This guide is for NURS 500 Week 4 Research Proposal Part 2, start to submission. Part 2 of the NURS 500 proposal is the Literature Review, worth 100 points, built around the questions you set in Part 1.
NURS 500 is Research, 3 credit hours, in Liberty University's MSN. Canvas and the course guide file print the code as NURS500; it is the same course.
| Course | NURS 500 Research |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 4 |
| Points | 100 points |
| Length | Part 2 of a 9 to 16-page proposal (the literature review is usually the longest part, about 3 to 4 pages) |
| Sources | Most of the proposal's 10 to 15 cumulative references belong here; prefer peer-reviewed studies from the last five years |
| Faith integration | Not required by the guide |
| Format | Current APA throughout |
What NURS 500 Week 4 Research Proposal Part 2 asks for
Module/Week 4 asks for the literature review section of the proposal. It surveys what is already known about the problem and the questions from Part 1, judges the strength of that evidence, and shows the gap your proposed study would fill.
The guide's numbers frame it: the full proposal is 9 to 16 pages with 10 to 15 cumulative references. Because the review is where most of those references are used, a thin search here leaves the whole proposal short of sources.
Where it fits in NURS 500
In the published schedule, Research Proposal Part 2 is one of 7 graded written assignments in NURS 500. It follows Week 3 Research Proposal Part 1 and comes before Week 5 Research Proposal Part 3.
How NURS 500 Week 4 Research Proposal Part 2 is graded
Liberty grades Research Proposal Part 2 with the rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas, worth 100 points in the published guide. That is about 10% of the course's 1,010 points. Open the rubric before you draft and read across each row: the top column describes what full credit looks like, and the gap between columns tells you what costs points.
Course grades in NURS 500 use Liberty's point scale: an A is 940 to 1010 points of the course total. Missing the length or source minimum usually costs points on several rows at once, which is why the checklist below starts with them.
Timing in the published guide: Each course module/week begins on Monday morning at 12:00 a.m. (ET) and ends on Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The final module/week ends at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday. Check the due dates in your Canvas section, which govern.
The NURS 500 Week 4 method, step by step
Define the scope of the search
Fix the question and the search limits first, and record the databases and terms you use.
Search systematically
Use the library databases with a fixed set of terms and filters, and collect more than the minimum (Most of the proposal's 10 to 15 cumulative references belong here; prefer peer-reviewed studies from the last five years).
Organize by theme, not by article
Sort the sources into themes before writing. Each paragraph should discuss a theme across several studies.
Compare and evaluate
Weigh the studies against each other: design, sample, consistency of findings.
Identify the gap
Name the gap the sources leave open and how it connects to your question.
Format the references carefully
Check every reference against APA, and every in-text citation against the list (Part 2 of a 9 to 16-page proposal, the literature review is usually the longest part, about 3 to 4 pages).
A structure for NURS 500 Week 4 Research Proposal Part 2
Word targets are planning numbers for about 1,000 words of body text, set by the length in the guide; the rubric decides where to spend more.
| Section | What it must do | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | The question and the scope of the search. | ~120 words |
| Theme one | Studies grouped and compared. | ~260 words |
| Theme two | Studies grouped and compared. | ~260 words |
| Theme three | Studies grouped and compared, or conflicting evidence. | ~180 words |
| Gap | What the literature leaves unanswered. | ~120 words |
| Summary | What the review means for the question. | ~60 words |
A topic angle that works
Organize by what the studies found, not by study. For the night-shift falls question, three themes might be: staffing levels and falls, time-of-day patterns in falls, and the effect of prevention bundles. Inside each theme, say which studies agree, where they conflict, and which designs are stronger. The gap (few studies separate night shift) then closes the review and points straight at your methods.
Model paragraph with notes
An original paragraph written by our desk to show the register that earns full rubric credit. It is study material: learn the moves, then write your own.
Studies linking staffing to falls agree on direction but not on size.1 Two large retrospective analyses of medical-surgical units found that lower registered nurse hours per patient day were associated with higher fall rates, while a smaller prospective study found no association once patient acuity was controlled.2 The difference matters for this proposal: none of the three reported night shift separately, so the strongest evidence available still cannot say whether the night staffing ratio is where the risk sits.3
- Opens with a claim about the body of evidence, which is the habit that turns a list of studies into a review.
- Compares designs and explains a conflicting result rather than ignoring it.
- Ends on the gap, tied to the proposal's own question, which is what Part 2 is for.
Mistakes that cost points on NURS 500 Week 4
- One study per paragraph. That is an annotated list, and rubrics for literature reviews reward synthesis.
- Old sources. A review built on studies more than five to ten years old reads as dated unless they are landmark studies you name as such.
- No appraisal. Reporting findings without saying how strong the design was misses the course's central skill.
- A review that drifts from the Part 1 questions. Every theme should connect to a question you will study.
Checklist before you submit
- Length: Part 2 of a 9 to 16-page proposal (the literature review is usually the longest part, about 3 to 4 pages)
- Sources: Most of the proposal's 10 to 15 cumulative references belong here; prefer peer-reviewed studies from the last five years
- Sources organized by theme, not one per paragraph
- The gap is stated and tied to the question
- Each rubric row read against the section that answers it
Questions students ask
How many sources should the NURS 500 literature review have?
The guide sets 10 to 15 references for the whole proposal. Most of them usually appear in the literature review, with a few saved for the design and measurement sections.
Should the literature review include my research questions again?
A short restatement at the start helps the reader, but the review's job is the evidence and the gap. Keep the questions themselves in Part 1.
How many points is NURS 500 Week 4 Research Proposal Part 2 worth?
100 points in Liberty's published course guide for NURS 500, out of a course total of 1,010 points (about 10% of the grade). The rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas shows how those points are divided.
Is NURS 500 Week 4 the same in every section of NURS 500?
This guide follows Liberty's published course guide for NURS 500. Liberty notes that course content can change from term to term, so if your Canvas section shows different instructions, a different week or different points, follow Canvas and your instructor.
Want a tutor to look at your draft?
Send the instructions and what you have so far. A Liberty tutor replies with what to fix first, usually within the hour.