Writing a Nursing Essay Paper Outline

Writing a Nursing Essay Paper Outline

Outlining Strategies

Developing an outline for your first draft by listing the topic sentence of each paragraph can help ensure that each paragraph serves a specific purpose in your paper. This approach allows you to identify opportunities to combine or eliminate potential paragraphs, especially when first drafts contain repetitive ideas or sections that hinder rather than advance the paper’s central argument.

Moreover, if you encounter challenges while revising your paper, creating an outline of each paragraph and its topic sentence after completing the paper can help identify the strengths and weaknesses of the paper. This process can be particularly effective in pinpointing a paper’s strengths and areas that require improvement.

The U.S. Nursing Shortage: A State-by-State Breakdown

Example Outline

The following outline is for a 5-7 page paper examining the relationship between educational attainment and health. Refer to the other sections on this page for more detailed information about each component of this outline.

I. Introduction

A. Current Problem: Educational attainment rates are declining in the United States while healthcare costs are increasing.
B. Population/Area of Focus: Unskilled or low-skilled adult workers
C. Key Terms: healthy, well-educated

Thesis Statement: Because of their income deficit (cite sources) and general susceptibility to depression (cite sources), students who drop out of high school before graduation maintain a higher risk for physical and mental health problems later in life.

II. Background

A. Historical Employment Overview: Unskilled laborers in the past were often unionized and adequately compensated for their work (cite sources).
B. Historical Healthcare Overview: Unskilled laborers in the past often received adequate healthcare and benefits (cite sources).
C. Current Link between Education and Employment Type: Increasingly, uneducated workers are employed in unskilled or low-skilled jobs (cite sources).
D. Gaps in the Research: Limited information is available exploring the health implications of current conditions in low-skilled jobs.

III. Major Point 1: Employment conditions impact workers’ physical health.

A. Minor Point 1: Unskilled work environments are highly correlated with workplace injuries (cite sources).
B. Minor Point 2: Unskilled work environments often lack healthcare or sufficient time for injury recovery (cite sources).

IV. Major Point 2: Employment conditions affect workers’ mental health.

A. Minor Point 1: Employment in low-skilled positions is strongly linked to high levels of stress (cite sources).
B. Minor Point 2: Stress is closely associated with mental health issues (cite sources).

V. Major Point 3: Physical health and mental health are directly correlated.

A. Minor Point 1: Mental health problems and physical health problems exhibit a high correlation (cite sources).
B. Minor Point 2: Stress manifests itself physically (cite sources).

VI. Major Point 4: Individuals with more financial concerns experience higher stress and worse physical health.

A. Minor Point 1: Many high-school dropouts face financial difficulties (cite sources).
B. Minor Point 2: Financial difficulties are often linked to unhealthy lifestyle choices, such as poor dietary habits, excessive alcohol consumption, chain smoking, and abusive relationships (cite sources).

VII. Conclusion

A. Restatement of Thesis: Students who drop out of high school are at a greater risk of both mental and physical health problems throughout their lives.
B. Next Steps: Society requires advocates for education, and educators should be aware of this situation, striving to retain students to promote healthy lifestyles and caution students about the risks associated with dropping out of school.

Introduction/Context

Your introduction provides context to prepare your readers for your paper’s argument or purpose. It should begin by discussing your specific topic (not a broad background overview) and provide sufficient context, such as definitions of key terms, to prepare your readers for your thesis or purpose statement.

Sample Introduction/Context:

If your paper’s topic is the connection between educational attainment and health, your introduction might (a) establish the population you are discussing, (b) define key terms like healthy and well-educated, or (c) justify discussing this topic by highlighting its relevance to a current problem that your paper will address.

Thesis/Purpose Statement

A thesis or purpose statement should appear at the end of your introduction and clearly and succinctly state the purpose or central argument of your paper. The introduction prepares your reader for this statement, and the rest of the paper supports it.

Sample Thesis Statement:

Due to their income deficit (Smith, 2010) and susceptibility to depression (Jones, 2011), students who drop out of high school before graduation are at a higher risk of experiencing physical and mental health issues later in life.

Background

Following the initial introduction, provide background information on your topic. This section may include a literature review that surveys the current state of knowledge on your topic or a historical overview of relevant information. The purpose of this section is to justify your project or paper by pointing out a gap in current research that your work will address.

Sample Background:

A background section for a paper on education and health might provide an overview of recent research in this area, such as studies on depression or the declining high school graduation rates.

Major & Minor Points

Major points are the foundational elements of your paper, building on one another to move the paper forward and toward its conclusion. Each major point should be a clear claim related to the paper’s central argument.

Sample Major Point:

Employment conditions and physical health can serve as the first major point for this sample paper. Here, a student might discuss how dropping out of high school often leads to fewer job opportunities, and the available jobs are often associated with poor working conditions and low pay.

Minor points are subtopics within major points that elaborate on their nuances. While not significant enough to stand on their own, they contribute to the overall argument.

Sample Minor Point:

A minor point related to the previous major point (employment conditions and physical health) could address workplace injuries or the absence of adequate healthcare benefits in low-paying jobs.

The remainder of your paper will consist of more major and minor points. Each major point should advance the central argument of your paper, often building on previous points to provide sufficient evidence and analysis to support your paper’s conclusion.

More Major and Minor Points:

In this paper, additional major points might include the mental health of high school dropouts, access to healthcare for dropouts, and the correlation between mental and physical health. Minor topics could encompass specific work environments, job satisfaction in different fields, and the link between depression and chronic illness.

Conclusion

The conclusion restates your paper’s main claim and connects it to a broader discussion. Rather than merely reiterating major and minor points, revisit your thesis statement and focus on concluding the paper by linking your thesis to current research in your field, suggesting further research directions, discussing broader implications, or exploring future considerations.

Sample Conclusion: For this paper, a conclusion could restate the central argument (the link between lack of education and health issues) and then connect this discussion to a larger conversation about the U.S. healthcare or education systems.