Information Literacy and Leadership
Many nurses have had the experience of a patient bringing them an internet article on treatment or procedure that seemed sketchy as far as reliability. With access to the internet there is a multitude of less than reliable information free for the taking. As a nurse leader you have an especially high bar before you promote a new practice recommendation. Knowing what is authoritative and reliable is essential.
One of the competencies you will need to develop at the graduate level of practice is the ability to discern what is valid and credible from unsupported, unreliable information.
In contrast to primary sources, a secondary source* is merely a third person’s interpretation of what the author said and you can’t be sure what they interpret is correct without viewing the author’s original article. So when you read an article and someone says, “Jones found that Knowles thought adults…” you cannot rely on Jones, you must go to Knowles article and read it for yourself.
Or in your textbooks, when the author talks about research conducted by someone else, you have a duty to refer to the citations in the back (to pull the original article) and confirm if what the textbook author concluded is correct before using their opinion for citation support.
You also know that you are looking for information in peer-reviewed journals that has been published within the last five years to support your papers. Nursing is anything but stationary in practice so advancements are constantly being made and research findings overturned. If you rely dated literature you may be counting on information that is no longer valid and will yield poor, unsubstantiated results. It is your reputation and credibility that is on the line as a leader.
Using APA 6th edition format, in a 4-5 page paper (not including the cover and reference page in the total count), please address the following areas:
This paper is due on or before Sunday evening of week 4 by 11:59 p.m. For your convenience, an APA template for your paper has been provided.
*There are three exceptions to using studies older than five years.
1) The original study is no longer available to view… this is truly rare as the internet has been indexing older literature for years. If you think you have this situation, reach out to the librarians for assistance. They are experts as locating information, are more than willing to help, and you can do this from home via the website.
2) You are relying on a “hallmark” study. This is a study that you keep seeing referred to in the literature, so the information has stood the test of time. Because you need to rely on the original source as we discussed above, you would have a citation from Knowles dating back to 1980.
3) The concept or theory is so under researched or studied, there is little literature available that is current. Again, this is when you contact the librarian for assistance as it may be a matter of lack of experience with searching for this topic that is preventing you from finding the information. If after contacting the librarian, they are unsuccessful in locating more recent information, you may have to then rely on the limited studies you can find. You should however, explain to the reader, why you are relying on older studies.
Information Literacy and Leadership