Saving time

Published

It's no joke, there's a whole lot of researching and citing articles and there isn't a whole lot of time. The AP RN-BSN was designed for working nurses (obstensibly), but apparently these nurses don't work more than three days a week, have no families, and enjoy one to two hours sleep at night.

Saving time:

Citation managers like RefWorks (Flow, though I personally prefer the old RefWorks) and EndNote are provided at no charge to UTA students. There are links to these citation managers from the UTA library website. These allow you to create a single citation in APA 6 format or an entire references page. There is also the advantage of saving the article locations for future reference. When you go to do Nursing Research, take note of the type of journal club article needed and save yourself the "fun" of beating your head against the rather blunt instrument known as EbscoHost and peruse the Wiley or Cochrane libraries for providing RCT's and meta-analyses. Wiley provides access to other nursing journals, notably the Journal of Advanced Nursing, and citations from Wiley can easily be exported to EndNote Web or Refworks/Flow.

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I always search using google scholar. You can add uta as your library. the ebsco search section is horrible and not user friendly. And for the references I use son of a citation machine on the internet if the library doesn't cite it for you.

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I used to use online citation machines like son of a citation machine, but now I prefer the citation managers for ease of use. Google scholar is a good choice for locating documents - I use it as well. I also agree that Ebsco is a nightmare. When I use Ebsco, it's generally a last resort when locating a document on Wiley, Cochrane, or Google Scholar doesn't pan out. If worse comes to worse, and you have the time, the inter-library loan form works for getting book sections and parts of documents that require membership or purchase fees.

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Hi Mike, I will be taking research on November. I heard horrible stories about this class. I was told there's 2 quizzes (30%!!). Can you please give me some tips to succeed in the quizzes??

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Thank you for this advice! I am in the nursing research course right now and it is disastrous! Everything is all over the place and I have been doing so much work for my group it is ridiculous! My head is going to explode!

If you could please send me some pointers that would be amazing!

I just joined allnurses so I don't know how this private message thing works. It said I need 15 posts before I can message people? Help please.

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Hi Mike, I will be taking research on November. I heard horrible stories about this class. I was told there's 2 quizzes (30%!!). Can you please give me some tips to succeed in the quizzes??

The quizzes are the easiest part of the course (download and save the notes that the professor has provided). The hardest part is the team - you are assigned a group by the instructor/coach, and each member of that group has to pull their weight or it is a long, miserable 5 weeks. Once you know who the members of your team are, organize early before any work is due and nail down your game plan. Texting is the fastest way to communicate as you may be in Texas, and your other team members could be East Coast, West Coast, Montana, or in prison (Ha! Just kidding... maybe). At any rate, rapid communication and identifying team member strengths early is a good idea. For your JC Club article (which is like choose your own punishment), you need a good research paper that you will have to find yourself.

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Thank you for this advice! I am in the nursing research course right now and it is disastrous! Everything is all over the place and I have been doing so much work for my group it is ridiculous! My head is going to explode!

If you could please send me some pointers that would be amazing!

I just joined allnurses so I don't know how this private message thing works. It said I need 15 posts before I can message people? Help please.

Sorry that your experience is so difficult. We had a good group for the most part, and it was still a brutal grind.

There are advantages to fewer members involved - less editing for one. There is another user on here, MBrickle, and I would suggest contacting this person as this individual was in my group, was very organized, and a lifesaver.

Build this paper from the beginning with cited references as it will save time. Imagine having to go back and figure out which reference goes with which sentence or paragraph. Use a reference management tool like RefWorks or Flow (same company, slightly different format) or EndNote Web. They are free and will save you a ton of time ordering and cataloging your references and the one-click bib is nice to have.

Don't waste time. If you are hitting a brick wall on one section, move on to the next task and take care of business. Hold the other group members accountable. If they are not participating and letting one person do all of the work, then let it be known. Why should someone sleep in and ride your coattails to an easy grade while you do all the work?

As far PM click on the user icon next to a post and it will bring up that option if you have the requisite 15 posts. Good luck. Research is tough, but doable, and you will get through it.

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