| Course | NURS 6001 Foundations of Graduate Study |
|---|---|
| Week | Week 4 |
| Paper type | Source screen |
| Length | About 540 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Walden University |
| Program | Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for NURS 6001 Week 4
Scholarly Source Screen: Five Candidate Sources on Fatigue in Nurses Working Twelve-Hour Shifts
Student Name
College of Nursing, Walden University
NURS 6001: Foundations of Graduate Study
Instructor Name
Month Day, Year
Scholarly Source Screen: Five Candidate Sources on Fatigue in Nurses Working Twelve-Hour Shifts
Topic and Criteria
Topic: fatigue among hospital nurses working consecutive twelve-hour shifts. Each candidate source was screened against the five checks of the librarians' CRAAP test (how current, relevant, authoritative and accurate it is, and what it is for), plus a sixth: whether the source is peer reviewed, and how that was confirmed. The two unnamed items below are described by type only, because the screen is about kinds of sources rather than about criticizing particular publishers.
Table 1
Screening Table
| Source | Currency | Relevance | Authority | Accuracy | Purpose | Peer reviewed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blog post on a travel-nurse staffing agency website | Recent, 2024 | On topic but anecdotal | Unnamed staff writer | No sources cited | Recruitment; links to job listings with no disclosure | No; company site |
| Feature in a nursing trade magazine | Recent, 2023 | Good overview | Journalist quoting two nurse researchers | Quotes accurate to published work | Inform members; some advertising nearby | No; editorial review only |
| NIOSH training module on shift work and long hours (Caruso et al., 2015) | 2015; still current for definitions | Directly on topic | Federal occupational safety agency | Referenced to research | Educate nurses and managers | No; agency publication, confirmed on the agency site |
| Chapter on fatigue and patient safety (Rogers, 2008) | Dated, 2008 | Directly on topic | Nurse researcher in an agency-published handbook | Well referenced for its time | Educate | Edited, not peer reviewed in the journal sense |
| Survey study of nurses' shift length and outcomes (Stimpfel et al., 2012) | 2012; still widely cited | Directly on topic | Nurse researchers at a university center | Methods reported in full | Advance knowledge | Yes; confirmed through the journal's stated review process and the database's peer-review filter |
Verdicts
Blog post: rejected. It argues that longer shifts leave nurses fresher because they work fewer days, cites nothing and ends with links to job openings. The site is selling twelve-hour contracts and does not say so.
Trade feature: kept as background only. It is a readable summary and quotes researchers accurately, but it is secondary and was reviewed only by editors. I will use it to find the researchers it quotes, not cite it for findings.
NIOSH training module: kept for definitions. Caruso et al. (2015) define terms such as long work hours and describe the health and safety risks of fatigue in language I can cite precisely.
Textbook chapter: qualified. Rogers (2008) is a strong review, but it predates more than a decade of research. I will use it for historical context and check any finding it reports against newer studies.
Survey study: kept as primary evidence. Across four states, nurses on shifts of at least ten hours showed up to 2.5 times the likelihood of burnout and job dissatisfaction seen in nurses on shorter shifts, and patient dissatisfaction rose as the share of nurses working shifts over thirteen hours increased (Stimpfel et al., 2012). It is cross-sectional, so it shows association, not cause.
What Is Still Missing
None of the five tests an intervention. I still need a study that changes something, such as shift length, scheduled rest or a fatigue countermeasure, and measures what happens to nurses or patients, or a systematic review that brings such studies together. That is the source type I will search for next.
References
Caruso, C. C., Geiger-Brown, J., Takahashi, M., Trinkoff, A., & Nakata, A. (2015). NIOSH training for nurses on shift work and long work hours (DHHS [NIOSH] Publication No. 2015-115). National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHPUB2015115
Rogers, A. E. (2008). The effects of fatigue and sleepiness on nurse performance and patient safety. In R. G. Hughes (Ed.), Patient safety and quality: An evidence-based handbook for nurses (Chapter 40). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Stimpfel, A. W., Sloane, D. M., & Aiken, L. H. (2012). The longer the shifts for hospital nurses, the higher the levels of burnout and patient dissatisfaction. Health Affairs, 31(11), 2501-2509. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1377
What the NURS 6001 Week 4 instructions ask for
Week 4 of NURS 6001 commonly asks you to evaluate candidate sources for scholarly quality. You apply criteria such as the CRAAP test, reach a verdict for each source and justify it. Faculty judge the verdicts and the visible reasoning. Cite the criteria and each source in APA 7. A government report can be a credible source even if not peer reviewed. Including weak sources and rejecting them shows judgment. The screen ends with gaps that need more searching. NURS 6001 faculty want the criteria named, each source given a verdict and a written justification for each check. Include at least one source that fails.
Inside the NURS 6001 Week 4 example
Topic comes first, fatigue among nurses working consecutive twelve-hour shifts, followed by a screening table with five rows and six columns. The columns apply the CRAAP criteria, currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose, plus a sixth asking whether the source is peer reviewed and how that was confirmed. Every cell holds a short judgment rather than a checkmark, so the reasoning behind each rating is on the page. A paragraph per source then defends its verdict. The trade feature is kept only as background, the fact sheet is kept for definitions, the blog is rejected for undisclosed sponsorship, the textbook chapter is qualified as dated, and the survey study is kept as primary evidence. What the author still needs, a source type none of the five supplies, is named at the close.
Reading the NURS 6001 Week 4 rubric
A screen is judged by its verdicts, and verdicts only count when the reasoning under them is visible. The example earns the evaluation row by writing a justification in every cell instead of rating sources on a scale, which lets faculty disagree with a judgment while still crediting how it was reached. Distinguishing scholarly from popular sources is the second row, and the three-verdict system handles gray cases that a keep-or-reject split would force into error. Currency is often misread: the example ties its window to when shift practice last changed rather than to an arbitrary five years. Deductions typically land on screens that treat any .gov or .edu address as authoritative, and on screens that rate a trial highly while overlooking that every participant was drawn from one hospital unit.
Common NURS 6001 Week 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Source screens lose credit when verdicts appear without reasons. Write a justification for each. Another common gap is rejecting all non-peer-reviewed sources, including credible government reports. Explain when they are acceptable. Writers also apply criteria unevenly. Use the same checks for every source. Avoid choosing only strong sources; including a weak one shows the screen works. Name the gap. Keep the topic narrow. Close with the next search to fill the gap. Writers also forget to check who funded or published a source, which matters for purpose. Note it. Another frequent slip is a gap section that only says more research is needed. Name the missing kind of source.
Get a NURS 6001 Week 4 example written to your instructions
Hand over your Week 4 instructions and rubric, and list any sources your instructor supplied or ones you are already weighing. Those get screened, not invented ones, against the criteria your course uses. Free the first time, turned around in 24 to 48 hours, with every verdict reasoned so you can test your own judgment against it.
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NURS 6001 Week 4 questions, answered
What is the CRAAP test the example uses?
It is a widely taught checklist for judging sources on currency, relevance, authority, accuracy and purpose, developed by librarians at California State University, Chico. The example uses it because many nursing instructors recognize it, though some sections prefer their own criteria or a library rubric. Whichever set your course names, the screen written for you applies that set and shows reasoning in every cell.
Can a government website ever be a scholarly source?
Rarely as a primary study, often as an authority for definitions, surveillance data or policy. The example keeps its fact sheet for exactly that narrow use and says so. What loses credit is treating a government page as peer-reviewed research. Your rubric may allow a set number of non-scholarly sources, and the sample respects that limit while keeping each one in its proper role.
Is Week 4 of NURS 6001 always a source screen?
Not in every version. Course versions differ, and the week labels on this shelf follow the order these skills usually arrive in rather than a published syllabus. Some sections fold source evaluation into the library week or into the research analysis that follows. Whatever your classroom lists for Week 4 governs the sample, and the screening grid adapts to that task.
Where can I find a free NURS 6001 Week 4 sample paper?
The twelve-hour shift fatigue screen is reproduced here with five sources, the six checks, each verdict and justification and the remaining gap.
How many sources are screened in NURS 6001 Week 4?
Five, from a research article to a blog post, each checked with the CRAAP test and for peer review.