Abstract
Background:
Although the quality of student writing is often lamented by faculty, writing instruction is an area of nursing education that has received little attention. Nursing programs rarely teach writing from a disciplinary perspective, and promoting the drilling of basic skills, such as grammar, has failed to engage student writers.
Method:
A critical examination of the history of writing research, the nursing academic context, and the epistemology of writing as meaning making will provide the rationale behind a need for a new perspective on nurses' writing.
Results:
A model to support socially constructed writing is proposed, which explores the writer's identity, relational aspects of writing, creative and emotional knowing, and the writing context.
Conclusion:
This article continues the conversation about re-visioning and enhancing the value of writing within the nursing profession. The knowledge created while writing can contribute to stimulating thinking, decision making in practice, and identity formation of nurses. [J Nurs Educ. 2018;57(7):399–407.]
- Allen D.G., Bowers B., Diekelmann N. (1989). Writing to learn: A reconceptualization of thinking and writing in the nursing curriculum. Journal of Nursing Education, 28, 6–11. Link, Google Scholar
- Andre J.A., Graves R. (2013). Writing requirements across nursing programs in Canada. Journal of Nursing Education, 52, 91–97.
10.3928/01484834-20130114-02 Link, Google Scholar - Andrews T. (2012, June). What is social constructionism?Grounded Theory Review, 1(11). Retrieved from http://groundedtheoryreview.com/2012/06/01/what-is-social-constructionism/ Google Scholar
- Antoniou M., Moriarty J. (2008). What can academic writers learn from creative writers? Developing guidance and support for lecturers in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 13, 157–167.
10.1080/13562510801923229 Crossref, Google Scholar - Archibald M., Clark A.M. (2018). Five lessons from art for better research. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 74, 8–10.
10.1111/jan.13195 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Bandura A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychological Review, 84, 191–215.
10.1037/0033-295X.84.2.191 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Bandura A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman and Company. Google Scholar
- Bruffee K.A. (1986). Social construction, language, and the authority of knowledge: A bibliographical essay. College English, 48, 773–790.
10.2307/376723 Crossref, Google Scholar - Chaudoir S., Lasiuk G., Trepanier K. (2016). Writing assignments: A relatively emotional experience of learning to write in one baccalaureate nursing program. Quality Advancement in Nursing Education, 2, 1–21. Google Scholar
- Cottingham C. (2005). Essay wha?Nursing New Zealand, 11(8), 25. Medline, Google Scholar
- Diekelmann N., Ironside P.M. (1998). Preserving writing in doctoral education: Exploring the concernful practices of schooling learning teaching. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28, 1347–1355.
10.1046/j.1365-2648.1998.00819.x Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Elton L. (2010). Academic writing and tacit knowledge. Teaching in Higher Education, 15, 151–160.
10.1080/13562511003619979 Crossref, Google Scholar - Fairbairn G.J., Carson A.M. (2002). Writing about nursing research: A storytelling approach. Nurse Researcher, 10(1), 7–14.
10.7748/nr2002.10.10.1.7.c5875 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Flower L. (1994). The construction of negotiated meaning: A social cognitive theory of writing. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. Google Scholar
- Flower L., Hayes J.R. (1981). A cognitive process theory of writing. College Composition and Communication, 32, 365–387.
10.2307/356600 Crossref, Google Scholar - Game A., Metcalfe A. (1996). Passionate sociology. London, United Kingdom: Sage. Google Scholar
- Gimenez J. (2012). Disciplinary epistemologies, generic attributes and undergraduate academic writing in nursing and midwifery. Higher Education, 63, 401–419.
10.1007/s10734-011-9447-6 Crossref, Google Scholar - Gosden H. (1995). Success in research article writing and revision: A social-constructionist perspective. English for Specific Purposes, 14, 37–57.
10.1016/0889-4906(94)00022-6 Crossref, Google Scholar - Hanson Diehl S. (2007). Developing students' writing skills: An early intervention approach. Nurse Educator, 32, 202–206.
10.1097/01.NNE.0000289377.06384.00 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Hathaway J. (2015). Developing that voice: Locating academic writing tuition in the mainstream of higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 20, 506–517.
10.1080/13562517.2015.1026891 Crossref, Google Scholar - Hayes J.R. (1996). A new framework for understanding cognition and affect in writing. In (Eds.), The science of writing: Theories, methods, individual differences and applications (pp. 1–27). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erbaum Associates. Google Scholar
- Hyland K. (2003). Genre-based pedagogies: A social response to process. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12, 17–29.
10.1016/S1060-3743(02)00124-8 Crossref, Google Scholar - Hyland K. (2004). Disciplinary discourses: Social interactions in academic writing. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press Google Scholar
- Ivanič R. (1998). Writing and identity: The discoursal construction of identity in academic writing. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing.
10.1075/swll.5 Crossref, Google Scholar - Kelly R. (2016). Creative development: Transforming education through design thinking, innovation, and invention. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: Brush Education. Google Scholar
- Laiho A., Ruoholinna T. (2013). The relationship between practitioners and academics: Anti-academic discourse voiced by Finnish nurses. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 65, 333–350.
10.1080/13636820.2013.819561 Crossref, Google Scholar - Lea M.R., Street B.V. (1998). Student writing in higher education: An academic literacies approach. Studies in Higher Education, 23, 157–172.
10.1080/03075079812331380364 Crossref, Google Scholar - Lillis T., Turner J. (2001). Student writing in higher education: Contemporary confusion, traditional concerns. Teaching in Higher Education, 6, 57–68.
10.1080/13562510020029608 Crossref, Google Scholar - Luthy K.E., Peterson N.E., Lassetter J.H., Callister L.C. (2009). Successfully incorporating writing across the curriculum with advanced writing in nursing. Journal of Nursing Education, 48, 54–59.
10.3928/01484834-20090101-07 Link, Google Scholar - Madigan R., Johnson S., Linton P. (1995). The language of psychology: APA style as epistemology. American Psychologist, 50, 428–436.
10.1037/0003-066X.50.6.428 Crossref, Google Scholar - Mandleco B.L., Bohn C., Callister L.C., Lassetter J., Carlton T. (2012). Integrating advance writing content into a scholarly inquiry in nursing course. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 9(1), 1–16.
10.1515/1548-923X.2213 Crossref, Google Scholar - McCune V. (2004). Development of first-year students' conceptions of essay writing. Higher Education, 47, 257–282.
10.1023/B:HIGH.0000016419.61481.f9 Crossref, Google Scholar - McLeod S. (1987). Some thoughts about feelings: The affective domain and the writing process. College Composition and Communication, 38, 426–435.
10.2307/357635 Crossref, Google Scholar - McVey D. (2008). Why all writing is creative writing. Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 45, 289–294 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1470329082176204
10.1080/14703290802176204 Crossref, Google Scholar - Mitchell K.M. (2017). Academic voice: On feminism, presence, and objectivity in writing. Nursing Inquiry, 24(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/nin.12200
10.1111/nin.12200 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Mitchell K.M., Harrigan T., Stefansson T., Setlack H. (2017). Exploring self-efficacy and anxiety in first-year nursing students enrolled in a discipline-specific scholarly writing course. Quality Advancement in Nursing Education, 3(1).
10.17483/2368-6669.1084 Crossref, Google Scholar - Mitchell K.M., Rieger K.L., McMillan D.E. (2017). A template analysis of writing self-efficacy measures. Journal of Nursing Measurement, 25, 205–223.
10.1891/1061-3749.25.2.205 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Mulhall A. (1997). Nursing research: Our world not theirs?Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25, 969–976.
10.1046/j.1365-2648.1997.1997025969.x Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Nightingale P. (1988). Understanding processes and problems in student writing. Studies in Higher Education, 13, 263–283.
10.1080/03075078812331377720 Crossref, Google Scholar - Nystrand M. (2006). The social and historical context for writing research. In (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 11–27). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar
- Oermann M.H., Leonardelli A.K., Turner K.M., Hawks S.J., Derouin A.L., Hueckel R.M. (2015). Systematic review of educational programs and strategies for developing students' and nurses' writing skills. Journal of Nursing Education, 54, 28–34.
10.3928/01484834-20141224-01 Link, Google Scholar - Olthouse J.M. (2013). MFA writers' relationships with writing. Journal of Advanced Academics, 24, 259–274.
10.1177/1932202X13507972 Crossref, Google Scholar - Pajares F., Valiante G. (2006). Self-efficacy beliefs and motivation in writing development. In (Eds.), Handbook of writing research (pp. 158–170). New York, NY: Guilford Press. Google Scholar
- Parboteeah S., Anwar M. (2009). Thematic analysis of written assignment feedback: Implications for nurse education. Nurse Education Today, 29, 753–757.
10.1016/j.nedt.2009.02.017 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Paré A. (2014). Rhetorical genre theory and academic literacy. Journal of Academic Language and Learning, 8(1), A83–A94. Google Scholar
- Richardson L., St. Pierre E.A. (2005). Writing: A method of inquiry. In (Eds.), The Sage handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 959–978). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Google Scholar
- Rolfe G. (1997). Writing ourselves: Creating knowledge in a postmodern world. Nurse Education Today, 17, 442–448.
10.1016/S0260-6917(97)80004-4 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Ryan M.M., Walker M., Scaia M., Smith V. (2014). (un)Disciplining the nurse writer: Doctoral nursing students' perspective on writing capacity. Nursing Inquiry, 21, 294–300.
10.1111/nin.12045 Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Slomp D.H. (2012). Challenges in assessing the development of writing ability: Theories, constructs and methods. Assessing Writing, 17, 81–91.
10.1016/j.asw.2012.02.001 Crossref, Google Scholar - Springer R.A., Clinton M.E. (2015). Doing Foucault: Inquiring into nursing knowledge with Foucauldian discourse analysis. Nursing Philosophy, 16, 87–97.
10.1111/nup.12079 Crossref, Google Scholar - St. Pierre E.A. (2014). An always already absent collaboration. Cultural Studies-Critical Methodologies, 14, 374–379.
10.1177/1532708614530309 Crossref, Google Scholar - Straw S.B. (1990). Challenging communication: Readers reading for actualization. In (Eds.), Beyond communication: Reading comprehension and criticism (pp. 67–89). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. Google Scholar
- Tierney W.G. (2002). Get real: Representing reality. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 15, 385–398.
10.1080/09518390210145444 Crossref, Google Scholar - Torres J.T., Anguiano C.J. (2016). Interpreting feedback: A discourse analysis of teacher feedback and student identity. Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 10(2), 2–11. Google Scholar
- Troxler H., Vann J.C., Oermann M.H. (2011). How baccalaureate nursing programs teach writing. Nursing Forum, 46, 280–288.
10.1111/j.1744-6198.2011.00242.x Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - Ward K., Hoare K.J., Gott M. (2015). Evolving from a positivist to constructionist epistemology while using grounded theory: Reflections of a novice researcher. Journal of Research in Nursing, 20, 449–462.
10.1177/1744987115597731 Crossref, Google Scholar - Webb C. (1992). The use of first person in academic writing: Objectivity, language, and gatekeeping. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 17, 747–752.
10.1111/j.1365-2648.1992.tb01974.x Crossref Medline, Google Scholar - White B.J., Lamson K.S. (2017). The evolution of a writing program. Journal of Nursing Education, 56, 443–445.
10.3928/01484834-20170619-11 Link, Google Scholar - Whitehead D. (2002). The academic writing experiences of a group of student nurses: A phenomenological study. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 38, 498–506.
10.1046/j.1365-2648.2002.02211.x Crossref Medline, Google Scholar

