American Psychological Association (
American Psychological Association (
The Direct Practice Improvement Prospectus Title Appears in Title Case and Is Centered Comment by Author: NOTE: All notes and comments are keyed to the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association (APA) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, offers examples for the general format of APA papers, in-text citations, footnotes, and the reference page. For specifics, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. For additional information on APA Style, consult the APA website: http://apastyle.org/learn/index.aspxGENERAL FORMAT RULES:Manuscripts must be 12-point Times New Roman typeface, double-spaced on quality standard-sized paper (8.5″ x 11″) with 1-inch margins on the top, bottom, and right side. For binding purposes, the left margin is 1.5 in. [8.03]. To set this in Word, go to:Page Layout > Page Setup>Margins > Custom Margins> Top: 1” Bottom: 1” Left: 1.5” Right: 1” Click “Okay”Page Layout>Orientation>Portrait>NOTE: All text lines are double-spaced. This includes the title, headings, formal block quotes, references, footnotes, and figure captions. Single-spacing is only used within tables and figures [8.03]. The first line of each paragraph is indented 0.5 inch. Use the tab key which should be set at 5 to 7 spaces [8.03]. If a white tab appears in the comment box, click on the tab to read additional information included in the comment box.Please note: The section citations to APA Manual are provided in brackets throughout template. These brackets are not to be modeled for APA formatting. The information is included to help you locate material. Comment by Author: NOTE: All notes and comments are keyed to the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association (APA) style is most commonly used to cite sources within the social sciences. This resource, revised according to the 6th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, offers examples for the general format of APA research papers, in-text citations, footnotes, and the reference page. For specifics, consult the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. For additional information on APA Style, consult the APA website: http://apastyle.org/learn/index.aspxGENERAL FORMAT RULES:Manuscripts must be 12-point Times New Roman typeface, double-spaced on quality standard-sized paper (8.5″ x 11″) with 1-inch margins on the top, bottom, and right side. For binding purposes, the left margin is 1.5 in. [8.03]. To set this in Word, go to:Page Layout > Page Setup>Margins > Custom Margins> Top: 1” Bottom: 1” Left: 1.5” Right: 1” Click “Okay”Page Layout>Orientation>Portrait>NOTE: All text lines are double-spaced. This includes the title, headings, formal block quotes, references, footnotes, and figure captions. Single-spacing is only used within tables and figures [8.03]. The first line of each paragraph is indented 0.5 inch. Use the tab key which should be set at 5 to 7 spaces [8.03]. If a white tab appears in the comment box, click on the tab to read additional information included in the comment box.Please note: The section citations to APA Manual are provided in brackets throughout template. These brackets are not to be modeled for APA formatting. The information is included to help you locate material. Comment by Author: If the title is longer than one line, double-space it. As a rule, the title should be approximately 12 words. Titles should be descriptive and concise with no abbreviations, jargon, or obscure technical terms. The title should be typed in uppercase and lowercase letters [2.01].
Submitted by
Insert Your Full Legal Name (No Titles, Degrees, or Academic Credentials) Comment by Author: For example: Jane Elizabeth Smith
Equal Spacing
~2.0” – 2.5”
Prospectus
Doctor of Nursing Practice
Equal Spacing
~2.0” – 2.5”
Grand Canyon University
Phoenix, Arizona
February 3, 2020
Prospectus Instructions:
1. Read the entire Prospectus Template to understand the requirements for writing your Prospectus. Each section contains a narrative overview of what should be included in the section and a table with criteria required for each section. These criteria will be used to assess the prospectus for the overall quality and feasibility of the proposed DPI project.
2. As you draft each section, delete the narrative instructions and insert your work related to that section. Use the criteria table for each section to ensure that you address the requirements for that section. Do not delete/remove the criteria table as this is used by you and your Committee to evaluate your prospectus.
3. Prior to submitting your prospectus for review by your Chairperson or Methodologist (if applicable), use the criteria table below for each section to complete a self-evaluation, inserting what you believe is your score for each listed criterion into the Learner Self-Evaluation column.
4. Your Prospectus should be between 8-10 pages when the tables are deleted.
Criterion Scoring Table
Score
Assessment
0
Item Not Present
1
Item is Present, But Does Not Meet Expectations: Not all components are present. Large gaps are present in the components that leave the reader with significant questions. All items scored at 1 must be addressed by the learner per reviewer’s comments.
2
Item Approaches Meeting Expectations, But Needs Revision: Component is present and adequate. Small gaps are present that leaves the reader with questions. Any item scored at 2 must be addressed by the learner per the reviewer’s comments.
3
Item Meets Expectations: Component is addressed clearly and comprehensively. No gaps are present that leave the reader with questions. No changes required.
ii
ii
Grand Canyon University Doctor of Nursing Practice February 2020
Contents Introduction to the Project 1 Background of the Problem 3 Problem Statement 4 Purpose of the Project 5 Clinical Question(s) 6 Advancing Scientific Knowledge 7 Significance of the Project 8 Rationale for Methodology 9 Nature of the Project Design 10 Instrumentation or Sources of Data 11 Data Collection Procedures 12 Data Analysis Procedures 14 Ethical Considerations 15 Literature Review 16 Theoretical Foundations/Conceptual Framework 16 Review of the Literature 16 Theme 1. You may want to organize this section by themes and subthemes. To do so, use the pattern below. 17 Theme 2. Sometimes it can be particularly challenging regarding the APA format for citations and quotations. Refer to your APA manual frequently to make sure your citations are correctly formatted. It is critical that each in-text citation is appropriately listed in the References section. 17 Summary 19 References 21 Appendix A 22 10 Strategic Points Table 22 Appendix B 25 Variables/Groups, Phenomena, and Data Analysis 25
1
8
Grand Canyon University Doctor of Nursing Practice February 2020
Introduction to the Project
The Prospectus is an 8-10-page document that serves as a road map for the Direct Practice Improvement (DPI) Project. It provides an essential framework to guide the development of the Direct Practice Improvement Project proposal. The Prospectus builds on the 10 Strategic Points (shown in Appendix A). The Prospectus will be expanded to become your Direct Practice Improvement Project proposal (Chapters 1, 2, and 3 of your Direct Practice Improvement Project), which will, in turn, be expanded to become the complete Direct Practice Improvement Project (Chapters 1-5). Prior to developing the Prospectus, the 10 Strategic Points should be reviewed with the Faculty, Chairperson and/or Committee to ensure the10 Strategic Points are aligned and that you have a clear, defined, and a doable project. Your 10 Strategic Points should be included in Appendix A of this Prospectus document.
The Introduction section briefly overviews the project focus or practice problem, indicates why the project is worth conducting and describes how the project will be completed. The introduction develops the significance of the project by describing how the project translates existing knowledge into practice, is new or different from other works, and how it will benefit patients at your clinical site. This section should also briefly describe the essential nature of the project and provide an overview of the contents of this section. This section should be three or four paragraphs, or approximately one page, in length.
To ensure the quality of your prospectus, proposal, and final practice improvement project and reduce the time for Academic Quality Review (AQR) reviews, your writing needs to reflect standards of scholarly writing from your very first draft. Each section within the prospectus should be well organized and presented in a way that makes it easy for the reader to follow your logic. Each paragraph should be short, clear, and focused. A paragraph should (a) be three to eight sentences in length, (b) focus on one point, topic, or argument, (c) include a topic sentence the defines the focus for the paragraph, and (d) include a transition sentence to the next paragraph. Include one space after each period. There should be no grammatical, punctuation, sentence structure, or American Psychological Association (APA, 2010) formatting errors. Verb tense is an important consideration for Chapters 1 through 3. For the prospectus, the investigator uses present tense (e.g., “The purpose of this project is to…”), whereas in the practice improvement project, the chapters are revised into past tense (e.g., “The purpose of this project was to…”). Taking the time to put quality into each draft will save you time in all the steps of the development and review phases of the practice improvement project process. It will pay to do it right the first time.
As a doctoral investigator, it is your responsibility to ensure the clarity, quality, and correctness of your writing and APA formatting. The DC Network provides various resources to help you improve your writing. Neither your chairperson nor your committee members will provide editing of your documents, nor will the AQR reviewers provide editing of your documents. If you do not have outstanding writing skills, you will need to identify a writing coach, editor, or other resources such as thinking storm (GCU service) to help you with your writing and to edit your documents.
The quality of a practice improvement project is not only defined by the quality of writing. It is also defined by the criteria that have been established for each section of the project. The criteria describe what must be addressed in each section within each chapter. As you develop a section, first read the section description. Then review the criteria contained in the table below the description. Use both the description and criteria as you write the section. The criteria must be addressed in a way that it is clear to your chairperson, committee, and an external reviewer to illustrate that the criteria have been met. You should be able to point out where each criterion is met in each section.
Criteria (Required Components)
Learner Self-Evaluation Score
(0-3)
Introduction
This section briefly overviews the project focus or practice problem, why this project is worth conducting, and how this project will be completed. (Three or four paragraphs or approximately one page)
Direct Practice Improvement Project is introduced.
Describe how the project extends prior evidence or fills a “need” or “gap” from the current literature.
The discussion provides an overview of what is contained in the prospectus
NOTE: This Introduction section elaborates on Point #1(the Topic) from the 10 Strategic Points . This Introduction section provides the foundation for the Introduction section in Chapter 1 of the Proposal.
NOTE: When writing this section, ensure it has a logical flow, as well as uses correct paragraph structure, sentence structure, tense, punctuation, and APA format.
Background of the Problem
The Background of the Problem section of the Prospectus uses the literature to provide the reader with a brief historical perspective of the problem or gap the project will address. A gap is defined as a need or opportunity that has been identified in the existing body of literature (empirical research articles or DPIs). A gap is not defined as scholarly work on a topic for which there is no related research in the existing body of literature. A DPI project topic must emerge from the existing body of literature and not from a personal agenda. From this section, the reader should be able to discern how and when this problem originated and how it developed over time. This section, then, defines the current problem that needs to be studied based on the literature and prior studies on the topic. This section must include citations from the past 5 years of the literature that clearly present evidence defining the current problem or opportunity that needs to be further investigated. The studies referenced should help to justify the need for your specific practice project.
Criteria (Required Components)
