Synthesis of Evidence Substantiating a Practice Gap

In a 4-5 page paper, synthesize the evidence you collected to substantiate your gap in practice.

Introduction

Now that you have chosen a gap in practice to focus on in your writing, it is time to find evidence that shows this problem is worth exploring or researching. In this assessment, you will be substantiating your practice gap or problem with evidence from the literature by searching for high-quality articles, completing an evidence table, and synthesizing your findings for readers.

Identify at least five recent research articles that provide information or insight about a specific clinical practice gap.

Summarize recent research articles about a specific clinical practice gap by completing an evidence table.

Provide a critical review of all chosen research articles, including methodology, research questions, theoretical basis, and findings.

Synthesize the evidence using the MEAL plan format. (see attached document)

Note: The assessments in this course must be completed in the order presented; subsequent assessments should be built on both your earlier work and your instructor’s feedback on earlier assessments. If you choose to submit assessments prematurely, without considering and integrating your instructor’s feedback, your assessment may be returned ungraded, resulting in your loss of an assessment attempt.

Instructions

Now that you have identified a gap in practice at your site that has the appropriate scope for a DNP project, it is time to collect evidence to substantiate the gap or problem. Being able to find peer-reviewed, relevant literature to support your findings is a vital part of gaining stakeholder support.

Preparation: Evidence Table

For this part of the assessment, use the Evidence Table Template [DOCX] (** See attached document) to list research articles that will help inform the topic you selected for your course project in Assessment 4 (see attached document).

Search scholarly sources databases for a minimum of five research articles that you will use for your project topic. Complete the evidence table fully for these articles, providing all the required information. MUST BE 5 YEARS OLD OR NEWER

Identify five keywords that relate to a specific gap in practice in the PICOT question.

Conduct a literature search using the keywords and select at least five relevant research articles, published within the past five years, that provide information or insight about the clinical practice gap.

Create an evidence table and complete each column for each research article.

Include the evidence table as an appendix to this assessment.

Part 1: Critical Review of Literature

For the first part of the assessment, provide a critical review of each of the articles you included in the evidence table.

Start with a one-paragraph introduction that includes a brief overview of the gap in practice. Then, for each article, write a one-paragraph critique that addresses the following:

Provide a one-sentence overview of the main point of the article.

Be sure each article is correctly formatted in APA format. The author’s last name and date should be used to identify each article, rather than the article title.

Provide the research questions and discuss the research methodology used.

If the research question is not specified, provide the aim of the study instead.

Analyze the theoretical basis and/or conceptual framework used in the study, if described in the study.

Critically appraise the study using one or more of the following:

SORT [PDF]. (see attached documents)

Johns Hopkins [PDF]. (see attached documents)

What is GRADE? https://bestpractice.bmj.com/info/us/toolkit/learn-ebm/what-is-grade/

Report on the study findings and propose a possible application this article could have to your own project topic.

Length: 3–4 pages.

Part 2: Synthesis of Literature

You have done a great job of collecting a lot of information to substantiate a gap in practice. Now it is time to summarize the information, reach conclusions, and link the resources that you found. In other words, a synthesis is akin to combining the parts to make a whole. This is accomplished by asking yourself, what is the main point(s) that the selected research articles have in common? For the second part of the assessment, provide a brief synthesis (1–2 paragraphs) of the information you have collected from the five articles you chose.

Thus, following the MEAL plan, you will write a topic sentence for this section that makes a main point, which is supported and explained by all of the articles you selected. If you devote one paragraph to an entire article, you are creating an annotated bibliography, which is helpful for your personal use to keep track of your articles, but it is not a synthesis of the literature. This skill will be important for you to master before you create your project charter, which must be written professionally, yet succinctly.

In your synthesis of the literature:

Following the MEAL Plan, synthesize the gap in practice using all five articles to clearly identify the gap in practice.

Identify any unanswered questions and areas where further research is needed.

The paragraph should be in your own words and should not include quotes.

Part 3: Writing Feedback

An important part of writing at the doctoral level is using feedback to improve your writing skills. Look back at the feedback you have already received on previous assessments in this course, and write a short conclusion to this paper that addresses the following:

What kinds of writing feedback did you receive on your previous assessments? Are there any specific writing skills you may need to work on?

How do you plan to improve your writing in these areas? What resources do you think would be useful to you in your journey to become a better academic writer?

How will implementing these changes move your work closer to one or more of the writing quality indicators identified in the Writing Feedback Tool (see below)?

Additional Requirements

Length: 4–5 pages, not including evidence table.

Organization: Use level headings for everything except the introduction; the title of the paper on the cover page should be placed before the introduction.

Appendix: Include evidence table as an appendix.

Grading Criteria

Your assessment will be graded using the following scoring guide criteria:

• Identify at least five recent research articles that provide information or insight about a specific clinical practice gap.
• Summarize recent research articles about a specific clinical practice gap by completing an evidence table.
• Provide a critical review of all chosen research articles, including methodology, research questions, theoretical basis, and findings.
• Synthesize the evidence using the MEAL plan format.
• Explain how the integration of writing feedback improves the assessment.
• Produce text with minimal grammar, usage, spelling, and mechanical errors.
• Apply APA formatting to in-text citations and references.