An EBP paper takes one clinical problem, gathers the best available research, weighs it honestly and shows how the findings could change what nurses do. This guide breaks the assignment into the steps your instructor is looking for and shows what a strong purpose statement sounds like.
Evidence-based practice brings together three things: the best current research, the clinician's expertise, and the patient's values and circumstances. A paper that summarises articles without asking what they mean for practice is a literature summary, not an EBP paper. Your reader wants to see a decision emerge from the evidence.
The classic definition appears in Sackett and colleagues' 1996 BMJ article, which is worth a look if your course asks for foundational sources. Most programs then organise the work around a stepwise model, and it helps to name the model you are using in your introduction.
| Step | What you do | What the paper shows |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ask | Turn a practice problem into an answerable question, usually in PICOT form | Introduction and purpose |
| 2. Acquire | Search databases with a documented strategy | Methods section |
| 3. Appraise | Judge validity, results and applicability | Evidence table and discussion |
| 4. Apply | Decide whether and how to change practice | Recommendations and implementation plan |
| 5. Assess | Plan how you would measure the change | Evaluation section |
Broad topics such as "pressure injuries" cannot be answered by any set of articles. Narrow the topic into a population, an intervention, a comparison and an outcome, then write it as one question. If you are stuck, our PICOT paper guide walks through each element and the four common question types.
Instructors mark the search because it shows whether your evidence is a fair sample or a convenient one. Record which databases you searched (for example CINAHL and PubMed), the date, your key terms and synonyms, how you combined them with AND and OR, and the limits you applied, such as peer-reviewed, English language and a recent date range. A short table or a flow of "records found, screened, included" works well. The National Library of Medicine offers training on searching that is worth bookmarking.
Appraisal has two jobs: rating how strong each study's design is, and judging whether it was done well. Many nursing programs use a hierarchy in which systematic reviews and randomised trials sit near the top and expert opinion near the bottom, but always use the specific level system your course provides, since versions differ. Then ask quality questions: Was the sample adequate? Were groups comparable? Were outcomes measured consistently? Were limitations acknowledged?
Checklists from CASP and JBI can guide those judgements, and your institution may supply its own appraisal tool. Whatever you use, summarise your appraisals in an evidence table with columns for citation, design, sample, key findings, limitations and level.
Synthesis means organising by idea, not by article. Group sources that agree, note where they conflict, and explain possible reasons, such as different settings or measures. A sentence that begins "Three of the five studies found..." shows synthesis. A paragraph that begins "Smith found... Lee found... Patel found..." usually does not.
ProNursingWriters can help you refine the question, structure the evidence table or polish a draft before you submit.
This section separates strong papers from adequate ones. State what you recommend, who would need to agree, what resources or education it needs, what barriers you expect, and how you would know it worked. Tie each recommendation back to a specific finding in your evidence table. If you are also writing a project proposal, see the quality improvement proposal guide.
Fictional context: a medical-surgical unit is considering hourly rounding to reduce falls.
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| The purpose of this paper is to discuss falls in hospitals and rounding. | The purpose of this paper is to appraise current research on whether scheduled hourly nurse rounding, compared with usual care, reduces inpatient falls among adults on medical-surgical units, and to recommend whether the unit should adopt it. |
The strong version names the population, the intervention, the comparison, the outcome and the intended decision, so the reader knows exactly what the rest of the paper must deliver.
Match your rubric. If the assignment lists headings, use them as your headings. Graders often score section by section.
Your syllabus decides. Undergraduate papers often ask for a handful of primary studies, while graduate papers expect more. Choose quality and relevance over quantity.
They overlap, but an EBP paper ends in a practice recommendation and implementation plan. See our literature review guide for the difference.
Often yes, and systematic reviews sit high in most hierarchies, but check whether your instructor wants primary studies. Also read our EBP paper help page.
Usually, if you de-identify the unit, staff and patients and follow your program's rules on organisational information.