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Assignment questions
NursingResearch paperEvidence-based practice

PICOT and six-article reference list with abstracts

Select a practice problem, write a PICOT statement for your capstone project, then conduct a literature search and produce a reference list of six peer-reviewed research articles — some qualitative and some quantitative — with each article's abstract reproduced beneath its reference.

Editorial process

Last reviewed · August 14, 2026

01

Choosing articles you will still need in five weeks

One sentence in this brief changes how you should choose: the six articles will be utilized through the next five weeks as reference sources. This is not a standalone task but the foundation of everything that follows in the sequence, so an article picked because it was the first credible hit will be a liability by week four. So choose for durability — articles close to your actual PICOT population and intervention, recent enough to remain defensible in five weeks, and substantial enough to cite for more than one claim. Start with the PICOT statement, then let it drive the search terms, because a search run before the question is settled returns articles about the topic rather than about the question, and the difference only becomes visible three weeks later when you need a specific claim supported and none of your six articles makes it.

The qualitative and quantitative requirement is explicit and is checked, so make the mix deliberate. Quantitative studies will tell you whether an intervention changed an outcome and by how much; qualitative studies will tell you why patients did or did not engage with it, which is usually where a nursing intervention succeeds or fails. The brief gives you the search mechanics — CINAHL Complete, the Research Article limit on the advanced search page, and adding qualitative or quantitative as a search term in a lower box — so use them rather than improvising, and confirm the design by reading the abstract and methods section rather than trusting the title. The deliverable itself is specific and easy to get wrong: a title page and a reference list with each article's abstract reproduced beneath its reference. That is the article's own abstract, not your summary of it, and the references must be correctly formatted in APA because the list is the thing being marked.

Likely learning objectives

Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.

  • 01
    Identify a practice problem arising from clinical care.
  • 02
    Write a PICOT statement that can drive a literature search.
  • 03
    Use database limits and search terms to locate research articles by design.
  • 04
    Distinguish qualitative from quantitative research by reading abstract and methods.
  • 05
    Produce a correctly formatted APA reference list with abstracts.
Assignment instructionsQuoted verbatim

Read the full question

Review every instruction before using the planning guidance that follows.

Assignment Diabetes and Pediatric Dialysis Diabetes and Pediatric Dialysis Select a practice problem of interest to use as the focus of your research. Start with the patient and identify the clinical problems or issues that arise from clinical care. Following the PICOT format, write a PICOT statement in your selected practice problem area of interest, which is applicable to your proposed capstone project. The PICOT statement will provide a framework for your capstone project (the project students must complete during their final course in the RN-BSN program of study). Conduct a literature search to locate research articles focused on your selected practice problem of interest. This literature search should include both quantitative and qualitative peer-reviewed research articles to support your practice problem. Select six peer-reviewed research articles which will be utilized through the next 5 weeks as reference sources. Be sure that some of the articles use qualitative research and that some use quantitative research. Create a reference list in which the six articles are listed. Beneath each reference include the article’s abstract. The completed assignment should have a title page and a reference list with abstracts. Diabetes and Pediatric Dialysis Assignment Suggestions for locating qualitative and quantitative research articles from credible sources: Use a library database such as CINAHL Complete for your search. Using the advanced search page check the box beside “Research Article” in the “Limit Your Results” section. When setting up the search you can type your topic in the top box, then add quantitative or qualitative as a search term in one of the lower boxes. Research articles often are described as qualitative or quantitative. To narrow/broaden your search, remove the words qualitative and quantitative and include words that narrow or broaden your main topic. For example: Diabetes and pediatric and dialysis. To determine what research design was used, review the abstract and the methods section of the article. The author will provide a description of data collection using qualitative or quantitative methods. Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion. You are not required to submit this assignment to Turnitin.
Course-wide instructions that accompany this question

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation Hi Class, Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts. Contact me if you have any questions. Important information on Writing a Discussion Question Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references) There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article. Include in-text citations in your response Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information Assignment Diabetes and Pediatric Dialysis Follow APA-7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week. Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references) Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count. Follow APA 7th edition Points will be deducted if the above is not followed Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points. Here are some helpful links Student paper example Citing Sources The Writing Center is a great resource Welcome to class Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to. I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you. Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted. If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations. Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements. Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week. I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

02

Turn the brief into deliverables

  1. 01
    A selected practice problem of interest.
  2. 02
    A PICOT statement in the required format for the capstone project.
  3. 03
    Six peer-reviewed research articles located through a literature search.
  4. 04
    A deliberate mix of qualitative and quantitative studies among the six.
  5. 05
    A title page and reference list with each article's abstract beneath its reference.
03

Problem, PICOT, search, then the annotated list

01

The practice problem

A clinical problem arising from patient care, stated specifically.

02

The PICOT statement

All five elements, framing the capstone project.

03

The search strategy

Database, limits and terms used, including the design filter.

04

The quantitative articles

Studies establishing whether and how much an intervention changes outcomes.

05

The qualitative articles

Studies explaining engagement, experience and barriers.

06

The annotated reference list

Six APA references, each followed by the article's own abstract.

04

Qualitative and quantitative, deliberately mixed

Recommended databases

  • CINAHL Complete
  • PubMed
  • Cochrane Library
  • StatPearls via NCBI Bookshelf
  • MedlinePlus

Search sequence

  1. 1.
    Write the PICOT statement before running any search.
  2. 2.
    Use the CINAHL advanced search page and check the Research Article limit.
  3. 3.
    Add qualitative or quantitative as a term in a lower search box.
  4. 4.
    Read each candidate's abstract and methods to confirm the design.
  5. 5.
    Check each article would still be useful for a paper four weeks from now.
05

Reference shortlist

These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.

Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.

  1. 01

    Epidemiology Of Study Design

    StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024

    How to recognise a study design from its methods, which is what the mix requirement depends on.

  2. 02

    Evidence-Based Medicine

    StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf · 2024

    Where a PICOT question sits in the evidence-based practice sequence and what it is for.

  3. 03

    Diabetes in Children and Teens

    MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · 2024

    Background on one half of the stated topic area, for framing the practice problem.

  4. 04

    Dialysis

    MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine · 2024

    Background on the other half, including what paediatric dialysis involves for patients and families.

06

Review before submission

Common mistakes

  • Searching before the PICOT statement is written, so articles fit the topic not the question.
  • Choosing articles for convenience that will not support the next five weeks of work.
  • Submitting six studies of the same design when the brief requires a mix.
  • Assuming a study's design from its title rather than its methods section.
  • Writing your own summary in place of the article's abstract.
  • Formatting the references inconsistently when the list is the graded artefact.

Submission checklist

  • The practice problem and PICOT statement are stated first.
  • Six peer-reviewed research articles are listed.
  • Both qualitative and quantitative designs are represented.
  • Each design was confirmed from the methods section.
  • Each reference is followed by that article's own abstract.
  • A title page is present and APA formatting is correct throughout.

Use this guide to plan and review your own work. Follow your institution's rules and read our academic-integrity policy.

Written by

Aaron Bishop

MA, Education

assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines

Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.

Reviewed by

Dr. Nathan Cole

PhD, Rhetoric & Composition

Argumentation and thesis development

Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.

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