There are several purposes for this assignment:
1. To provide you with an exploration of the concepts of nurses’ ways of knowing.
2. To provide an opportunity to reflect about your own ways of knowing.
3. To evaluate your written communication skills and your ability to organize your thoughts in a logical presentation.
4. To determine your mastery of APA format.
Requirements for this paper include:
1. Before beginning this assignment, please read the following documents (located in module two – Patterns of Knowing in Nursing – under the weekly learning modules button in blackboard):
a. Fundamental Patterns of Knowing in Nursing
b. Pedagogical Evolution
2. Before beginning this assignment, please read the following document (located in module three – The Art and Science of Nursing – under the weekly learning modules button in blackboard):
a. The Art and Science of Nursing: Similarities, Differences, and Relations
3. This assignment should state your understanding of nurses’ ways of knowing.
a. Define the 4 patterns of knowing (empirics, ethics, personal knowledge, and esthetics) described by Barbara Carper. Compare definitions that you find in the literature with those described by Barbara Carper.
b. Describe why these patterns of knowing are essential to the professional nurse.
c. Reflect upon how one of these patterns was used by you in the practice setting.
4. Length must be three (3) to four (4) content pages plus the title page and references page(s).
5. There must be at least five (5) references. You are expected to use the readings listed above as references and then locate an additional 2 or more references in the literature. You must include a minimum of three (3) journal articles from scholarly resources.
Note: A scholarly resource is defined in NURS486 as a publication written by academics, researchers, or other scholars. This publication communicates new research and scholarly ideas and may be called ‘refereed’ or ‘peer-reviewed’
