A Review of Foreign Articles on Academic Writing in Nursing Education

Abstract

 Writing is essential for the learning, research, and vocational activities of nursing students and nurses including graduate students. They must write when they explain emotions and thoughts to others, share research, and communicate with other health care staff in nursing education and clinical settings. Therefore, it is essential for nursing students and nurses to develop good writing skills. Of the various kinds of writing, systematic writing of knowledge in specialized disciplines is called academic writing. The authors reviewed ten foreign articles on academic writing in nursing education with researchers of science of nursing education. Through the review, the following three points were confirmed as issues in nursing education: i) Curriculum development to support students’ academic writing skills across the course, ii) development of the teacher’s own writing ability and writing teaching ability, and iii) development of support based on research findings for academic writing rather than support based on teachers’ experiences. In addition, the articles make the following three suggestions for further research in science of nursing education: i) accumulation of research focusing on teachers teaching abilities for academic writing, ii) integration of research focusing on students and teachers, and iii) development of a reliable and valid scale to evaluate academic writing ability of nursing students and nurses.