If you have finished a graduate school program, then you would also have experienced doing the boon of all graduate students – the much hated research paper assignment. The moment the deadline is given, it will eventually sink in to you that you have so many things to do yet so little time. You then realize that you cannot help but procrastinate. Is there any possible way to break the spell?

There are different research paper styles depending on the graduate program you are in. Initially, one needs to have the “shell” of your paper ready depending on what approach your program entails. Nursing programs usually entail its students to use the APA style of research papers. In order to start you need to set up the first page (title page), the second page (abstract page), and third page (level one heading) and the reference page. Do not get overexcited after you have the “shells”. Keep in mind that the “shells” are not yet the whole content of your research paper. You can check out page 306 of the 5th edition of the APA manual. You can use it as a sample guide.

The APA formatting and style guide is a really superb source of form. It already has a background framework of the title page and abstract. You can look up the sample reference page located at the APA Sample Reference Page.

When you have finished creating the “shell” for you research paper, you can already say that you have actually started the wheels of your research paper rolling.

For the abstract, research papers usually have three portion. However, here is a formula that is commonly used by many:

The paper uses the compare and contrast method and is separated into three portions: The first fraction examines the object of comparison, the second fraction reviews (can be related to literature significant to the objects being compared) and the final fraction which pictures out the differences and similarities using different perspectives. Inferences and implications for the research and practice are conferred in the paper as well. Please remember that information websites such as Wikipedia is not a scholarly supply of your information. You have to

To study about other intellectual references, you can use dogpile.com metasearch engine or Google Scholar. Look for journal articles using CINAHL. Please keep in mind that Wikipedia and other information websites like it are not a scholarly source of information. You need to differentiate scholarly from non-scholarly sources by researching about legitimate sources of scholarly information. Wikipedia may be an easy source of information, but not all of it are accurate as people can actually tamper with the information being posted which has a tendency for bias and prejudice.

Professors from graduate school usually prefer primary sources instead of secondary and tertiary levels. In order for you to pinpoint primary sources, you may look for secondary sources and search for the reference list of your secondary source. You can try to see whole sections of particular books at Google Books Search. You can use it anytime free of charge. Another resource of information is Questia. You must, however pay for its services at $100/ year, but you will realize that it is all worth it.

The next thing you would do is to start the a rough outline of your paper. A little patience is needed here; don’t be too fastidious in this process as constant proofreading will smoothen the section. The important thing now is to get the ball rolling and start the process.
[null, null, null, null, {"document_url": "http://rn2b.com/tips/for-success/", "unformatted_src": "http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_03/nurseG0204_468x550.jpg", "src": "http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/03_03/nurseG0204_468x550.jpg", "formatted_filename": "nurseG", "alt_text": "Pointers for Success in Nursing School", "rendered_width": 281, "rendered_height": 330}, null]