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WCU BSN Final Portfolio
Your Name Here
West Coast University
NIURS 497: Capstone
Instructor’s Name
January 17, 2022
Table of Contents
(List your page numbers like I started- DELETE this sentence before submitting)
Professional Cover Letter 3
Professional Resume4
Professional References
Letter of Recommendation
Long-Term and Short-Term SMART Goals
Essentials I-IX Summary Paper
Personal Nursing Philosophy
Sigma Theta Tau Nurse Manager Certificate
Other Certificates
Professional Cover Letter
(I left this information below so you can read how to format and use headings in your portfolio. Please delete it after reading and before submitting to Canvas)
Formatting
Appearance Elements of Formatting
The typeface you are reading is double-spaced with extra spaces before and after paragraphs removed, and the font is 12-point Times New Roman. 11-point Calibri, 11-point Arial, 11-point Georgia, and 10-point Lucida Sans Unicode are also acceptable in APA 7th edition formatting (APA, 2020) Ask your instructor if a specific font is required. Instructors are wise to the tricks of using larger type fonts (or smaller ones) and spacing gimmicks in order to meet the minimum or maximum page requirements for assignments. Do not use tricks to compensate for too little or too much writing in your assignments.
Other appearance elements are margins, page numbering, and indenting. One-inch margins are required in APA style papers. The header for a student paper only includes a page number in the upper-right corner of the page (APA, 2020). Speak with your instructors regarding if a running head is required for an assignment. If a running head is required, it should be an abbreviated version of the title, not to exceed 50 characters including letters, punctuation, and spaces, and should be placed flush to the left on the same line as the page number (APA, 2020). There is exactly one space after each punctuation mark, except for periods at the end of a sentence, after which there are two spaces. The final consideration discussed related to appearance is paragraph indenting. Paragraphs are indented, 5 to 7 spaces or ½ inch.
Headings
Use APA formatted headings and subheadings to organize the sections of your paper and to help your reader transition from section to section. See section 2.27 and 2.28 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) for more information on heading levels. A suggestion is to use headings that are in the order of the assignment and evaluation criteria or rubric so your instructor can easily see you have fulfilled each part of the assignment’s content requirements.
The first heading level is centered, boldface, uppercase, and lowercase lettering. Do not start a new page for each heading.
Subheadings
The first level of subheadings is formatted flush left, boldface, uppercase, and lowercase lettering.
Citations
Source material must be documented in the body of the paper by citing the authors and dates of the sources, even if the idea presented is not taken word for word. The full source citation will appear on the references page. When the names of the authors of a source are part of the formal structure of the sentence, i.e., the narrative of the paper, the year of the publication appears in parenthesis following the identification of the authors, for example, Smith (2001). When the authors of a source are not part of the formal structure of the sentence, both the authors and years of publication appear in parentheses, separated by semicolons, for example (Anderson et al., 2003).
When citing a source with one or two authors, make sure to cite the author’s or both author’s names every time the source is referenced. When a source that has three or more authors, only the first author’s surname followed by “et al.” is used in the in-text citation unless doing so could create confusion (APA, 2020, p. 266).
When a direct quotation is used, include the author, year, and page number as part of the citation. A quotation of fewer than 40 words should be enclosed in double quotation marks and incorporated into the formal structure of the sentence. A longer quote of 40 or more words should appear (without quotation marks) in block format with each line indented ½ inch from the left margin. See Chapter 8 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) for more information on in-text citations.
Writing Tips
Good writing demands attention to style considerations, including language, grammar, and usage. Your message is lost on the reader if your paper includes errors in word choice, grammar, and usage that interrupt the flow of your writing. It is important to present yourself, your ideas and research as professionally as possible. See Chapter 4 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th edition) for more information on writing style and grammar.
Always end with a conclusion where you summarize your paper and repeat the primary points. Remember that a well-written essay is like planning a trip. The introduction is the planning stage; the body is the journey. The conclusion allows the opportunity to reflect on where the journey has taken you. This is similar to reviewing the pictures you took on your trip and remembering the important places and experiences.
References
(For assignments such as your AACN Essentials that has its own reference page, make sure you leave the reference page with that assignment… DO NOT make one big reference page at the end of the portfolio- DELETE before submitting.)
Entries are organized alphabetically and formatted with a hanging indention. Include only the sources you cited in the text of your paper.
American Psychological Association. (2020). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.). https://doi.or/10.1037/0000165-000
Anderson, Charles & Johnson (2003). The impressive psychology paper. Lucerne Publishing.
Smith, M. (2001). Writing a successful paper. The Trey Research Monthly, 53, 149-150.