Academic Journal Genre Study of Nurse Practitioners

Briana Pierre
Nursing major student, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida

18 February 2015

Abstract: The genre used to discuss professional research, major objectives, and ideas in the
nursing profession as in many science-based line of work, is the academic/scholarly peerreviewed journal. Academic journals obtained its importance due to the credibility and
relevance it has to offer. The section/grouping setup of academic journals grants nurses the
ability to transmit factual knowledge into distinguishing categories beyond the normality of the
standard essay writing structure. The separation of facts with clear distinctions between major
viewpoints, as well as visual evidence to guide readers, most certainly had an effect on the way
nursing journals are formatted and presented.
Keywords
Genre, nursing, academic article

Correspondence
Briana Pierre, Nursing major, University of Central Florida,
Orlando, FL, 32816
Email: BPierre@Knights.ucf.edu

Introduction
The use of academic journals play an
important role for those in the field of nursing
seeking to access knowledge and
information. It may seem as if these articles
only consist of commonplace scientific
lingo and numbers on table charts when
first seen, but rest assure, this representation

Background

is absently accurate and is set-in stone for a

purpose. This genre has been implemented by
the nursing community for many decades
used mainly to transmit and dissect researchbased studies. In the subsequent text, I seek
to analyze three academic journals and
conclude why this particular genre is adopted
by the nursing profession and the
effectiveness it possess.

In order to fully grasp the classification of an

academic journal as a genre, one must be able
to comprehend the meaning of the term genre
as a whole. Amy Devitt, a director and
teacher at the University of Kansas states, In
sum, Genre is a dynamic response to and
construction of recurring situation, one that
changes historically and in different social
groups, that adapts and grows as the social
contexts changes (Devitt, 1993). In other
words, a genre is an ever-changing
phenomenon that produces a response to reallife situations amongst various groups of
people that evolves as the language of the
group changes.
Nurse Practitioners primary focus as stated
by the American Association of Nurse
Practitioners (2013) is to blend clinical
expertise in diagnosing and treating health
conditions with an added emphasis on
disease prevention and health management.
NPs also play an active role outside of
healthcare facilities in which they serve as
leaders and researchers who are working
toward becoming competent in decisionmaking and reasoning in diagnostic aspects.
Academic journals serve as a way for nurses
to present new information or provide a fresh
insight to different perspectives for a
particular academic or scientific debate,
research, or problem going on in the nursing
community. Specifically, academic journals
are argumentative tools. In other words, they
provides a claim and supports that claim with
reasoning by proper referencing or collective
data.

The dynamics of an academic journal

changes to accommodate the new research
that is being presented. It provides research
methods which is then thoroughly elaborated
by an explanation.
Setting
All three academic journals which are The
Doctor of Nursing Practice: Looking back,
Moving Forward, The Development of
Nurse Practitioner Preparation beyond the
Masters Level: What is the Debate About?
and Toward Clarication of the Doctor of
Nursing Practice Degree discuss expanding
the scope of practice for nurse practitioners
and seek to bring forth a resolution to the ongoing debate of whether or not a doctorate
degree should be implemented to
accommodate the flourishing dynamic of the
world of healthcare. Each found on UCF
academics database. The cost of academic
journals vary, furthermore, UCF pays
millions a year to allow students access to
these scholarly articles at home or in school.
These academic journals came from peerreviewed, which means that the article is
reviewed by nurses who specialize in this
particular field of nurse practitioners.
The purpose of peer-reviewers reviewing
these academic articles is to ensure that the
journal is accurate and that the research is
validated to fit its methods and procedures. If
a journal fails to meet these guidelines, it will
not be published on any academic databases.
Those that are accepted into academic
databases meet the guidelines and is a

representation as the best practice of research

in this particular field of study.

Academic journals stand faithfully behind the

concept of credibility because scholars are
upheld to a certain standard in which they
exemplify a sense of knowledge in this field.

Structure

deciding whether to read that paragraph or

skim to another. Academic journals are
proven to be effective in the nursing
community because it categorizes important
ideas, which is then used to communicate to
the audience, enabling them to grasp the
content quickly.

Each article is presented with the article title

at the top of the page in bold black letters with
the name of the author(s) who contributed to
writing the journal article following
immediately after. Although most academic
journals list the credentials after the authors
name, one of the articles I chose did not do
so, but instead had the credentials at the end
of the article. The abstract, which serves a
purpose of providing a summary for the
journal is usually found underneath the name
of the contributing author(s).
Academic journals are divided into a 2
column format, with bolded sub-headers
above each topic to provide a quick and easy
classification of what is being discussed. This
useful form of journal writing ensures nurses
to further structure the content in a neat and
organized manner instead of clumping an
abundance amount of information into a
standard well-written essay. The 2 column
format in academic journals are not only
found useful to nurses, it serves as a
beneficial factor to readers as well. Subheading sections assist the readers in

Academic journals are further formatted with

size 12 Times New Roman font, singlespaced, and properly margined to ensure a
sense of professionally within the article.
Being that academic journals are seen by
other scholars, the format of the journal play
a vital role in your credibility and
competence to present research knowledge to
others in an academic or scientific manner.
Multiple table diagrams are demonstrated in
one of the articles for the purpose of clarity to
rather difficult concepts that are unfamiliar to
those not involved in the field of nursing.
Every academic journal concludes with a
conclusion to summarize the main points of
the journal and ends with a references
section to demonstrate the credibility of the
author(s) and of the journal itself. Sources in
academic journals are cited in APA style

which is adopted mainly within social

sciences to aid in the clarity of information
for the purpose of communication and to

reduce word usage that may be seen as biased

language.

Authors and audience

a discourse community uses and that access

is gained when we begin to recognize how
"lived textualities" interact with and
transform "lived experiences (Devitt,
Bawarshi, & Reiff, 2003). Most research and
scientific ideas are considered jargon to those
who dont have a clear understanding of the
profession, but to those who are directly
involved, the terms that are used appeal to
their knowledge. Thus, making scholars a
target audience in the field of nursing due to
the fact that they are able to recognize the
complexity of terms used, which makes the
content easier to grasp. The ability for
scholars to cite their sources and interact with
old evidence in comparison to new ones
makes the scholar more professional and
viewed as competent in this field of study.
Those who are not involved in the nursing
field or not able to gain access as much too
academic databases are left out because they
are deemed not to be credible and or lack the
necessary knowledge needed to understand
the components that make up this field.

Nurse practitioners who write academic

journals gravitate to being experts in their
field of study. Most are likely to have
obtained the proper credentials and have the
educational background to collaborate their
expertise. In this nursing community, those
who have a masters, PhD, or a doctorate
degree are those who write academic
journals, but specifically, these are the people
who are credible to nurse practitioners and
others in this field. The target audience is
other scholars. Scholars are target as the
major audience due to the fact that nurses
seek the necessary knowledge needed from
others who may have had more knowledge
than them. Since academic articles can be
based off of research or scientific
methodology, scholars make references to
old and new profound information to further
enhance the credibility of their claims. Genre
study authors argue that analyzing study of
genre within its specific textual content
provides an access into the type of language

Conclusion
The academic journal is a genre in which the
nursing community adopted to aid in the
communicative
process
between
its
members. This form of allows for nursing

scholars to effectively organize their ideas

and thoughts in way that is informative but
seeks to respond to specific claims within an
article in the same sense. Academic journals

provide an insight on old discoveries and

provide scholars with the credibility to stand
behind new information. The ability for the
audience to grasp the content quickly and
with ease proves the effectiveness of the
usage and intended use of academic journals.
They provide clarity to complex concepts
within all fields of social science. Organizing
research methods in a way that allows for
researchers to make a claim on a specific
topic, and furthermore support those claims
with evidence from other credible sources
also effectively verify the validity of

academic journals used by the nursing

profession.
Peer-reviewed journal ensures that the
research being presented is the best in the
field of nursing, allowing the credibility of
scholars to be recognized and interpreted into
more knowledge. The genre of academic
journals provides nurses with a means for
publishing their findings or results and being
able to identify that with others in the same
field.

References
Devitt, A. J. (1993). Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept. College
Composition and Communication, (4). 573.
Devitt, A. J., Bawarshi, A., & Reiff, M. J. (2003). Materiality and Genre in the Study of
Discourse Communities. College English, (5). 541.
What's an NP? (2013). Retrieved February 20, 2015, from http://www.aanp.org/all-aboutnps/what-is-an-np
Chism, L. (2009). Toward clarification of the doctor of nursing practice degree. Advanced
Emergency Nursing Journal, 31(4), 287-297. doi:10.1097/TME.0b013e3181be0fd6
Apold, S. (2008). The doctor of nursing practice: looking back, moving forward. Journal For
Nurse Practitioners, 4(2), 101-108.
Brar, K., Boschma, G., & McCuaig, F. (2010). The development of nurse practitioner
preparation beyond the master's level: what is the debate about?. International Journal Of
Nursing Education Scholarship, 7(1), 15P. doi:10.2202/1548-923X.1928