What Can You Expect a DNP Project Editor to Do (and NOT Do)?
In order to fulfill the requirements of their degree program, most doctor of nursing practice (DNP) students must either write a final academic paper and/or presentation, or publish a manuscript about their final DNP project in a peer-reviewed journal.
For most DNP students, this is the most difficult part of an already difficult degree program.
The reason for this challenge is simple: It’s rare that any nursing student or practicing nurse has had a thorough writing or grammar class since they were in high school.
Because many DNP students are returning students who have been practicing nurses for a decade or more, that makes scholarly writing even more difficult to achieve.
When a DNP student’s writing level is not meeting the high level expected by most DNP program faculty, those faculty can end up recommending that the student find and hire an editor to help with the writing and editing of the student’s final project paper or manuscript.
Reasons for this recommendation are legion, but two stand out:
For most DNP students, this is the most difficult part of an already difficult degree program.
The reason for this challenge is simple: It’s rare that any nursing student or practicing nurse has had a thorough writing or grammar class since they were in high school.
Because many DNP students are returning students who have been practicing nurses for a decade or more, that makes scholarly writing even more difficult to achieve.
When a DNP student’s writing level is not meeting the high level expected by most DNP program faculty, those faculty can end up recommending that the student find and hire an editor to help with the writing and editing of the student’s final project paper or manuscript.
Reasons for this recommendation are legion, but two stand out:
- The nursing school or DNP program in question does not have an editor or writing instructor on staff who understands the needs of the DNP student
- The nursing faculty who teach and mentor DNP students are not trained how to teach writing or grammar--they are trained to teach nurses how to improve nursing practice. Indeed, most nursing faculty have not, themselves, taken a high-quality class on scholarly writing and grammar for many years (or decades), just like their students.
If you are a DNP student and you struggle with meeting the requirements of your DNP program because your scholarly writing skills don’t meet the necessary level, then you may wish to hire an editor.
This might sound easy, but editors, like nurses and doctors and all other professionals, are not all created equally.
This might sound easy, but editors, like nurses and doctors and all other professionals, are not all created equally.
- Some editors offer excellent service for guidance to DNP students;
- some only do copy editing and can’t help DNP students learn the basics of grammar, structure, and scholarly writing;
- few offer in-depth help with project development and logic (because it is assumed--often wrongly--the student’s faculty advisor or mentor will take on this role).
So, what, exactly, can you expect a skilled editor to do when you hire her or him to edit your DNP project paper or manuscript?
At a minimum, editing involves the following:
At a minimum, editing involves the following:
- Reviewing your text and indicating points of confusion or areas that do not make sense to someone who was not involved in the project development or implementation
- Looking for problems with grammar, word choice, and sentence structure, and then
- fixing those problems that are easily fixed by applying standard rules of English writing, or
- querying your meaning and offering possible alternate ways of saying things to ensure that the point you wanted to make is getting across.
Those are the basics. A typical edit should include those items. But most often, DNP student papers need a greater level of care. Those additional aspects of editing include:
- APA Style editing
- Identifying gaps in project logic or factors that might make the manuscript unpublishable
- Coaching the student to help her learn how to write better so she can use her skills for future papers and manuscripts
- Formatting papers to match complex journal requirements or certain university graduate school formatting requirements
She should not be expected to:
- Coach you through how to design and implement a better project
- Act as a mediator between you and your faculty advisor or project committee
- Be your therapist or counselor
- Take over jobs that your faculty advisor and/or project committee are supposed to be doing
The professional editor’s job is to help you make the best possible impression with a logical, well-written DNP project proposal or manuscript.