Building Scholarly Writing Capacity in the Doctor of Nursing Practice Program

PurposeThis article discusses a systematic teaching/learning approach to scholarly writing in the doctor of nursing practice program. The SMART Approach to building scholarly writing capacity in nursing consists of Strategies, Methods, and Assessment of Outcomes, Related to Teaching/Learning. The strategies include reiterating standards of excellence, building the discipline, dispelling fears, empowering with knowledge, facilitating independence, and celebrating excellence. Methods include scholarly writing assessment, planning and structure, evaluation and feedback, doing and redoing, mentoring for publication, and reiterating knowledge dissemination. The SMART Approach can achieve six key outcomes. Students who experience the developmental approach become stronger writers, and they achieve better course grades. Student evaluations of teaching suggest that this developmental approach is valuable, and faculty teaching is rated highly. Following manuscript development, students understand the relationship between didactic content and mentored activities that promote scholarly writing independence. Students learn that every professional activity provides a potential writing experience. Scholarly writing in nursing is a necessary skill set that can be learned. The SMART Approach to building scholarly writing capacity in nursing is effective because it uses a “guide by the side” approach as compared with traditional “sage on stage” principles.