Life Cycle of a Paper

Presented January 20, 2021

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Last updated 1/20/2021

 

Visual: The webinar begins with a PowerPoint title slide in the large central panel. The slide says, “Six Steps to Developing Your Writing Process,” and “Walden Writing Center.”

Audio:  Anne: Everyone, welcome. I'm Anne Shiell, at the Writing Center. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day today and for those of you attending like, for joining us on this historic day in US history. We have a lot of great material today, so we are going to jump right in. I will introduce our presenter and our facilitator. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to the Housekeeping slide. The slide says “Housekeeping,” and the following:

  • Recording 
  • Will be available online a day or two from now. 
  • Interact 
  • Polls, files, and links are interactive. 
  • Q&A 
  • Help 
  • Choose “Help” in the upper right hand corner of the webinar room. 

Audio:  Anne: First, we are recording this webinar. You are welcome to access it later this week by hour webinar archive. You are welcome to look through that archive for other things that might interest you. 

The slides are available to download from the downloadable files cloud in the bottom right corner of the webinar room, and this is in a PDF file format. And all the links in the presentation and in that PDF are clickable whether you are live or watching the recording, and if any of them don't work for your presentation, you can access them in the downloadable slides. 

You can use the chat box to participate during the webinar. I'm seeing some really great chats. If you have any technical questions, please place those in the Q&A box for help. I will be happy to answer those questions throughout the session. Also check out the help section at the top of your screen which is Adobe technical support. So, that's the best place to go if you need technical help. 

Also, just a quick note that we have closed captioning today, but it's a little bit different than it usually works. We have a captioning link at the top right that will take you out to a new browser window where you can follow along with the captioning if you would like. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Presenter and Facilitators slide. The slide says “Presenters and Facilitators” and the following:

Presenter: Kacy Walz​

Writing Instructor​

Walden University Writing Center​

Facilitator: Max Philbrook

Writing Instructor

Walden University Writing Center

Pronouns: He, him, his

Facilitator: Anne Shiell

Resource Manager of Student and Faculty Webinars

Walden University Writing Center

Pronouns: She, her, hers

Audio: Anne: Our presenter today is Kacy Walz, writing instructor in the writing center. If you have attended or watch other webinars -- writing instructor Max Philbrook is also with us today as a cohost. And I am behind the scenes. You may have had opportunity to work with those who earlier --- so thanks so much for joining us and with that, I will hand it over to Kacy. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to The Writing Process in Six Steps slide. The slide says “The Writing Process in Six Steps,” and the following:

  1. Prewriting​
  • Brainstorming​
  • Reading critically​
  • Note taking​
  • Planning and Outlining​
  1. Drafting​
  2. Sharing your work and receiving feedback​
  3. Revising​
  4. Editing and proofreading​
  5. Reflecting on your writing​

Audio: Kacy: Thank you. Thank you for joining us on this historic day. I like these kind of technical webinars. I agree with what a lot of you're saying in the chat, that oftentimes for me the hardest part of writing is just getting started. So hopefully this webinar will help you maybe feel more confident about that process, give you some ideas so you're not staring at a blank page. I just hope to get you motivated to work on your next project. 

We like to talk about the writing process as a process, something that is continuously happening. And we kind of conceptualized about six steps. These are just the steps that we have put together at the writing center to give you a general idea, we look at prewriting, drafting, sharing your work and receiving feedback, revising, editing and proofreading, and reflecting on your writing. And so that left-hand side of your screen, we have this nice little list. But the reality is that the process of writing is not linear like that. 

It actually happens all over the place. You may want to reflect before you start your prewriting. You may want to do some drafting and then reflecting, do some revising, maybe you are sharing and receiving feedback throughout the process. So, it's not a linear process and we like to think of it more as kind of these steps are happening. 

Hopefully you can hear me. And, are you able to -- Anne, are you able to? If anybody is having issues, please go to that Q&A box and Anne can help you with that. 

There is going to be a lot of information on our slides, so thank you for letting me know -- I recommend that you download our slides so you can look at the information later. I'm not going to go through every single piece of it, so having the slides for your own use later will be really helpful and help you refer back to what we talked about. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Writing Process Case Study: An Assignment slide. The slide says, “Writing Process Case Study: An Assignment,” and the following:

Sample prompt:

Write a 5-page paper discussing the importance of nursing informatics competencies. Analyze your own competencies and areas for growth, and include a plan for strengthening your skills. Use research and credit your sources. 

Audio: Kacy: So, we're going to go over a little case study. This is a sample. And you can imagine if you received this prompt for a writing assignment, write a five page paper discussing the importance of nursing informatics competencies. Analyze your own competencies and areas for growth, and include a plan for strengthening your skills. Use research and credit your sources. So, this is an actual prompt that we took from a Walden course. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Prewriting slide. The slide says, “Prewriting.”            

Audio: Kacy: And if we are writing, we can start out with the prewriting stage. Again, I want to make clear that we are putting these steps in this order, but they happen pretty organically and well happen all over the place. Sorry, I'm trying to watch the chat box. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Brainstorming slide. The slide says, “Brainstorming,” and the following:

  • Uses what you already know, what you wonder, what you’ve read and discussed so far​
  • Helps you choose or narrow a topic idea​
  • Focuses on ideas​
  • Can take different forms, such as​

Audio: Kacy: So, brainstorming. Brainstorming is just what you already know, maybe your questions, maybe questions you are thinking about, and trying to get those out in some form so that you have some kind of start. We have some different brainstorming techniques you can try. Which is mind mapping or using a chart. I really like free writing. This is something that I used to teach a lot. I used to recommend for my students a lot. And I have actually tried it myself in my own writing, and I found it really useful. I finally took my own advice and took the time to do some free writing, and it really helped me get through a tricky problem I was having when I was writing my own dissertation. I really recommend just setting a timer for maybe 5 minutes and just try to write and keep writing for 5 minutes and get all my ideas out. That can really help you get a good start. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Freewriting slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Freewriting,” and the following:

Nursing informatics competencies has to do with technology, knowing how to find and use that technology in a healthcare setting, as well as communication and standards of care. Computer skills and information literacy are important competencies. Informatics can help nurses be more efficient at their jobs by streamlining some processes (e.g. data entry, orders), prevent wasted time and mistakes (like that time when I couldn’t read the handwriting and had to ask for clarification on the transcription), and can help keep patients safer by preventing mistakes and giving nurses more time to care for them.

  • 15-minute bursts of writing anything that comes to mind on the topic​
  • Use your everyday language to “talk to yourself” about the topic​
  • Just write! Don’t worry about:​
    • Organization or order of ideas​
    • Complete ideas​
    • Grammar ​
    • Mechanics (spelling, punctuation)​
  • When finished, try to identify possible ideas or topics

Audio: Kacy: So, what that can look like, here we have some free writing, 15 minute bursts, I like to do 5 minutes, that's a little more manageable and I can tell myself that I need to write for those for 5 minutes. I just need to not worry about grammar, not worry about if I'm using perfect sentences or mechanics. I also like to do it by hand, but I know a lot of people like typing. I am much faster typing than handwriting, but I think sometimes that kind of act of actually writing out words can really help process those ideas, get them out on the page. 

And, because they are handwritten, I feel like they are less, I don't know, final permanent draft. So, I'm a little bit more accepting of myself when I am putting out ideas and not taking the time to make them polished and look really nice. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Reading Critically slide. The slide says “Reading Critically,” and the following:

Judging a source’s scholarly value: ​

  • Asking questions ​
  • Assessing the source and information provided​

Considering your own agenda:​

  • Viewing with your own interests in mind​
  • Considering your assignment​

​Related resource: “Critical Reading for Analysis and Comparison” Academic Skills Center blog post

Audio: Kacy: Prewriting also includes all of the critical reading and research that you're going to be doing before you actually start putting those pieces of information into writing. So, basically when you are reading critically, you are like an authority, reading that piece of information. So, you want to be asking questions. You want to be assessing the source and the information provided, making sure that this is really quality information. That this is information that you are going to be okay putting your own name on and supporting your own arguments. 

Just as a quick note for those of you who are having issues, it looks like if you if you might be signed in multiple times. If that is the case, you might consider checking to see that you are not in multiple rooms. That is going to cause an echo, so you want to make sure that you close out of any extra sign and that you are in. That should help. Also, my trick is to always just sign out and sign back in. And sometimes that does fix things. So hopefully some of those techniques will help for all of you. 

You also want to as you are reading critically, you want to consider your own agenda. So, if you're going to read these pieces of research, with a goal, and objective in mind. And so, you want to consider that as you are reading critically as well. We have this great resource, so when you download these slides for yourself, you can click directly on that link, critical reading for analysis and comparison, and that will bring you to a blog post at the academic skills center. It's a great resource for practicing these skills. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Critical Reading slide. The slide says “What it Looks Like: Critical Reading,” and the following:

Reduced Medical Errors​

Patient safety is a primary concern of any health care provider, and nurses are often on the front lines of ensuring that their patients are kept safe and preventing medication errors, misdiagnoses, falls, and other problems. Health informatics provides important data that can prevent these errors; for example, an electronic record can provide information about a possible dangerous medication interaction or allergy that might not otherwise be immediately apparent. Armed with data, nurses can make quick decisions that keep their patients safe.​

Nurse practice error allegations and patient complaints are one of the leading causes of nursing board license investigations, disciplinary actions and malpractice lawsuits. Complaints have been surging in recent years due to the ease of filing complaints online. Health informatics allow standardizing many patient care decisions which makes it easier for healthcare organizations to limit their liability and assure compliance with the Nursing Practice Act and other medical care standards.​

Questions:​

  • What is the credibility of this source?​
  • What claims are made?​
  • What evidence is used?

Potential example​

Potential subtopic

Key points

Audio: Kacy: Again, I'm not going to go over all of this, so please do download those slides, but this is what it would look like maybe if you are reading critically. Personally, I like to print out my resources so I can actually highlight directly on the document. I can write notes in the margin. And they're all these kind of fun application that people can do on their computers now come on their tablets. So, this might look like when you're taking notes and trying to get all you can out of your research. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Note-Taking Tips slide. This slide says, “Note-Taking Tips,” and the following:

  • Try different methods to find what works for you:​
    • Word document​
    • Handwritten notes in a notebook​
    • Software like Trello or Evernote​
  • Cite as you go​
    • Don’t worry about exact formatting, but include the author(s), publication date, and page number—even if you’re not quoting​
  • Paraphrase as you go​
  • Put quotation marks around anything that you copy, and double-check that you haven’t changed the original words or word order ​
  • Make connections and notice differences. Do some of the sources say similar things while others say different?​

Audio: Kacy: There are a number of different ways to take notes. I like to print out my documents so I can write on them. You can have a Word document or a handwritten notes and notebook. There is software like Evernote as well. One thing I do really recommend is to cite as you go. This will save you a lot of heartache as you are actually writing your paper later on. You don't necessarily need to worry about getting it specifically into APA formatting, but if you have the name of your author and the information you're going to need to recognize the source that you are using, it's going to really help in the long run. You are not going to have to go back and be searching for that information later on if you know exactly where you got that information, right away. 

We also recommend that you paraphrase as you go. And maybe use those notes as you are actually writing. This will help you avoid patchwork paraphrasing. It will help you avoid unintentional plagiarism. You want to make sure that you are putting these ideas into your own words. It's also going to help you really absorb the information. That's one reason we like paraphrasing more than direct quotations. 

If you are using direct quotations, make sure to put quotation marks around the direct quote because that's going to let the reader know that those words are not your own. You have taken those words from a different source. 

And as you are reading, make notes on things that you are seeing that are cropping up over and over again in different sources. Questions that you are having between these different pieces of research, different connections that you are making. They can really help you in the long run as you are actually developing your paper. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Note-Taking slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Note-Taking,” and the following:

Reduced Medical Errors​

Patient safety is a primary concern of any health care provider, and nurses are often on the front lines of ensuring that their patients are kept safe and preventing medication errors, misdiagnoses, falls, and other problems. Health informatics provides important data that can prevent these errors; for example, an electronic record can provide information about a possible dangerous medication interaction or allergy that might not otherwise be immediately apparent. Armed with data, nurses can make quick decisions that keep their patients safe.​

Rupp, S. (2016, November 14). How nurses are using health informatics to improve patient care. Electronic Health Reporter. https://electronichealthreporter.com/nurses-using-health-informatics-improve-patient-care

Notes: ​

  • ​Reducing medical errors is one benefit of nurses being competent in health informatics (Rupp, 2016). ​

Try to paraphrase as you take notes

  • Heath informatics can help nurses avoid mistakes in diagnoses and medications​
  • Examples: medication interactions, allergies  (Rupp, 2016)​

Cite as you go

  • Gann (2015) also talks about reducing medical errors

Make connections

Audio: Kacy: Here is another example of what note taking might look like for you. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Planning: Synthesize Your Writing slide. The slide says, “Planning: Synthesize Your Writing,” and the following:

  • What can you determine from your notes?​
  • Where are there similarities?​
  • Where are there differences?​
  • What themes, topics, and evidence emerges?

Audio: Kacy: Here is a step that I am working on developing for myself. Planning out your information can help you hugely in the long run. I have heard from a lot of my own students in the past that they don't like to outline because they feel like they want to get right into writing. It takes too much extra time. But really, outlining can save you a lot of headache later on. I don't know about you, but when I am writing a longer document, I can forget where I wanted to go with something. Or I can completely forget this really great idea I had for something I wanted to include if I really bogged down into the writing. 

So, having an outline, you can follow, well save you from some of those headaches when you are trying to remember, where was I going to go with this or how does this tie back into my original argument quick so planning is really important. 

This is also where your notes are really going to come in handy. So, hopefully you have you have taken some notes and can use those to help synthesizer ideas. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Planning: Form an Argument slide. The slide says, “Planning: Form an Argument,” and the following:

  • What is the argument you want to make based on your reading?​
  • Turn this into your thesis statement
  • What are you contributing to the scholarly conversation? 

Audio: Kacy: You also want to make sure that you have an argument. We really recommend having a thesis statement in your pre-writing stage. So, before you even start writing. This doesn't mean that you need to commit entirely to one argument. Oftentimes, I find that the most interesting research happens when you are open to other ideas and you are open to finding other information. I don't want to say that you necessarily have to completely commit to one specific argument but having an idea in mind of where you want to go is going to help you as you are planning your paper overall. So, you can check out that link for some information to help you with your ESA statement. 

And especially in the starting stage, where you don't have to have this perfectly worded thesis, but you want to think about what you are contribute into the scholarly conversation. What are you adding by creating this piece of writing? What new ideas or new questions are you bringing into that larger conversation? 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Planning: Create an Outline slide. The slide says, “Planning: Create an Outline,” and the following:

An outline: ​

  • Focuses on your main points​
    • Includes your thesis statement​
  • Establishes order​
  • Gives “bird’s eye view” of idea progression​
  • Helps plan where to place ideas and information​
  • Helps show connections between ideas and information

Audio: Kacy: Again, I really recommend creating an outline because it will help you stay on track as you are writing. Also, if you are like me and you don't completely finish a paper in one single sitting, having an outline will help you come back to your writing and come back to the ideas that you're putting onto the page if you had to take a break, get a snack, get some exercise, go to sleep. The outline will really help there. 

Is going to help you show connections between your ideas. It's also want to make sure that you actually do have connections. I don't know if you have ever read a paper or a book where it seems like the author starts at one point and ends way far off on a complete different point by the end of the paper. That person probably didn't use an outline. Because an outline is going to help you continue going back to that main idea and getting back to the objective of your paper overall. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Basic Outline slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Basic Outline,” and the following:

Example outline of a paper on nursing informatics competencies: Main sections​

Prompt:​

Write a 5-page paper discussing the importance of nursing informatics competencies. Analyze your own competencies and areas for growth, and include a plan for strengthening your skills. Use research and credit your sources. 

  1. Introduction ​
  2. Benefits of Developing Nursing Informatics Competencies ​
  3. Self-Assessment ​
  4. Skill Strengthening Plan ​
  5. Conclusion 

Audio: Kacy: So, here's that prompt again. We have been instructed to write a five page paper discussing the importance of nursing informatics and competencies. If I'm creating an outline, but to make sure I have an introduction this is a formal paper. And then I want to make sure that I am addressing all of these different points from the prompt. So I have the benefits of developing nursing informatics competencies, I'm going to provide self-assessment. Being asked to analyze my own competencies and areas for growth. I'm going to create some type of plan to strengthen the skills because that's what I've been asking this prompt, and I'm going to write a conclusion. Again, this is a formal paper and I want to follow those formal writing guidelines. So, that's my outline. 

This is going to help me make sure that I am staying on track, but also responding to all of the different pieces of this prompt. When I have done paper reviews, often something I will point out to students is to say in the prompt you are asked to include a specific plan for strengthening your skills, and I don't see that here. Can you make that more clear, where you are addressing that part of the pop -- prompt in the paper. Having a basic outline will make sure that you are covering everything in the prompt. 

And looking back at that outline, this is going to be helpful. But it's going to be even more helpful if I can flesh it out a bit more.

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Basic Outline slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Basic Outline,” and the following:

Example outline of a paper on nursing informatics competencies: Main sections and topics

  1. Introduction ​
    1. Definition of nursing informatics competencies ​
    2. Background information ​
    3. Thesis statement ​
  2. Benefits of Developing Nursing Informatics Competencies 
    1. Reduces time documenting patient care, allowing more time for providing care ​
    2. Permits better monitoring of patient status or outcomes ​
    3. Helps prevent errors  ​
  3. Self-Assessment 
    1. One personal competency: Basic computer skills ​
    2. Another personal competency: Informatics knowledge ​
    3. One personal challenge: Informatics skills ​
  4. Skill Strengthening Plan ​
    1. Resources I can use ​
    2. Actions I can take ​
  5. Conclusion 

Audio: Kacy: So, here I filled in some specific examples. These are some benefits that I definitely want to talk about in terms of developing nursing informatics competencies. And here I want to include my personal -- what I feel are strengths in terms of the competencies myself. 

I think I have pretty good basic computer skills. I have knowledge of informatics in general. But something I really want to work on is the specific skills required to actually interact with those informatics period that's something I'm going to work on. 

And then I'm going to map out my strengthening plan by talking about some resources that are available to me and specific actions I can take. And then come of course, my conclusion as well. So that's my basic outline fleshed out a little bit more. I have a basic idea of what my papers going to look like. I broke it up into my main sections and some topics. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Drafting: Writing the Rough Draft(s) slide. The slide says, “Drafting: Writing the Rough Draft(s).”

Audio: Kacy: So, now we move into the drafting section. I think that's what a lot of you were talking about in the chat when we first opened. Drafting, if you can imagine if I was -- if I already have a pretty solid outline, that page isn't really blank anymore. I already have a starting point, and I might start specifically with my introduction. I have definition of nursing informatics competencies, background information, and that thesis statement that I have already started to draft. So, I already know that all of this information is going to be in my introduction. So, when I start drafting and opening up my Word document, I have a pretty good idea of exactly where I want to start. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Drafting the Paper slide. The slide says, “Drafting the Paper,” and the following:

  • M = Main Idea​
  • E = Evidence​
  • A = Analysis​
  • L = Lead-out (including synthesis)

Audio: Kacy: So, when you are drafting, you will use your outline. That is when you're going to fill in that full introduction with your thesis statement. You might work on polishing that up a little bit. You can use the MEAL plan, that is a mnemonic device that we use to help us remember the most important aspects of developing paragraphs. You can click on that link for more information, and then writing a conclusion as well.  

Anne mentioned at the beginning of the webinar that we have a number of recorded webinars in our archive, and we have webinars that are specifically dedicated to thesis statements, to the MEAL plan, and using that effectively and scholarly writing in general, we have a number of different webinars. So, I really recommend checking those out if you'd like some more information about specifically getting into those pieces of the drafting portion. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Using Outline to Draft slide. This slide says, “What it Looks Like: Using Outline to Draft,” and the following:

Developing a section of the paper using the outline as a guide

  1. Introduction ​
    1. Definition of nursing informatics competencies ​
    2. Background information ​
    3. Thesis statement ​
  2. Benefits of Developing Nursing Informatics Competencies ​
    1. Reduces time documenting patient care, allowing more time for providing care ​
    2. Permits better monitoring of patient status or outcomes ​
    3. Helps prevent errors  ​
  3. Self-Assessment ​
    1. One personal competency: Basic computer skills ​
    2. Another personal competency: Informatics knowledge ​
    3. One personal challenge: Informatics skills 

Turn outline into sections or paragraphs of your paper, depending on (a) the scope of the assignment and (b) how much you have to say about each point ​

Audio: Kacy: So, I have again taken my outline that I developed on those earlier slides, and I'm using this outline to create my different sections or paragraphs, depending on how long or how large a project this is. This is a five-page paper. So probably each of these letters, maybe those are going to be a single paragraph. So, reducing time documenting patient care, allowing more time for providing care. I will have a paragraph about that. There will be another paragraph about nursing informatics that are better at monitoring patient status or outcomes, and another paragraph about how nursing informatics competencies helps prevent errors. This is maybe making a discussion post. 

This Roman numeral II may just be a paragraph. If this is a dissertation or a longer research paper, those sections are going to be longer to fit that specific assignment. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Using Outline to Draft a Section slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Using Outline to Draft a Section,” and the following:

Developing a section of the paper using the outline as a guide

Benefits of Developing Nursing Informatics Competencies ​

Developing informatics competencies among nursing staff can result in many benefits. One benefit is a reduction in time needed for documenting patient care, thus allowing more time for providing care. [Develop paragraph with evidence from sources, analysis, and lead-out sentence.]​

Another benefit is that nurses who develop informatics competencies are better able to monitor patient status and outcomes. [Develop paragraph with evidence from sources, analysis, and lead-out sentence.]​

Preventing errors is a third benefit of developing nursing informatics competencies. [Develop paragraph with evidence from sources, analysis, and lead-out sentence.]

Audio: Kacy: So, here we have what a draft may look like. And one thing I want to say about the drafting process, and this is something where I have to practice what I preach, use my own advice when I'm writing, when you are drafting, you are really trying to get words out onto the page. You're trying to get ideas from your outline developed in some way so that they are this kind of cohesive narrative. But your draft is just that. It's a draft. It doesn't have to be perfect the first time you get those words on the page. 

And I read this really fascinating book on writing that talked about how we have two sides of our brain. We have our left and our right side, and one of them is really focused on the creative portions, creative activities. And the other is more detail oriented. So, when you're trying to write a paper and have it be perfect the very first time you put a sentence on the page, you're actually trying to use both sides of your brain in conflicting ways. You're trying to use the creative part of your brain, but also the detail oriented side to have this new idea, this new thought developed, but had it be beautiful and polished right away. 

So, you really want to separate those steps. So, have your drafting time before you are really using that creative side of your brain. So, you are trying to get the words out on the page. You want it to be more in sentence form. But if you don't have the exact perfect word, you can just put a word in that is going to help you. I have actually started putting in brackets in places where I know there is a word for this, but I can't quite think of what it is, so I'm going to put this other less effective word in brackets so that when I do come back to revision, when I start using that more detail-oriented side of my brain, I can fill in that word and take the time to find that specific wording. But in the drafting stage, I really want to focus on creative energies and get the words out on a page. So, that's what your drafting sample should look like. 

And I am definitely working on that. It just made so much sense to me when I read that, that part of the reason that we can kind of freeze that we are trying to use both sides of our brain and they are battling each other. So instead of making progress in either direction, we are just kind of stuck. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Drafting a Paragraph slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Drafting a Paragraph,” and the following:

Preventing errors is a third benefit of developing nursing informatics competencies. One technology that can reduce errors is computerized provider order entry (CPOE). CPOE can help prevent errors in transcriptions (RegisteredNursing.org, Oct. 16, 2020). Nurses needed to hand-transcribe provider orders before CPOE was available, which sometimes led to misread handwritten orders and mistakes in medication orders (RegisteredNursing.org, Oct. 16, 2020). CPOE software allows nurses to easily select medication details and can even help prevent duplicat orders and contraindications (RegisteredNursing.org, Oct. 16, 2020). Bar code medication administration (BMCA) technology can help providers avoid medication administration errors (Gann, 2015, Thompson et al., 2018), even as much as reducing errors by 43.5 percent,
according to one study.

Paragraph’s main ​idea

Evidence from multiple sources supporting the paragraph’s main idea

Audio: Kacy: So, you might have some things that you're going to come back and change, some wording you are going to change, but you have the main ideas that you wanted to include in each paragraph. And I think as somebody pointed out in the chat box, it's really important to have at least some information that is going to help me put in my proper citations when I go back and do that detailed practice. Making sure that everything is polished. I don't want to be searching for this information again. I all ready found it, using it, so I want to make sure that I have that information so I can include that citation properly as I complete my paper. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Sharing Your Work and Receiving Feedback slide. The slide says, “Sharing Your Work and Receiving Feedback.”

Audio: Kacy: Sharing your work and receiving feedback. This is something that Anne mentioned earlier in the beginning. So, Max and I are both writing instructors. A big part of our job is to respond to student writing. So, if you have ever had a paper review with us, paper reviews are a great way, they are very individualized. You submit a piece of your writing that you have done for a Walden course, and within 48 hours of your appointment date, you will receive personalized feedback from a writing instructor such as myself or Max giving you ideas about ways you can strengthen your writing, organizer writing, and that is set to part of the writing process. It's something that I know in the past I have not really given the proper amount of time required to do a good job. But sharing your work and receiving feedback is a really important part of that process. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Grow as a Writer by Sharing Your Work slide. The slide says,
“Grow as a Writer by Sharing Your Work,” and the following:

  • Form a peer writing group.​
  • Partner with a classmate.​
  • Ask a coworker, family member, or friend for feedback.​
  • Make a Writing Center paper review appointment:​
    • Get feedback on different drafts​
    • Submit current or past writing ​

Audio: Kacy: So, you can do this in a number of ways. You could form a peer writing group. Anne mentioned the podcasts, and we have some specifically devoted to giving some advice about how you can set up a writing group. You could partner with a classmate, someone who is also willing to provide their feedback in return for maybe you will give feedback on their writing as well. 

You can ask a coworker, family member, or friend, and you can make a writing center paper review appointment. 

With any of these options, the really great thing about getting feedback is that sometimes when you have done a lot of research and you put a lot of thought and energy into a paper, you are so connected to your ideas and to research you have already done, that it can be easy to assume that it is all clear and all makes sense. That you are making connections, you're putting it all together. 

But an outside reader can point out the places where maybe they are lost or they would like some additional information that you just don't see because you have already become an expert on that topic. So, really again, I recommend sharing your work and getting that feedback. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Revising slide. The slide says, “Revising.”

Audio: Kacy: And then we get into revising. And for we start using the right side of our brain. The detail-oriented part. This is where you can make sure that you have found the specific wording that you want to use, the sentence order makes coherent sense, once you have gotten all your ideas onto the page, the drafting process, the revising portion is really going to help you clean that up. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Revising Plan slide. The slide says, “Revising Plan,” and the following:

Try not to get overwhelmed. Make a revision plan.

Start with the big-picture elements, such as:​

  • Clear thesis statement​
  • Logical organization​
  • Citations for source information​
  • Enough evidence to support your thesis statement and claims​
  • Enough sources used, per the assignment requirements​

Next, look at the sentence-level issues, such as:​

  • Sentence clarity​
  • APA formatting​
  • Grammar​
  • Transitions

Audio: Kacy: So, when you are revising, it is still not quite as detail specific, but you're still using your creative side of your brain, but you're looking back to make sure that you are tying your ideas to your thesis statement. Your paragraphs are logically organized. 

Maybe in your outline you thought that one main idea should come first and another should come later. But after getting some feedback, after rereading your writing, you realize that actually, I need to introduce this idea first before I move into the next paragraph. 

Revising, you want to make sure that you're citing your source information and that you have enough evidence. Maybe you received some feedback from someone requesting some additional information and additional sources. That's where revising would come into play. 

Once you have done all of that, all of those big picture ideas, so you have really taken the time to ensure that the wording is the way you wanted to be, the sentences are the way you want them to be, the paragraphs are all cohesive, you have accreted one monster paragraph that has five different main topics. Once you have done all that, then you can look at those more sentence level issues. The reason we suggest this is because you don't want to go back and change some commas around, changing', if you're going to completely end up revising that sentence, revising a whole paragraph. So maybe that sentence doesn't even exist in your paper anymore. You don't want to have expended that energy on something that might dramatically change. 

So, once you have completed that larger revision, that's when you want to go back and look at your sentence clarity, your grammar, making sure you have clear transitions. More specific pieces of writing. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Revising Using Others’ Feedback slide. The slide says “Revising Using Others’ Feedback,” and the following:

Resources with tips and advice

Audio: Kacy: So, we have a number of different resources you can check out for revising using others' feedback. We have a number of blog posts regarding how to use and respond to writing feedback. We have a specific webinar, another one of these, devoted specifically to this stage of the writing process. You can check that out for more detailed information. 

Then we have another webcast episode, this is not one I was part of, but when I really appreciate and I listen to myself, because sharing your writing can be scary. It can be nerve-racking, and it can kind of feel kind of personal to ask someone to look at your writing, particularly if this is something that you have spent a lot of time on, you have put a lot of effort into, to receive negative feedback. Even if is not mean feedback. It's just I don't think that this idea is important for your overall argument. Or you lost me with this section. 

That's really helpful, but when it's something like maybe I have to cut this paragraph that I love, that I really put a lot of energy into, that can be really tough. You can check out that webcast episode. 

Another episode that I was part of, talks about -- that conflict of having to cut out pieces that you really are attached to. But using others' feedback is important. I would also recommend if you have the opportunity to provide feedback for other writers, so if you have classmates that you would be willing to share drafts and respond, responding to someone else's writing is a great way of practicing those critical reading skills that are going to help you in your own writing as well. 

You can kind of notice things that you are picking up on as an outside reader, and then use that in your own writing to strengthen your own writing to strengthen your own scholarly voice.

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Revising slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Revision,” and the following:

Preventing errors is a third benefit of developing nursing informatics competencies. One technology that can reduce errors is computerized provider order entry (CPOE). CPOE can help prevent errors in transcriptions (RegisteredNursing.org, 2020). Nurses needed to hand-transcribe provider orders before CPOE was available, which sometimes led to misread handwritten orders and mistakes in medication orders (RegisteredNursing.org, 2020). CPOE software allows nurses to easily select medication details and can even help prevent duplicat orders and contraindications (RegisteredNursing.org, Oct. 16, 2020). Bar code medication administration (BMCA) technology can help providers avoid medication administration errors (Gann, 2015, Thompson et al., 2018), even as much as reducing errors by 43.5 percent, according to one study. 

Audio: Kacy: So, when you are revising, this is another specific example, when you take a look at the slides on your own, you can look at the differences between this paragraph and an earlier form of the paragraph. Maybe the citations are as clean. There may be some minor spelling or sentence level issues. This is just a more polished version. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Revising slide. The slide says: “What it Looks Like: Revising,” and the following:

Revisions: Improved organization, added a citation for credit and clarity, added analysis and a lead-out.

Preventing errors is a third benefit of developing nursing informatics competencies. Two technologies that can reduce errors are computerized provider order entry (CPOE)  and bar code medication administration (BCMA). CPOE can help prevent errors in transcriptions (RegisteredNursing.org, 2020). Nurses needed to hand-transcribe provider orders before CPOE was available, which sometimes led to misread handwritten orders and mistakes in medication orders (RegisteredNursing.org, Oct. 16, 2020). CPOE software allows nurses to easily select medication details and can even help prevent duplicat orders and contraindications (RegisteredNursing.org, 2020). BCMA technology can help providers avoid medication administration errors (Gann, 2015, Thompson et al., 2018), even as much as reducing errors by 43.5 percent, according to one study (Thompson et al., 2018). When used properly and consistently, CPOE and BCMA are two key technologies in nursing informatics that help reduce errors. A reduction in errors improves patient care and safety. 

Audio: Kacy: So, here, maybe I have decided I need to add some more information. My outside reader wanted some specific examples of technologies. And I also need to make sure there is some kind of transition. So instead of just ending with this statistic of 43.5%, I want to provide some context for my reader, how they can use that information and then help transition them into the next paragraph. The next main idea. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to a slide without a title. The slide says, “Revision is not the end of the creative process, but a new beginning. It's a chance not just to clean up and edit, but to open up and discover.  - John Dufresne, American author”

Audio: Kacy: So, this is a really nice quote that we like from John Dufresne, a contemporary American writer, and he says revision is not the end of the creative process, but a new beginning. It's a chance not just to clean up and edit, but to open up and discover. And I think what he is kind of mentioning, talking about trying not to be too -- not closed minded, but not to focusing on one argument, but open to different ideas, thoughts, as you are researching, but also as you are receiving feedback. 

I was in a writing group in my own grad program, where I had mentioned something in a paper that I thought was a throwaway comment. I thought it was just here is this little extra detail that is kind of interesting, but it's pretty tangential. One of my writing group members said this point actually seems to tie into your overall topic a lot better than the other points that you are making and putting a little bit more detail into. 

Because I was open to hearing that, and willing to do that work and think of this as part of the creative process and not just polishing, I think I had a much stronger paper overall, realizing that something I thought was tangential actually was more important than some of these pieces that I thought deserved more energy and more attention. So, I really like that quote. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Editing and Proofreading slide. The slide says, “Editing and Proofreading.”

Audio: Kacy: Editing and proofreading. This is that really specific part, and I think this is what trips me up when I'm writing and I'm trying to get my words on a page is that I'm trying to self-edit and proofread as I am putting the words on the page. So instead of just getting my ideas right, I want to make sure that my commas are all the right spot, that I am perfectly spelling everywhere, that I have picked the right word for everything. And I think that really gets in the way. So, think about editing and proofreading as a completely different step in the writing process is really important. Because it's going to help you, it's going to allow you to get those ideas on the page on in the first place, so you have someone to edit and proofread later on. 

I think it's Dan LaMotte, don't quote me on that entirely, who has this great quote about how you can always edit a bad sentence, but you can't do anything with no words at all. It's the idea that you actually have to have something on the page to revise and make stronger before you go to the next step. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Editing and Proofreading slide. The slide says, “Editing and Proofreading,” and the following:

Proofreading Checklist

  • Read the paper aloud and mark any areas that sound choppy or disjointed. Smooth out those sentences by changing structure or phrasing.​
  • Use Grammarly, making any necessary grammar or punctuation adjustments.
  • Scan the document for possible misspellings. Determine whether the word is correctly spelled by looking at Microsoft Word’s Spell Check’s suggestions or http://www.merriam-webster.com. ​
  • Cross-check the sources in the reference list to in-text citations (and vice versa).​
  • Check formatting:​
    • Page numbers​
    • Double-spaced text

Audio: Kacy: So, for editing and proofreading, by far my most commonly suggested recommendation is to read the paper out loud. When you read something out loud, it forces you to slow down, to look at each word as it is placed on the paper. And because partly, we tend to be good at revising in our head. I don't know about you, but sometimes if I'm reading something, I want to notice a minor typo like to and too, or your and you’re if I'm going to self correct that in my head, I'm going to not notice it. 

Whether I read out loud, it forces me to slow down and look at each word that's when I catch those minor easily overlooked typos. 

Another technique you might try, I used to make my students do this, they were so against it, but then after I made them do it, they thought it was really helpful. Maybe they were humoring me, but I think they thought it was good, is to switch the papers with a partner and have their partner read their writing out loud. They really hated this idea. I had to force them to do this. They were really uncomfortable. But hearing their writing out loud and being able to follow along when someone else was reading, again, it forces you to pay attention. And someone else might trip up on a sentence that you would be able to read because in your head you know how it should be punctuated. You know how it should be inflected. 

But someone else reading it out loud might be able to point out some missing punctuation or some confusing wording. So, that can be really helpful. 

Grammarly is a great tool that can help pick out some issues. I always recommend that you use it and think of it more as a tool than as this magic system that is going to get your paper completely perfect. Because it's a program. I someone who created these really advanced algorithms that are going to be helpful, but they do make mistakes. So, Grammarly is a great tool for helping you to start proofreading, but you definitely want to make sure your looking back and checking on your own. 

And then this proofreading stage is where you're going to look at that specific formatting such as page numbers or double space in your text. I like to, when I'm drafting, single space, because double spacing is like magic and I have all this extra space. The proofreading stage is where you can make sure you're getting all of your formatting correct. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to What it Looks Like: Proofreading slide. The slide says, “What it Looks Like: Proofreading,” and the following:

Correct small issues: Typos and misspellings, APA style errors

… CPOE software allows nurses to easily select medication details and can even help prevent duplicat orders and contraindications (RegisteredNursing.org, 2020). BCMA technology can help providers avoid medication administration errors (Gann, 2015, Thompson et al., 2018), even as much as reducing errors by 43.5 percent, according to one study (Thompson et al., 2018)…

… CPOE software allows nurses to easily select medication details and can even help prevent duplicate orders and contraindications (RegisteredNursing.org, 2020). BCMA technology can help providers avoid medication administration errors (Gann, 2015; Thompson et al., 2018), even as much as reducing errors by 43.5%, according to one study (Thompson et al., 2018). …

Audio: Kacy: So, here is another example of what proofreading looks like when you look at these slides, the PDF is going to let you see multiple slides all at once. And you can see how proofreading marks would look different than revision marks. How those changes will look a little bit different. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Reflecting on Your Writing slide. The slide says, “Reflecting on Your Writing.”

Audio: Kacy: So, the final step we are going to talk about today is reflecting on your writing. And this is another step that I think it's very tempting to thing you don't need to do this. Especially as developing writers, it's really important to reflect on your writing.

 

Visual: Slide changes to Don’t Skip This Step slide. The slide says, “Don’t Skip This Step,” and the following:

Reflecting is crucial to your growth and development as a writer. 

Audio: Kacy: So, we have created this whole slide to remind you that reflecting is crucial to your growth and development as a writer. So, if you want to make sure -- you want to make sure that you are including that step in the process. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Reflecting: What it Looks Like slide. The slide says, “Reflecting: What it Looks Like,” and the following:

Audio: Kacy: And because reflecting can seem kind of nebulous, we want to give you some ideas of how you can effectively reflect on your writing in order to strengthen and develop. 

You can think about the specific goals you have in terms of your writing either for your work at Walden for your program or in general for publishing or your discipline. What kind of goals have you set for yourself and how does this past writing project help you to go towards those goals? What might you do in other writing assignments that could help you get closer? Should you revise your goals? Maybe you have already achieved one goal, and now you can create another goal, something else to reach for in your writing. 

Looking at all the feedback that you have received, I think sometimes it's tempting to just -- I used to joke when a talking person that when I would had back a paper, my students would immediately flip to the last page and look at their letter grade. I have spent all of this time making specific comments throughout the paper, writing a note at the bottom of the writing that they have done and work they have put in and all they are interested in was that letter or that number. You really want to take a look at the feedback that you have received. And maybe even consider that feedback with regards to feedback you have received previous assignments. How has it changed? What is being repeated? That's giving you something you want to focus on. All of that is really important. 

So, we have this link when you download the slides, you can click on this link of questions to consider as you are reflecting on your writing. But we also have a number of different templates for journals that you can keep. We have feedback journals, we have research process journals. You can click on that link, that writing journal link for some more ideas about how you can keep track of these reflections that you have done and can really map out your progress as you are developing as a writer. 

And, of course, you can create a writing center paper review appointment. We do that with papers that have already been submitted, so it's something I often hear, particularly at residencies when I'm working with students, student say I really want to make it paper review appointment, but I just don't have time to submit it to the writing center. To let me make mean for changes before my assignment is due. Because writing teachers are incredibly busy. I can't believe how much you accomplish every day. It makes him feel guilty. But I'm just really impressed. 

Because we are aware of that, because we know how busy you are, we are able to respond to writing you have submitted and maybe have already received a score, you can send us the scored assignment and we can provide comments on the feedback you have already received or at any stage in that process, we are here to give you feedback on your writing. Please don't let your crazy schedules and all the things you are doing getting away of making paper review appointment. We can point out different patterns we see so you can use that feedback for future writing as well. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Chat slide. The slide says, “Chat,” and the following:

What parts of the writing process would you like to develop or improve? (e.g., brainstorming, outlining, revising, etc.)

Audio: Kacy: So, in the chat box I’d like to hear from you about the parts of the writing process that you are hoping to develop or improve or dare I say maybe try to make sure that you actually do this stuff as opposed to just skipping it. I am trying to make sure that I actually let drafting be a step other than proofreading and revising at the same time. Are there any stages you are hoping to develop? And put some more effort into? 

I so agree and appreciate that. Getting started is the hardest part, because that's what I feel, too. A lot of people say outlining and brainstorming, definitely giving yourself time to complete those steps, I think is very key. 

And coming up with those questions that you want to answer, that's part of that brainstorming part. This thinking about maybe not on the questions you have to answer, but what questions are interesting to you? What are some things that as you are reading, you are actually asking? Because even when you don't have the answer right then, coming up with that question, that is definitely part of your scholarly conversation. Asking an interesting question is an important part of continuing the conversation. 

Thank you. I'm glad you appreciated the presentation. Yes. Developing your thesis and making sure that it links to everything is very important. And I'm laughing, but really I don't mean to belittle anything, I'm really laughing at myself here and I'm looking at my own papers and I think where was I going with this paragraph? I feel like I just completely went somewhere else with this idea and I don't know why I used that information. 

So, making sure that you are including your citations in the body of the paper. That's a really important part of the writing process. Particularly for scholarly writing you want to make sure that your giving credit to those different sources. I love this comment. I overthink what I need to put in the paper. This is something that I am struggling with myself. After I am writing my dissertation and every piece of advice that I see from my advisor that I love and giving me a lot of strength and energy is the idea that I am in training. We are all in training to be experts, to be solid writers. And our advisors and our faculty members and the people at the writing center, we are here to help you develop those skills. 

And so, put whatever you want into your address, and when you are in that revision stage, go back and say, I don't need to include this. Or I want to reword this sentence or whatever. 

But I think that idea of overthinking is exactly what we are talking about when I said I need to let myself draft and not make sure everything is perfect as I am actually writing it out. Allowing myself letting those be two different steps in the process and getting that feedback and understanding that are not supposed to be an expert yet. I have been doing this with students, I'm not supposed to be an expert of literature yet. So, taking that feedback from my advisor and letting him tell me, you don't need this in the paper or you do you need to put this in the paper, that's his job. So, I don't need to do that overthinking. I just need to get into a draft that someone else can comment on. 

So, we still have the chat box is going to stay open, so please feel free to keep talking. I love reading these comments. I do want to make sure we have a little bit of time for some questions. So, I'm going to going. I know that Anne and Max are keeping track of your questions so they can relate them to the -- to me. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Related Webinars slide. The slide says, “Related Webinars,” and the following:

Audio: Kacy: Here are a few related webinars. I mentioned a number of recorded webinars through the session. And I know Anne and Max of inputting links in the chat box that you can check out. But here are some different webinar sessions that are specifically about these different steps that we have been talking about.  So critical reading, pre-writing techniques, building and organizing academic arguments, and improving your writing, strategies for revising, proofing, and using feedback. So all these webinars to check out. 

 

Visual: Slide changes to Questions? slide. The slide says, “Questions?”

Audio: Kacy: All right. Anne, are there any questions that you think would be helpful to talk about with the large group?  

Anne: Yeah. We have some great questions in the Q&A box. I think we have time for one or two. One is about the research phase of writing. Wondering about if there are tools that we were recommend to organize article citations, themes -- something I thought about was a literature matrix if you want to talk about that or share any other tools. 

Kacy: Anne, that is what came to my mind as well. So, the literature review matrix it sounds kind of scary and complicated. But it's really actually very simple tool that Max or Anne, if you can thank the Lincoln put it in the chat box, basically it's a tool that can help you organize your notes as you are reading anything. So, anytime you read an article for any course or for fun or for whatever you are doing, I really recommend that you fill out a role in our literature review matrix. And basically, it's a big chart so you can organize your notes in a way that later on, when it comes to doing the literature review are coming up with an idea for a larger research project, you have all of your notes in one specific place. 

And what the literature review matrix really helps you with, is identifying common themes that are occurring throughout different things that you have read. Can help you remember the different resources you read, and I don't know about you, but I definitely do not remember all of the articles and books that I have read since I started my graduate career. So, it helps you organize those ideas. And, also, when it comes time to write those papers, you can take a look at that review, that matrix and pick out which sources are going to be applicable in which sources are going to be helpful and which ones you can disregard. Which will save you a lot of time. 

That would definitely be my major recommendation in terms of our resources. Anne, do you have any other thoughts on what you would suggest? 

Anne: I think that's my main suggestion. You covered it. 

Kacy: Awesome. And did you say we have time for one more question? 

Anne: We do. Could you talk briefly -- the question was, are peer-reviewed sources and scholarly resources the same? 

Kacy: That's able to good question. We do kind of use those interchangeably. So, when we say a scholarly source, we are talking about a source that is going to be credible for scholarship. It's going to be something that other readers, when they see it, are going to be able to look at that and say I can take this argument seriously because it came from this source. So, like the centers for disease control. If I see that this is published by the center for disease control, that's going to provide some scholarly credibility because that organization has a lot of credibility and is a respected entity. And people that are publishing for them are considered experts. 

Peer-reviewed actually means that the research and the writing has undergone a really specific process where other experts in that field have gone through and they have read that document and they have said the argument are sound. They are using good sources. This research is quality. So, peer-reviewed is a very specific kind of scholarly source. Anne, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but peer-reviewed is considered one of the top tears of scholarly writing. So, if it is peer-reviewed, is considered really, really credible. And I hope that helps clarify the difference. So, even though we use them kind of interchangeably, they do actually need some different things. 

I have in the chat box, .gov, we tend to give credence to things that have been published by the government. So, that would be a scholarly source, but not necessarily peer-reviewed. So, great question. Thank you for that and thank you so much for joining us. And I'm going to pass this back over to Anne so she can tie it up. 

Anne: Thank you, Kacy, to Max for facilitations, and to students for attending today. And to Chris, our captioner. A couple of things I want to mention, and thank you all for joining us and for participating in the chat.

 

Visual: Slide changes to Resources slide. The slide says, “Resources,” and the following:

Gann, M. (2015). How informatics nurses use bar code technology to reduce medication errors. Nursing2019, 45(3), 60-66. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NURSE.0000458923.18468.37

RegisteredNursing.org (2020, October 16). What is nursing informatics? https://www.registerednursing.org/nursing-informatics

Rupp, S. (2016, November 14). How nurses are using health informatics to improve patient care. Electronic Health Reporter. https://electronichealthreporter.com/nurses-using-health informatics-improve-patient-care​

Thompson, K.M., Swanson, K. M., Cox, D. L., Kirchner, R.B., Russell, J.J., Wermers, R.A., Storlie, C.B., Johnson, M.G., & Naessens, J.M (2018). Implementation of bar-code medication administration to reduce patient harm. Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality & Outcomes, 2(4), 342- 351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocpiqo.2018.09.001

Audio: Anne: We have a webinar coming up next week on how and when to include APA citations. I would get the registration into the chat box. And we have our February webinars scheduled as well. You can access those on our webinar calendar. Which also are in the chat box there. And I want to thank you in advance for taking the feedback survey, which will open after you leave the webinar room or after I close the webinar impaired we want your feedback after our webinars so we can make sure we are making these webinars is useful for you as we can. So, we really appreciate your feedback. 

If you're watching the recording, I'm going to drag it into that survey over on the screen.  So, you can also take that survey if you are watching the recording. We really appreciate it. Thank you again so much and if you have outstanding questions that didn't get answered or you would like more detail on them, please contact us at writingsupport@mail.waldenu.edu. And we hope to see you at a future webinar. Goodbye, everyone.