PERCEPTION OF EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE IN NURSING AMONG POST -GRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF XXXX

Title
The title should be clear, concise and specifically descriptive to reflect the focus of the report.

Abstract: A summary of YOUR study. Is it 300 words or less, but not too much less? Does it include a brief introduction or background of the problem, study aim/research question, methods, results and conclusion? Is all of the information specific and clear, especially the results? The formatting on the abstract does matter: subsections should be subtitled. The abstract should be complete and understandable without reference to the text (make sure any abbreviations are first written out in full). Any abstract from a published scientific journal article would serve as a useful template or guide.

Keywords

Provide 5 Key words after the abstract. These words are usually different to those used in the title but reflect the key theme.

Introduction
The introduction should ‘set the scene’ providing the background to the project and explain the health issue. This should be brief and include an introduction to the setting, the topic, the program/project (if needed), definition of terms if they are critical to understanding the content of the study. At the end of these 3-4 pages the reader should have evidence of why the topic is important for public health, nursing or nursing impact and the purpose of the study. It should reference previous research evidence and clearly highlight the gaps in the evidence i.e., potential elements of originality. The project should have a clear application (who would be interested in the findings from this research and why, how could the findings be used). At the end of the introduction the direction of the study should be clear.
As a guide think about starting this section very broadly, identifying/introducing the general field of study you want to look at. Then start to introduce the topic you are looking at, highlighting its importance. Then discuss more the direction of the study.

Literature Review

The purpose of the literature review is to review what is known regarding your subject, and what is not known, leading into the need for your study, i.e. the gap in knowledge. It is important to justify your research by establishing why this topic is important and worth researching e.g. by highlighting gaps in the knowledge and providing a critical summary of previous research.

The literature review should start with an overview of how you have found your literature: the literature search strategy.

Literature Review Search Strategies: This should be specific enough for replication. Which databases were included, using which terms? How many articles were produced from each search and why were articles kept or discarded? What other sources of data were sought? What did they produce? There should be a rationale for inclusion/exclusion of sources.

Is the range of sources sufficient? The range of sources used in the literature review should include those directly related to the topic, setting, and method. If there are limited direct links to articles (e.g., no qualitative studies on the topic or specific to the setting), then there should be an attempt made to include material from related studies or settings. For example, there are no specific studies on HIV attitudes of miners in Sierra Leone, but there are studies on this topic in other African countries. There should be some indications that studies have been sought that match the methods (qualitative or quantitative) as well as the topic and setting and if none, this should be indicated. The studies included in the literature review should be relevant to your RQ. These should not be more background information (i.e. why this is an important health issue) but these should be similar studies to yours. That is how you demonstrate what is known, and what is not known yet.  The gap in knowledge should then be addressed at the end of the literature review and you should flow in to why your study is needed.