Writing for publication. Part 4: Using evidence
Published: 01/05/2012
This series of articles is designed to help you, the dental nurse, think seriously about writing for professional publication. It explores motivation, creating interest, structure and different styles of articles. At the end of the series you should feel confident to start writing your first article
Over the last four months this series has examined the process of professional publication. If you have missed some or all of the articles they are listed below, with the references to access them. If this was the radio programme’ ‘Desert Island Discs’ I would spend a few minutes telling you why I chose each piece of music and why it played a significant part in my life. If you translate the desert island discs idea to this series, then I would tell you how each of these topics has been written from my experience of over 30 years of writing articles, books or conference presentations and supporting others to do the same. Each of the articles is quite short and can easily be read in 10 minutes. If writing for publication is an ambition for you, then access the series and make time to read them. For those really busy people, let me try and summarise the essential points of each article.
Part 1: Motivation and topics (8(2): 96–8)
Work out why you want to publish an article. There are many reasons, all valid, but if you are not really motivated, the hard work and the setbacks will soon make you give up. Write about a topic that you know or that you could have an opinion on. If you are a student or junior dental nurse then that is your area of expertise. Do not feel that you have to be a specialist or a teacher before you can begin to write something for publication.
Part 2: Structure and interest (8(3): 156–9)
It is important to have a logical structure and plan before you begin to write. So make sure you think through what it is you are planning to write bout. Once you have written the first draft of your article then look at it from the reader’s perspective. It’s is all very well writing a learned article, but if it doesn’t look interesting, few people will read it. An interesting title, diagram or picture will attract interest.
Part 3: Case reports and conferences (8(4): 234–7)
Client case studies are really interesting to read and can be written by all levels of dental nurses and practice managers. Project reports require a different style of writing, but are an important way of communicating certain aspects of dental nursing and practice management. A successful conference abstract results in you being invited to present your work at the conference. This is an extremely important way of publishing and sharing your work and ideas.
Unsupported statements
If we were still on ‘Desert Island Discs’ or the writing for publication equivalent then I would now have to tell you which of the above articles was the most important. The answer would be the first one—motivation. If you really want something and are prepared to work for it, then I’m sure you will achieve it. I have seen so many people not achieve their goals or ambitions because they lacked motivation. Recognising your motivation for writing and then identifying the content of your potential article are the first steps in writing for publication. However, if this is all you do in preparation for writing your article, then you will probably receive a rejection letter from the editor because the content, although interesting, lacks the supporting evidence. There are different ways of supporting the content of your writing, these range from clinical experience, best practice guidelines to random-controlled research trials. The next section of this article will help you to understand the difference and write accordingly.
Discussions with colleagues does not count as supported sources of evidence
Coffee room chats and published articles
One of the difficult yet important lessons to learn when writing for academic study or professional publication is the avoidance of unsupported statements. But what exactly does that mean? What is an unsupported statement and why shouldn’t they appear in professional publications? Unsupported statements are opinions or views stated with authority, but of which there is no evidence presented to support that opinion. Such opinions and unsupported statements form much of our daily coffee room conversations and it can be quite therapeutic to vent our opinions. Many of the NHS problems and the world’s political dilemmas would apparently be solved if such coffee room opinions were to be acted upon! That really is the difference between coffee room conversations and academic or professional publication. Facts, opinions and discussions that appear in professional publications should be based on sources of evidence that are explicit and validated. Consider the following examples:
Statements suppor ted by research
? A randomised controlled study (RCT) with 500 participants concluded that… (Smith, 2011)
?A longitudinal study concludes that (Brown, 2012).
Statements supported by ‘best practice’ guidelines
? The British Thoracic Society (BTS, 2009) asthma guidelines recommend the use of combination inhalers for selected patients who are poorly controlled
Statements supported by other (non research) published literature
? Smith (2010) believes that the introduction child-appropriate DVDs in the waiting room will reduce the child’s anxiety.
Statements supported by clinical expertise
? Having worked as a senior dental nurse for the last five years I would support the BDA guidelines (2009) that education reduces patient anxiety.
Unsupported statements
? All patients should be examined in a private area
? Support is the most important quality a dental nurse should develop
? Using XYZ will reduce pain.
If you examine the above examples of supported and unsupported statements you will realise that there are various degrees of ‘strength’ with which a statement can be supported. The strongest level of support is that of a systematic review of a collection of research such as found in Cochrane reviews (
Supporting your article
The relevant point of this in writing for publication is to recognise where you are coming from in terms of handling the vastness of evidence that is out there.you make sense of a Cochrane review or a statistically based RCT? If not, don’t choose a topic which has this sort of evidence base. Conversely, have you got the evidence of how patients have responded to a new dental initiative that has been introduced in your practice? If so what is the strongest way, in terms of evidence, that you could collect and present that in a publication? The point of professional publication is to present something that is more than a coffee room discussion for the benefit of others in your profession. When writing academically or for professional publication it is important to write with authority that is based on evidence. The level of evidence will often determine the type of journal or book you are writing for and the content of the article.
Following the journal style
In this series we examined the motivation that drives nurses to publish in professional journals and then the importance of choosing a topic on which you have a particular expertise or perspective. When I talk to potential authors they are usually quite passionate about these first two steps, they are full of energy regarding what they want to write about and why they want to publish it. However, when I tell them that they need plan carefully and follow the journal guidelines their enthusiasm begins to wane and I can see them thinking ‘we won’t bother too much with that bit’! All too often these enthusiastic nurses skip this important step and just start writing. Sadly what they produce, although at times interesting, is totally unsuitable for the journal they eventually send it to. Not only have they wasted their time, but they will become demoralised when the rejection letter eventually arrives. Why do so many people make this simple mistake?
Planning and authors guidelines
Dental nurses tend to be very action-orientated people, they see something that needs doing and they get on and do it. These are admirable qualities, but ones that need just a little holding back if you are to achieve successful publication. Think of it like planning your clinical day: time spent assessing the needs of the day and planning what needs to happen when, what equipment is required where, what notes are needed and in what order, will produce better quality and more efficient practice and patient care. It’s the same with publication. The time spent planning a structure and reading any authors’ guidelines will help you produce a better quality article in a more efficient way. It will produce an article which is much more likely to be accepted for publication than if you had just jumped in and started writing without doing that preparation. The first thing to do is to make yourself familiar with a few copies of the journals that are relevant to your area of practice and you are planning to publish your work in. Hopefully that is going to be Dental Nursing. Just flick through a few back copies and you will note the general style and variations in what Dental Nursing publishes. Some journals publish on their website or in the journal, ‘advice to authors’. These tend to contain the following information:
? General advice—This includes the type of article that the journal publishes and the particular readership that it targets. It will give you advice about headings, use of boxes, the referencing technique required and general layout of the article. Have a look at the BJN’s ‘Instructions to Authors which are particularly useful and quite relevant to Dental Nursing:
www.britishjournalofnursing.com/contribute.shtml ? Article structure—This includes the word length, the type of headings required, the style of language and the identification of key words. These vary considerably with different journals
? Specialist journal advice—Journals which target a particular topic will often have quite specific advice. The Journal of Clinical Nursing has, for example, a large section on ethical guidelines:
www.wiley.com/bw/submit.asp?ref=0962-1067&site=1 ? Different types of papers—Some journals are very specific regarding how particular papers are presented. The Journal of Advanced Nursing has different guidelines on eleven types of papers it publishes including ‘systematic reviews’, clinical trials, concept analysis and discussion papers:
www.journalofadvancednursing.com/default.asp?file=authorinfo.
It is important to follow the journal’s style
‘ Dental nurses tend to be very action-orientated people; they see something that needs doing and they get on and do it’
Do not let this important planning stage of writing dampen your enthusiasm for publication. A little time spent choosing the appropriate journal and following their advice is time well spent. As a general rule the journal that you find most useful and interesting to read is the journal you should aim to publish your first article in.
Before you turn the page and start reading the next article, take a few moments to think about an article that you want to write. Is it a letter in response to one of the articles in this issue of Dental Nursing, a case study relating to an interesting patient, a particular condition you are interested in or any other area of your work? Your article could appear in a future edition of Dental Nursing.
position="float" orientation="portrait">? Take time to plan your article before you start typing>.
? Support your view with evidence.
? Make sure you follow the style and any guidelines of the journal you are submitting your work to.
? Have confdence in your own ability to write an article.
KEY POINTS
Author: MA Healthcare
