hypotheses in this paper would apply only to people with strong Enneagram types.

The major flaw of the argument is that there simply isn’t enough evidence to support the relationship between the Enneagram and self-deceit. The authors rely heavily on hypothetical scenarios to make their point. Hypothetical arguments are useful when there is no real way to study a particular issue. Certainly using rats to test cognitive dissonance would have been unethical. In this case, however, the authors could have easily included a survey and a number of Enneagram tests to measure if people higher in certain traits are more likely to use self-deception to cope with cognitive dissonance. Had this been done, readers would have a much easier time accepting the theory supported by this paper.

4. Conclusion

One vital step in an article reviewing the literature is that after identifying, collecting, and sorting the collected data, the author must be able to bring it all together by drawing upon the knowledge the data has provided. This is serving the purpose of not only lending new insights to the readers, but also coming to know what the author has learned through his review of the literature. This is usually carried out with an informal preliminary analysis of the data where the author employs mental synopses of the data to detect any trends, patterns, inconsistencies, or missing parts of information. This method is helpful in linking to the next step in drawing conclusive lines from the analysis. The ability to discover patterns and links between the data is a key element of expert data analysis, which is best demonstrated by translating the analysis into an argument or discussion of the data’s implications towards the subject at hand. This will then set the platform for an effective drawing of conclusions that are both clear and current. At which point it is a good idea to take a break, for the conclusive determination of the data can often be clouded and biased if the author does not take some time to allow it all to sink in. The final step is to verify the conclusion by comparing it to a very precise knowledge of the data sum and focusing on the relevancy to the subject of the article. This involves continuous iterative efforts to interpret and reinterpret the findings and looking for alternative interpretations. The ability to detect the uncertainty and gaps in the analysis are what lead to the future research directions on the topic. This entire process should be a conscientious effort to make conclusions as unobtrusive as possible, letting the data itself point the way. At paragraph and sentence levels, the inferences should be clear and indicated by the terms “so” and “thus” with a summary of the main points that have been derived from the analysis. This is the most effective way of concluding the article and linking it back to the introduction.

The aim of this article was to present an account of a review article, its purpose, its structure, its process, and its conclusion which is in the form of a critical analysis. The article begins with identifying the characteristics of a review article, it then explores the purpose and the structure of a review article. Emphasis is placed on the quality of the data and expert synthesis of the data into a well-formulated conclusion. This involves the exercising of the author’s effective writing and critical thinking skills.

5. References

Following the review, it is essential that thorough documentation of resources is achieved through the utilization of a referencing system. Using APA referencing will ensure high standards of academic integrity, to avoid issues of plagiarism that may arise. In this instance, the review has demonstrated the use of double quotation marks for direct quotes, so within an in-text citation, the author’s surname, the date of publication, and the page number are all that is required. This information is placed in brackets at the end of the quote. References are then listed in alphabetical order and are double spaced. There are a variety of resources that APA can legitimately reference. The most commonly known is referencing printed books or journal articles where the author(s) provide the name of the author and the year of publication just after the quote/paraphrase. If there is a direct quote, the page number is also provided. A title is then placed for the reference followed by the first letter of the first word in capital letters, then the remaining of the title in lowercase in italics. The title is then followed by format in square brackets e.g. [online] or [cd-rom] and the link/reference to where the reader can access the resource. Printed journal articles are similar where the author(s) name is followed by the date of publication and then the title of the article. The title of the journal and the volume in italics are then provided, followed by the issue number in brackets and finally the page range. The reference for an online journal is the same as a printed journal, but with the added URL and date of retrieval in <> and . Full details can be located in the APA manual discussing the in-text citation of a multitude of resources, and the same again for referencing the resource in the final list. APA has also provided an online tutorial for students.