Dr Donna Hallas

Harriet R Feldman

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80 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006
A Guide to 
Scholarly Writing 
in Nursing
By Dr. Donna Hallas and Dr. Harriet R. Feldman 
Your assignment: Write a scholarly paper for a nursing course. What is your reaction?
Panic!? Confusion? A need to get prepared! Most nursing students ask the following
questions: “What is considered scholarly writing style?” “What should be included in
the paper?” “Where do I find references?” “What references are appropriate?” “How are
references cited?” “How should the paper be typed?” “Why do I need to write papers for
nursing courses anyway?” These questions and anxieties are expressed by nursing stu-
dents across the country, especially since undergraduate and graduate nursing stu-
dents are asked to write scholarly papers throughout their nursing journey. 
Nursing papers are often written using the American Psychological Association (APA)
(2001) style guidelines, and we’ve prepared this article so that you’ll be on your way 
to writing a successful paper. We’ve included information on the APA format, with
examples, so that you’re not only developing your writing skills while at school but 
during your career as a professional nurse.
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NSNA IMPRINT | www.nsna.org 81
Why is it Important for 
Nursing Students to Write 
in a Scholarly Style?
A major purpose for written communication within nursing
is to clearly and concisely document plans-of-care for clients
using the nursing process. The quality of nursing notes and
nursing care plans is often dependent upon a nurse’s ability
to assess the patient and critically develop, analyze, and com-
municate the plan of care. Nursing notes are legal forms of
documentation, and principles related to scholarly writing
usually do not apply to this type of documentation. The abil-
ity to write in a scholarly style, however, is an essential skill
for nursing graduates since written communication in the
form of comprehensive nursing care assessments, case man-
agement, and documentation of nursing policies and practice
is used on a daily basis in all health care settings. 
Writing well is also a prerequisite for the pursuit of graduate
nursing education. In addition, many nursing journals that
keep the nursing community up to date on advances in nurs-
ing practice and policy statements about nursing care and
critical health care issues require the use of APA style (2001). 
How to Do It: Format
Page 1 contains the title of the
article and the author’s name
and affiliation. Complete contact
information for the author who
has been designated to receive
feedback on the paper is neces-
sary for ease of communication
between editor and author. This
typically includes mail, phone, fax and e-mail information.
The abstract is a comprehensive,
brief summary of the entire arti-
cle. It provides accurate informa-
tion about what is contained in
the paper, including the purpose,
results, and conclusions drawn
by the author. Although the
abstract is placed at the begin-
ning of the paper, it is usually
written after body of the paper is completed. According to
APA style (2001), abstracts should be succinct and not exceed
120 words (p. 13).  
The paper begins with an intro-
duction, which is the beginning
of the actual paper, and does
not contain a heading on the
first line. The topic is intro-
duced in a couple of para-
graphs, including information
on why it’s is important and the
relationship of this topic or
study to previous work. The introduction “gives the reader a
firm sense of what was done and why” (APA, 2001, p. 16).  
A literature review is the next
step and includes identifying
current nursing, medical, and
other pertinent journals and
textbooks related to the topic.
An internet search is a very effi-
cient way to search nursing and
medical journals, and general
search engines are also helpful
in finding information relevant to your topic. An important
component of the literature review is a critical analysis of the
ideas in each original article. A literature review lets the read-
er know that the writer has an understanding of the work of
others in the topic of interest. It also serves as a solid founda-
tion for new concepts and original ideas that are presented in
the paper. 
The web is an excellent resource
for conducting a comprehensive
literature review. Most internet
access services such as Yahoo
(www.yahoo.com), Netscape
(www.netscape.com), or
America Online (www.aol.com)
use subject directories to organ-
ize online information. For
example, the words ‘legal issues in nursing’ were typed in
July 2003 into the keyword section of the subject directory.
There were over 38,601 references to this topic. By clicking
onto ‘medical legal issues’ at the bottom of the web page, the
search was narrowed to the American Association of Legal
Nurse Consultants. From this, several relevant web sites and
a few nursing articles could be selected for further inquiry. 
Remember: Literature searches for nursing topics on the web
should be limited to refereed professional nursing or medical 
The Title
Page
The
Abstract
The
Introduction
The
Literature
Review
Searching
the Internet
Levels of Heading 
One Level Centered Upper and Lower Case Headings
Two Levels Centered Upper and Lower Case Heading 
Flush Left, Italicized, Uppercase and Lowercase Side Heading
Three Levels Centered Upper and Lower Case Headings
Flush Left, Italicized, Uppercase and lowercase Side Heading 
Indented, Italicized, lowercase paragraph ending with a period.
Note: Adapted from the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Fifth edition, 2001 by American Psychological Association. 
BACK TO SCHOOL
82 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006
journals. Refereed publications are peer-reviewed and pre-
serve anonymity of the author/s during the review process.
Information in these journals is recognized as scientifically-
based information that can be applied to clinical practice or
theory development in nursing. Other information obtained
on the web must be critically evaluated before use in a litera-
ture review since anyone can publish information on the web
and the information may not be scientifically sound; it may
just reflect an opinion. (Take a look at the information box
for online resources on writing scholarly papers).
Information that follows the lit-
erature review depends on the
type of paper you are writing. If
you are writing a research paper,
the methods, results and discus-
sion of the results follow the
review of the literature. If you
are describing a case study, a
critical analysis of the case follows the literature review. 
Headings and pagination orient
readers to the paper. They help
to organize the document by
introducing various sections of a
paper. For APA style papers,
there are different levels of head-
ings: main headings and sub-
headings. Since there are varia-
tions based on the total number of headings in a given paper,
it is wise to refer to the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (2001) for the distinctions.
Examples of frequently used Level 2 and Level 3 headings are
shown in the table located on page 81.  
Remember these other important stylistic considerations: 
• Margins (1 inch on all sides); 
• Font (12-point Times Roman or Courier); 
• Spacing (double spacing throughout); 
• Alignment (flush left and uneven right margin);
• Paragraph indent (5-7 spaces);
• Pagination (1 inch from upper right corner of every page
beginning with the title page);
• Page header (first 2-3 words of the paper; 5 spaces to the
left of the page number on every page beginning with the
title page). 
Giving Credit
Where it is Due 
Since many ideas, paraphrasing,
and direct quotes come from
specific sources, you will need to
cite those sources when they are
used. Documenting the work of
others is extremely important and the ethical thing to do.
Especially important is that you accurately quote and
acknowledge the works that you use. To represent the work
of others as your own, knowingly or unknowingly, is plagia-
rism. While you may read many articles to help you think
about a topic, you should only cite the sources you have
actually used. The following examples are illustrative only
and do not represent actual publications. 
• There are rules for how to write citations based on whether
they appear as part of the formal structure of a sentence or
not as a formal part of a sentence. For example, “Jones and
Matthews (1998) found ….” is a citation that is integral to
the sentence (part of the formal structure). 
• The following quote is an example of where the citation is
not integral to the sentence: “Reviews of research on widg-
ets and arteries have concluded that some widgets consis-
tently clog arteries (Jonas, Smith, & Martin, 1999; Perkins
& Forrester, 2001).” 
• There are other rules about citations that are important to
note, for example, under what conditions all authors are
listed versus use of a surname and et al. (and others), or
when six or more authors are cited. 
• Additional rules pertain to when it is appropriate to use the
ampersand (&) and how to cite a primary work in a sec-
ondary source, for example, when a book is out of print
and information from that work is cited in another book or
article. This is illustrated in the following: “Jones and
Smythe’s study (as cited in Sutherland & Hall, 1999)….”
Further, there are rules about the use of direct quotes and
when they are imbedded in a paragraph and when they are
separated from the text. (See the Guide to Quotations
below).
References start on their own
page after the body of the paper
and before any tables or figures
if they are used. According to
the Publication Manual of the
APA (2001), the format of a
reference listing is a hanging
indent, which means that the first line of each reference is
flush left and succeeding lines for each are indented.
References are listed alphabetically according to the last
names of first authors. Complete reference information
Types of
Papers
Stylistic
Considerations
Citing the
Works of
Others
References
“
“
A Guide to Quotations 
• Include author, year, page number as part of
the citation
• Quotations of fewer than 40 words: enclose in
quotation marks within the formal structure of
a sentence
r Widgets “were 40%, more useful than
wonks” (Nathan, 2001, p. 82)
• Quotations of 40 or more words
r Do not use quotation marks
r Separate from surrounding text and
indent entire quote, using block format,
5 spaces from left margin
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NSNA IMPRINT | www.nsna.org 83
includes author name/s (last name first and initials of
first/middle name), year of publication, and source refer-
ences, including, title, journal, volume, pages, city of publica-
tion, publisher, depending on whether the reference is a jour-
nal or a book. In general, references used for a nursing paper
should be no more than 5 years old. 
Tables follow the reference list
and figures follow tables in
sequence. Tables have headers
and page numbers; although fig-
ures follow in sequence, they
have neither headers nor page
numbers. 
Each paper should end with a
conclusion or discussion in which
you should summarize the infor-
mation you’ve written about
throughout your paper. 
Accept the challenge of writing
scholarly papers! Remember that
there are lots of resources to get
you started with scholarly writ-
ing using the Publication Manual of the APA (American
Psychological Association, 2001). Write papers throughout
your nursing program that represent your best efforts at criti-
cal thinking. As a graduate nurse, begin by writing papers
(manuscripts) on case studies that you find interesting.
Submit your manuscript to a nursing journal for considera-
tion for publication. Accept the constructive suggestions from
the editors and reviewers and re-submit your manuscript, if
advised to do so. You will feel very proud when your name is
in print for the first time. Ideas for future manuscripts will
become a natural part of your professional career. 
All nurses have the potential to contribute to the scientific
body of knowledge in the nursing profession. We, the nursing
community of scholars, look forward to reading your contri-
butions as they enrich our profession and our careers. ¥
Tables and
Figures 
Donna Hallas, PhD, APRN, BC, CPNP,
is Chair of the Department of Undergraduate 
Studies and an Associate Professor at Pace 
University, Pleasantville, NY. Her research is 
on evidence-based practice involving health 
care outcomes of at-risk children including 
infants of teenage mothers.
Harriet R. Feldman PhD, RN, FAAN is Dean 
of the Lienhard School of Nursing at Pace 
University, Pleasantville, NY. 
R e f e r e n c e s*
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the
American psychological association (5th ed.). Washington DC: Author.
Feldman, H.R., & Acord, L. (2002). Strategies for building faculty research
programs in institutions that are not research intensive. Journal of Profes-
sional Nursing, 18, 140-146.
Feldman, H.R. & Lewenson, S.B (2000). Nurses in the political arena:
The public face of nursing. NY: Springer.
*Editorial Note: Due to the editorial style of the magazine, the references cited
for the work are not indented as per APA guidelines - they are indented accord-
ing to Imprint's style guidelines, and not due to the authors.
Conclusions
and Recom-
mendations
Writing Resources
For an example 
of a complete article
www.vanguard.edu/psychology/reayere.pdf 
For an example of an undergraduate research proposal
www.vanguard.edu/emplibrary/files/psychproposal.pdf 
For a template of an APA-style paper
www.vanguard.edu/emplibrary/files/psychapa.doc 
To download free Acrobat Reader
www.adobe.som/product/acrobat/readstep2.html
A Guide For Your Reference Page 
Journal Article
Feldman, H.R., & Acord, L. (2002). Strategies for
building faculty research programs in institutions
that are not research intensive. Journal of
Professional Nursing, 18, 140-146.
Book
Feldman, H.R. & Lewenson, S.B. (2000). Nurses in the
political arena: The public face of nursing. NY:
Springer.
Web Document
Degelman, D., & Harris, M.L. (2000). APA style 
essentials, Retrieved May 18, 2000, from Vanguard
University, Department of Psychology
Website:http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegel-
man/index.cfm?docid=796. 
BACK TO SCHOOL


A Guide to Scholarly Writing in Nursing

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A Guide to Scholarly Writing in Nursing

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