Guides: Nursing: NURS: 3041: Becoming a registered nurse: Assignment 2

Your task: Assessment 2

In this assessment you will demonstrate your engagement and learning with the theory presented in each of the four online topics in the course.

This assignment has two parts:

Part A: create an electronic Professional Portfolio and develop a reflective journal
Part B: create a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Plan

For full assessment details, please review your course outline.

Understand your task

If you're not familiar with reflective writing as an assignment task, the video and resources below may assist you to understand what is required.

Key points from the video

Reflective writing helps you to look back over your learning experiences.
It shows how your knowledge, skills and attitudes are developing.
Reflective writing involves more than just describing your learning and development.
It's important to evaluate and analyse your learning to show a deeper level of reflection.
This can include what, why, and how you are learning, any changes you would like to make, and gaps in your understanding.
You may need to link your reflections to your course readings and theories, and consider how these reflections can help you develop as a professional.
The layout of reflective writing can vary - always check your task instructions and feedback form for specific details.
You can use more personal language in your reflective writing, however it is still a formal assignment and may require you to reference key theories or ideas in an academic style.
Reflective writing is not a linear process. It involves adding, changing, rethinking, refining, restructuring your ideas.

Introduction to reflective practice (UniSA)

This online module was developed by Student Engagement Unit and is designed as an introduction to reflective practice for students at the University of South Australia

Accessing your ePortfolio

You will create your ePotfolio using the UniSA ePortfolio Portal. Access your ePortfolio through your LearnOnline course site, by selecting ePortfolio from the Course Essentials menu on the ledt of screen.

Watch the video below to learn more about setting up your ePortfolio 'pages'.

Write your assignment

The Student Engagement Unit has created a suite of resources called Study Help that can help you understand different assignment types. For more information about writing your assignments:

Assessment rubric

Please refer to the assessment rubric to ensure that your assignment content covers all of the Assessment Criteria.

Prepare your search strategy

To search effectively it is important to prepare a search strategy. You can follow the same process you learned in Assessment 1.

Some keywords that might be useful for your searching are listed below:

Combine your terms to form your search strategy (you'll type this in the search box):

combine all the search terms for the same concept using OR
This will search for any of the words included
combine different concepts using AND
This will search for at least one word from each line

Start your search

Basic search
This is the default option when searching in the Library Catalogue.

1. Add in one keyword for each concept, combining them with AND.
Note: Searching for more general terms will find more results.
2. Select Search.
3. Swap your keywords with your alterative terms to see different results.

Advanced search
If you would like to do a more comprehensive search, use the Advanced search.

1. Put each concept on a new line
2. Add your alternative words, combining them with OR.
3. Select Search.

Remember: You can use the filters on the left to limit and refine your results.

Emcare
Searching in Emcare is different to searching in the Library Catalogue.

1. Type your first concept and alternative words into the search box.
2. Untick the box labeled Map to Subject Heading.

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3. Select Search.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for your next concepts.
5. Tick the boxes next to each of your concept lines.
6. Select Combine with AND.

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7. Scroll down to see your results.

More useful databases:

Google Scholar
You can search Google Scholar in the same way as a Catalogue basic search.

Access Google Scholar through the Library website
Follow the instructions to link your session to UniSA
Use the basic search box like the Library Catalogue
Look for the PDF links or Fulltext at UniSA links to access the resource

Google
You can use Google to search for information from professional bodies, governments, and non-government organisations. This might include reports, clinical guidelines, professional standards, codes of conduct, and more.

Google has a number of useful search features that can make your searching more efficient:

Google search tips

Relevant websites

To find relevant websites that are recommended for your area of study, have a look at the Find evidence: government and organisation information tab in this guide.

LibKey Nomad

If you are looking for information on the internet, it's worth downloading LibKey Nomad. It's a browser extension for Chrome that will look for full text PDFs of journal articles from websites outside of the Library Catalogue. This is helpful when looking on pages such as Wikipedia, because you can easily access and read the articles from the reference list. Instructions to download LibKey Nomad are available here.