NOTE: As practicum projects may vary considerably, students should consult with their supervisors as to their expectations.
Suggested practicum Report Format, Process, and Requirements for all practicum courses, i.e., N6610/6611, N6620/6621, N6630/6631, N6640/6641, and N6650/6651
The following is a detailed description of a suggested format for the practicum report. It is meant to be a guide. However, note as practica may vary considerably, please consult with your supervisor(s) as to the expectation that she or he may have for the format.
1. Title page – (Separate page) this is similar to the thesis page that is found in Appendix 1 in Thesis/Report Guide Supplement (www.mun.ca/sgs/guidelines_intro.php). You would put
“A practicum report . . .” (rather than thesis) and submitted to the "School of Nursing" rather than Graduate Studies but all the rest would apply. See example attached. The School of Graduate Studies has other important information on margins, pagination, etc. on this website.
2. Abstract or Report Summary - This is a very useful part of the report as it allows the reader to know what the report contains. Keep to a single page and capture key aspects of the practicum.
3. Acknowledgements – (Separate page) The usual ordering has supervisors, funding source (if any), contact person(s) in agency, other participants, friends, and family if you want (and of course you can acknowledged others). It is usually not more than a page.
4. Table of Contents – (Separate page) Order in the following manner: Abstracts (or Report Summary), Acknowledgements, Tables, Figures, Body or text of report using the headings from your report beginning with Introduction and include any heading or sub-heading and the page numbers, References, and Appendices.
5. List of Tables - (Separate page). If you have any Tables you would have a List of Tables and the page numbers, and use that heading.
6. List of Figures - (Separate page). If you have Figures and Diagrams (and they are not in an appendix) you would list these, put in page numbers, and have that heading. All of the above except Title page are numbered with Roman Numerals at the bottom center.
7. Body of the text:
Introduction: Begin with a 2 to3 page (could be more – it depends) introduction to your practicum – this sets the stage for what you accomplished, some background and a
practicum on “Professional Skill Development for Master’s Prepared Nurses” I would want to introduce that idea in the early part of my report. Example:
Advanced nursing practice encompasses a number of roles and responsibilities to enable nurses to meet the evolving health care needs in our society (CNA, 2008). Master of nursing (MN) graduates who are being educated to work in various advanced practice settings require a wide array of professional skills so that they may be effective in their new roles (Daly & Carnwell, 2003). These professional skills go beyond what are considered technical or clinical competencies. However while many of these professional skills are implicit in the clinical, research, and leadership competencies outlined in the national framework for advanced nursing (CNA), it is critical to make them explicit so that MN programs can address these professional skills. The purpose of this project is to develop an appropriate set of professional skills for MN graduates and provide some examples of how these skills could be demonstrated.
I would then have a subheading “Background” where I would provide some context to my work. In my situation my context could be the work of the Tri-agency statement of principles on key professional skills for researchers.
The next section would be the “Rationale” and this is really why I am doing this particular project and what I think it might accomplish.
In the last section of your introduction clearly outline your “Objectives” as approved by your supervisor(s) and participating agency. These are usually from your proposal although it is not unusual to have some changes as approved by your supervisor(s).
Proposal objectives are your best guess about what you plan to do – sometimes we do more, some times less, sometimes just slightly different.
Literature Review: The next larger section is an integrated review of the literature that informed your practicum. You need to give a comprehensive overview of what has been done in the area you are working in for your practicum. Use whatever sub-headings make good organizational sense and help present a clear review. In my example I would do a search to see if any one studied this problem, i.e., professional skills for graduate students, MN graduates, or described them in any way. There has been some work in this area as both the US and Australia has studied the issue. Most of my literature would be from reports. For some topics it may be best to augment your literature review with a table that summarizes your key literature. This format is particularly effective when you have a number of research studies that have been done in your area of interest. Consult with your supervisor as to whether these tables are best presented in your text or as an appendix in your Report.
Conceptual/Theoretical Framework: Every idea or action we have or do has a conceptual/theoretical basis whether or not we stop to think about it in that way. The challenge for you in your practicum is to make that evident. The next section is your conceptual model, conceptual framework, or theoretical framework (how did you
conceptualize what you did?). You need to describe these in sufficient detail to understand how they formed the conceptual or theoretical framework for your study. In my study I used as my conceptual basis the “Tri-agency statement of principles on key professional skills for researchers” and will show how I amended it to address my needs.
Many times existing conceptual models are too constraining so do not try to fit something that does not really fit. You may have constructed your own conceptual model or adapted one you found in the literature to suit your purposes. Discuss this section with your supervisor to help you frame your study appropriately.
Methods or Activities: Next is your practicum activities or methods (The section describes what you did during the practicum). Some students combine objectives and activities and this is fine. For example if an objective was “To do an environmental scan of what different countries/educational organizations have delineated as professional skills for graduates”, an activity would be to locate and review these documents”. I could also survey Schools of Graduate Studies to get this information if an objective is to see how other universities are responding. If HREA approval is required include in this section.
Findings: This section would be important to a research practicum – depends again what you did and found or what happened. In my situation it would be results of the environmental scan/survey. What has been done elsewhere. My challenge here is how I would see it different from my literature search. I would have my main output – required professional skills and examples of how they could be demonstrated/taught.
Discussion: In this section provide some comment and reflection on the practicum experience. This section is what you make of your experience or what you found through research. It is your interpretation and where you demonstrate your critical thinking abilities. For example in my example I may have found that all the countries that had developed professional skills for graduate students may have very different content in those skills, so I would want to provide what I thought was the best explanation or insight into why that was the case. In the Discussion some of the main points will be how you met your Advanced Practice Roles (this could be a sub-heading or be used as a heading instead of Discussion).
Conclusion: And if appropriate include Recommendations. Based on your work in the practicum what conclusions can be drawn or what would you recommend to your agency or others who wanted to use your work. I might well make some recommendations about further work that needs to be done on the professional skill development or how to proceed with introducing these into MN programs.
References: Presented in correct APA style. You should know APA very well at this stage - if not consult a manual or website. Incorrect citations delay students from finishing in good time (Actually appropriate referencing is a professional skill we want
Appendices: Put these in the order you make reference to in your text. I might have as an appendix Ethics approval if I needed that to survey other programs, or my tables of studies from my literature review, or a separate report for any agency if that was required.
Note: These are suggested headings and you may have different ones - that is fine as long as you have logical ordering and include these sections in some way. Always consult with your supervisor(s).
The bolded text are suggested Headings and would be in your Table of Contents. Use whatever sub-headings you need (also included in Table of Contents) and consult APA as to appropriate level of heading. The length of your report will depend on how much you need to write to cover the work you did, but usually exclusive of Appendices it ought to be covered in 30 pages or so. The length may be longer if you needed to include a number of tables in the text. Looking at the various Practicum Reports that have been produced since we adopted this format the length really does vary. The format is pretty well the same – research reports are a little different than practice reports.
Format: The convention in the School of Nursing is to use APA. It is the student's responsibility to ensure that this is done correctly and if learning has occurred the student should know this format by the end of course work. Submitting work that is poorly written and that does not use correct formatting, poor grammar, poor organization, or a lack of logic delays your progress as it takes longer for your supervisor to read and make recommendations for the final report. It could also delay your progress and graduation if you have to submit several drafts. Since our Reports are available in the Health Sciences Library at Memorial University and may be submitted to agencies and organizations where the practicum study was carried out we want these as well written, error free, and professional looking as is possible.
Note: The practicum proposal is not included within the final report.
[Sample cover page]
A Postpartum Support Program for Adolescent Mothers N6010/6011
by
©Marylou Smith
A report submitted to the School of Nursing in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Nursing
School of Nursing
Memorial University of Newfoundland
[Month] [Year]
St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador