Self-reflections on scholarly writing: Strengths, challenges, and growth as doctor of nursing practice students

BACKGROUND: Writing is integral to nursing education and the nursing profession, but scholarly writing produced by graduate nursing students is often viewed through a deficit lens. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to capture and describe doctor of nursing practice students' perceptions of their writing strengths and challenges, and to learn from reflections on a writing assignment, to inform graduate faculty and their pedagogy, helping them better understand their student population. METHODOLOGY: This study used a qualitative, descriptive approach to review 205 student reflections on writing strengths, challenges, and learning to understand their perspectives on scholarly writing. RESULTS: Varied foundational levels of writing and other academic skills, previous experience, orientations, and attitudes that students bring to writing emerged in these student reflections. Responses were categorized into identity, attitude, resources, style, process, and mechanics. CONCLUSIONS: Students expressed resilience, dedication, self-awareness, self-doubt, and uncertainty. Support resources helped students gain confidence and experience. IMPLICATIONS: We should acknowledge the existing skills and resources on which students can build and grow as graduate scholars and writers. We should also not assume that all nurses or graduate nursing students write in an academic or scholarly manner before entering programs; one of the values of this assignment was that it required students to access specialized, writing-specific support. Scaffolding collaboration with existing academic supports, such as writing centers and library resources, can help students identify their strengths and spur development as graduate-level writers.