N3345 Module 5: How to Complete the Personal Philosophy of Nursing Paper
A section-by-section guide to the personal philosophy of nursing paper — what the rubric actually measures in each section, how to structure the Essence of Nursing discussion across three required factors, how to write the Beliefs and Values section without losing points on paragraph count, and the APA requirements that trip up RN-BSN students on this first formal paper.
The N3345 Module 5 assignment asks you to write a formal personal philosophy of nursing paper — not a reflection journal, not a discussion post, not a list of answers to prompts. It is a continuous, well-structured academic paper with a title page, clearly labeled sections, APA citations, and professional paragraph-level writing throughout. The structure is defined, the rubric is specific, and the sections have word-count expectations built into the grading criteria. This guide walks through each required section in sequence and explains what the rubric is actually measuring — so you can produce a paper that satisfies the criteria without guessing.
This guide does not write the paper for you. It explains the structure of each section, what distinguishes an Accomplished response from a Proficient or Needs Improvement one, where the APA requirements are most likely to create errors, and how to approach the sections that cause the most confusion — particularly the Essence of Nursing and Beliefs and Values sections. The examples here are illustrative, not ready-made content you can lift into your paper.
What This Guide Covers
Understanding the Assignment and Rubric
The N3345 personal philosophy of nursing paper is the first formal academic paper in the RN-BSN program. The assignment instructions say this explicitly, and the rubric reflects it — the grader is assessing not just what you write but how you write it. Format, structure, and APA compliance each carry their own point allocations separate from content.
The rubric divides into three scored areas: Format (20 points), Content (60 points), and APA Format and References (20 points). The Content section carries the most weight and is itself subdivided into six graded sections — Introduction, Choice of Nursing, Essence of Nursing, Beliefs and Values, Vision for the Future, and Summary. Each has a specific paragraph-count requirement, and the Accomplished performance level (full marks) requires meeting both the content and the paragraph count. Answering all the right questions in a single paragraph when the rubric specifies separate paragraphs is a Proficient or Needs Improvement response, not Accomplished.
The assignment description notes this is your first formal paper for the program. The 20-point Format section covers title page accuracy and writing conventions — specifically paragraph quality and professionalism. A paragraph in this context means at least three well-written sentences. One-sentence responses for each prompt will fall into the Needs Improvement band regardless of how correct the content is. Plan your writing to paragraph length, not bullet-point length.
APA Formatting and Document Setup
Before you write a single word of content, the document itself needs to be set up correctly. The assignment specifies all of the following, and APA formatting errors are graded in a 20-point category separate from content — meaning you can lose a third of your grade on formatting alone regardless of how well you write.
The assignment instructions explicitly say to open a new Word document and save it with your name as the filename. You are not filling in the template document that was provided. Submit a clean Word document — not a modified version of the assignment instructions file. This is a common error on first formal nursing papers and the grader will notice formatting inconsistencies left over from a template document.
Title Page: What Goes Where
The title page is worth 10 points under the Format section, and errors here are fully avoidable. APA 7th edition student paper title pages have a specific layout. The rubric specifies the components that must be present, and it grades against APA accuracy.
Paper Title
Centered in the upper half of the page, bold, title case. Your title can span one or two lines. Do not use a generic title like “Assignment 1” — use a title that reflects the paper content, such as “My Personal Philosophy of Nursing” or “A Framework for Professional Nursing Practice.”
Author and Affiliation
Your full name appears below the title. Your institutional affiliation (the university name) appears below your name. Both are centered and not bolded. Check whether your program specifies department or school in addition to university name.
Course, Instructor, Date
APA 7th edition student papers include the course number and name, the instructor’s name, and the assignment due date — each on its own line, centered, not bolded. These appear below the author information. Do not omit any of these three items.
The assignment instructions specifically note that you do not use an abstract — you write a formal introduction section instead. This is different from some other nursing papers that do require an abstract. If you include an abstract, it is extraneous content. After the title page, the next page starts with your paper title (centered, bolded, title case) followed immediately by your introduction paragraphs.
Introduction Section
The Introduction is a 1–2 paragraph overview of the paper. It does not start with a heading — only the paper title appears at the top of the first body page. The Introduction is your first scored content section and carries 5 points at the Accomplished level.
An Accomplished Introduction writes a comprehensive overview of the paper in 1–2 paragraphs. This means the introduction should tell the reader what the paper will cover — the six content sections — without diving into the substance of any of them. It establishes the purpose of the paper, positions the personal philosophy of nursing as a professional and reflective exercise, and signals what areas will be addressed. A two-paragraph Introduction that previews the paper’s structure and contextualizes the purpose is the target.
Weak Introduction
“This paper is about my personal philosophy of nursing. I will discuss why I chose nursing and what I believe.” One sentence of purpose, no preview, no context. Falls into Needs Improvement regardless of whether the body of the paper is well-written.
Stronger Introduction
Opens with a statement of purpose — why a personal nursing philosophy matters professionally. Then previews the sections: the choice of nursing, the core of nursing practice as shaped by historical and ethical factors, beliefs about patients and colleagues, professional goals across three time horizons, and a closing reflection on strengths and limitations.
Choice of Nursing Section
This section answers one question: why did you choose nursing? The Accomplished performance level requires 2–3 paragraphs. The Proficient level accepts 1 paragraph. A single, thin paragraph costs you 2 out of 10 points and moves your response out of the Accomplished band.
The depth the rubric is looking for in this section goes beyond a short personal anecdote. Two to three paragraphs of substantive writing about your path to nursing means exploring the motivations, experiences, or formative moments that led to this career choice — and then connecting those to professional values or early professional identity. This is not a list of traits (“I like helping people, I am good at science”). It is a narrative that demonstrates self-awareness about why nursing specifically, rather than another healthcare profession.
Consider structuring these paragraphs across distinct but connected ideas: the experience or circumstances that first drew you to nursing, the values or qualities of the profession that aligned with your own, and what confirmed or deepened your commitment once you began the profession. Three clear angles each carried to paragraph length will satisfy the rubric’s requirement more reliably than one long paragraph that attempts to cover everything at once.
Essence of Nursing: Addressing All Three Required Factors
The Essence of Nursing section is the highest-risk content section in the paper. The rubric specifies that all three factors — historical, ethical, and political — must be addressed for full credit, and missing any one of them drops the response to a lower performance band regardless of how well the other two are covered. This section also requires citations for any historical, ethical, or political information discussed, which makes it the most citation-intensive section of the paper.
The guiding question is: what do you believe the core of nursing is and should be, and how do historical, ethical, and political factors influence that core? This is not three separate essays on each factor. It is a unified discussion of your beliefs about nursing’s essence, substantiated by reference to each of the three influencing forces. The 2–3 paragraph structure gives you room to weave all three in — typically by leading with your core belief about nursing, then grounding it in historical context in one paragraph, and addressing ethical and political dimensions in another.
How to Address Each Factor
- Historical factors: How the history of nursing has shaped what nursing is today — the Nightingale era, the professionalization of nursing, the shift from physician extender to autonomous professional, the evolution of nursing education, or the specific historical moments that defined nursing’s role in healthcare. Any factual historical claim requires a citation. The ANA Code of Ethics is one of the assignment’s listed resources and can serve as a citation for ethical or professional context.
- Ethical factors: The ethical principles that guide nursing practice — autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, justice, fidelity, veracity. How the ANA Code of Ethics shapes your understanding of what nursing should be. How your own ethical framework connects to these principles. Citing the ANA Code of Ethics here is both appropriate and expected.
- Political factors: How policy, legislation, and the broader healthcare system shape nursing practice. This could include scope of practice legislation, the Affordable Care Act and its effects on nursing roles, staffing ratios, or the political advocacy work of nursing organizations. Political factors do not mean partisan politics — they mean the structural and policy environment in which nursing operates.
The rubric for the Essence of Nursing section has a “Missing Information” column that assigns 0 points if this section is not answered at all. The “Needs Improvement” band gives 5 points for addressing only 1 of the 3 factors. To reach Accomplished (10 points), all three — historical, ethical, and political — must be addressed, with citations included for any factual claims. Before submitting, read this section back and verify all three are explicitly present, not just implied.
Beliefs and Values Section
The Beliefs and Values section poses four distinct questions, each of which requires its own separate paragraph for Accomplished performance. Answering all four questions in a single paragraph — even a well-written one — earns Proficient at best, not Accomplished. The questions are fixed and cannot be combined or omitted.
| Question | What the Rubric Is Looking For | Common Errors |
|---|---|---|
| What do you believe about patients? | A substantive belief statement about patients — their dignity, autonomy, holistic nature, individuality, or your role in relation to them as people rather than diagnoses. Not just “patients deserve good care.” | Writing a task-focused statement (“I believe patients should be assessed thoroughly”) rather than a values-focused one about what patients are and what they deserve as human beings. |
| What do you believe about the patient’s family and significant others? | How you view family as part of the care environment — as partners, as sources of patient information, as people who also need support, or as part of the patient’s healing context. A professional belief, not just a policy statement. | Writing one sentence (“Family is important in patient care”) and moving on. This question requires paragraph-length development to reach Accomplished. |
| What do you believe about your fellow health care providers? | Your professional beliefs about interdisciplinary collaboration, mutual respect, shared accountability, the nurse’s role within the care team, or how professional relationships shape patient outcomes. | Writing a vague collegiality statement. The rubric rewards specificity about the nature of interprofessional practice and your beliefs about it — not just “teamwork is good.” |
| What do you believe about your own health? | A genuine belief statement about nurse self-care, resilience, physical and mental health maintenance, and why your own health is a professional responsibility — not just a personal one. Connect it to your capacity to care for others. | Treating this as an afterthought. This question carries the same weight as the others. Students often write one or two sentences here when they have run out of things to say — the rubric grades all four equally. |
The section heading is “Beliefs and Values,” centered, bolded, and in title case. Then you write four consecutive paragraphs — one per question — without sub-headings for each question. The questions are implicit in the structure; you do not repeat each question as a header. Each paragraph should open with a clear belief statement and then develop it with supporting reasoning or professional context.
Vision for the Future Section
The Vision for the Future section asks where you want to be professionally at three time points: 2 years, 5 years, and 10 years. The Accomplished level requires a separate paragraph for each time period. Addressing all three time periods in one paragraph, or combining two of the three, drops the response to the Proficient band at most.
In 2 Years
The near-term goal paragraph should describe what you want to have achieved or established professionally within 2 years of now. This might mean completing the RN-BSN, obtaining a certification, moving into a specific specialty, developing a specific clinical skill, or taking on a new role. The paragraph should be specific — not “I want to grow as a nurse” but what growth looks like concretely in a 2-year timeframe. Specificity is what separates Accomplished from Proficient in vision statements.
In 5 Years
The mid-term paragraph represents a longer horizon and typically involves a more significant professional development milestone — a graduate degree, a specialty certification, a leadership role, an advanced practice credential, or a move into education or management. The 5-year vision should build logically on the 2-year vision. If the 2-year goal is completing the BSN, the 5-year goal might logically involve a master’s program or a specialty area. The connection between these paragraphs shows professional planning, not just ambition.
In 10 Years
The 10-year paragraph is the most expansive — it can describe where you see yourself in terms of role, impact, setting, or professional contribution. This might mean a senior clinical, leadership, education, or policy role. It might mean having established a specific area of expertise or having contributed to a particular patient population. The 10-year vision should feel like the professional destination that the 2- and 5-year goals are building toward — not a disconnected third statement.
This is a personal philosophy paper. First-person language (“I plan to,” “I hope to,” “My goal is”) is appropriate throughout, including in this section. Avoid vague aspirational language that could describe any nurse — “I want to make a difference” or “I hope to continue growing.” Every sentence should reflect a specific professional aspiration grounded in your own actual situation. Specificity is what makes a vision statement sound professional rather than generic.
Summary Section
The Summary section answers two distinct questions, each in a separate paragraph. The Accomplished level requires both questions addressed in separate paragraphs. A single combined paragraph drops the response to Proficient.
What Strengths Will Support Your Professional Goals?
This is not a personal skills inventory. It is a professional reflection on which of your attributes — clinical, interpersonal, cognitive, or character-based — are genuine assets as you pursue the goals you described in Vision for the Future. The strength statement should connect to something specific in the paper: if your 10-year vision involves leadership, your strengths paragraph might discuss organizational skill, communication, or a track record of professional growth. Vague self-praise (“I am a dedicated nurse”) is Proficient territory at best. Specific, evidenced strengths connected to your stated goals is Accomplished.
What Limitations Will You Need to Overcome?
This paragraph requires genuine self-assessment. The rubric rewards honesty and specificity here. A limitation that is actually a disguised strength (“I care too much about my patients”) does not satisfy the question — it avoids it. Identify a real professional or personal limitation — time management, specific clinical knowledge gaps, difficulty with conflict, limited leadership experience — and then describe how you plan to address it. The limitation should also logically connect to the goals in your Vision section: if you plan to pursue an advanced degree, a limitation might be balancing full-time work with graduate study and your plan to address it through scheduling discipline and institutional support.
The Summary is sometimes written as if it were a conclusion restating the paper’s content. That is a different function from what this section requires. The two questions are specific and forward-looking, not retrospective. Summarizing what you wrote in earlier sections is not the same as answering these two questions.
References Section and APA Citations
The References section carries 20 points alongside the APA formatting quality of the entire paper. The requirements are specific: at least two professional references, listed alphabetically by author’s last name, formatted in APA, on a new page with “References” centered and bolded at the top.
What Counts as a Professional Reference in This Paper?
A professional reference for a nursing philosophy paper means a peer-reviewed journal article, a professional nursing organization publication, a nursing ethics document, a nursing textbook, or a credible professional source such as the ANA Code of Ethics (listed by the assignment itself as a required resource). Personal websites, general health websites (WebMD, Healthline), and non-peer-reviewed sources are not professional references. For a personal philosophy paper, the ANA Code of Ethics and at least one scholarly article or textbook on nursing philosophy, professional nursing practice, or nursing ethics will satisfy the requirement and are directly relevant to the content.
American Nurses Association. (2015). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. https://www.nursingworld.org/coe-view-only
Notes: Hanging indent applies to references (first line flush, subsequent lines indented 0.5 inches). Author in Last, F. M. format where applicable. Title of work in italics. Publication year in parentheses after author. URL or DOI where available. Every source cited in the body of the paper must appear in the reference list. Every entry in the reference list must be cited at least once in the body.
In-text citations follow APA format: (Author, Year) for paraphrased content, (Author, Year, p. page number) for direct quotes. Avoid over-relying on direct quotes in a personal philosophy paper — the content is substantially your own reflective writing, and citations appear primarily in the Essence of Nursing section where factual claims about history, ethics, and policy need to be substantiated.
The APA section of the rubric grades errors cumulatively — 1–3 errors is Proficient, 4–6 is Needs Improvement, 7 or more is zero. The most common errors are: missing hanging indent on references, incorrect capitalization (only first word of article title capitalized after a colon, not title case), missing italics on journal or book titles, incorrect date placement, and inconsistency between in-text citations and the reference list. Run a systematic check before submitting: every in-text citation should have a matching reference, and every reference entry should match the APA format for its source type.
Where Most Papers Lose Marks
Collapsing Multiple Questions Into One Paragraph
Answering all four Beliefs and Values questions in one paragraph, or addressing all three Vision for the Future time periods in a single block. The rubric explicitly grades on separate paragraphs per question — this is one of the most direct ways to drop from Accomplished to Proficient across multiple sections.
Instead
Treat each question as a separate paragraph task. Open each paragraph with a clear statement that addresses the question, then develop it with at least two additional supporting sentences. For Vision for the Future, each time period gets its own paragraph with specific goals for that horizon.
Missing One of the Three Essence of Nursing Factors
Writing a strong discussion of ethical and historical factors but omitting political factors — or covering political and ethical but skipping the historical context. Any missing factor drops the section to 5 points (Needs Improvement) or below, regardless of how well the other factors are written.
Instead
Before writing this section, list the three factors at the top of a draft document and plan at least one substantive point for each. After writing, re-read the section and ask whether each factor is addressed by name and with enough substance to be recognizable to a reader. If political factors appear only as a passing sentence, expand them.
Essence of Nursing Without Citations
Discussing historical nursing milestones, ethical principles, or policy impacts without any citations. The rubric specifically requires “citations for any information regarding history, ethical or political factors discussed.” Factual claims about historical events, ANA Code of Ethics provisions, or policy impacts all require citation.
Instead
Cite any claim that is not your personal belief or experience. For historical claims, cite a nursing history text or peer-reviewed source. For ethical principles, cite the ANA Code of Ethics. For political or policy claims, cite a professional nursing organization’s position statement or a relevant policy document. Beliefs do not need citations; facts do.
Introduction That Summarizes Instead of Previewing
Starting with a detailed description of your career or a long personal story before getting to the paper’s purpose. The Introduction’s function is to orient the reader to the paper’s structure and purpose — not to deliver the content of the Choice of Nursing section early.
Instead
Open with a statement about the purpose and value of developing a personal nursing philosophy. Then preview what the paper will cover — the six content areas — briefly. Save the personal narrative for the sections where it belongs. The Introduction should make a reader want to continue, not front-load the entire paper.
Summary That Restates Earlier Sections
“In this paper, I discussed why I chose nursing, the essence of nursing, my beliefs about patients…” This is a table-of-contents restatement, not a response to the two specific questions the Summary section asks. It scores as Needs Improvement because neither question is directly addressed.
Instead
Answer the two questions directly: one paragraph on specific professional strengths and how they connect to your stated goals; one paragraph on specific limitations and how you plan to address them. The Summary should feel like a forward-looking conclusion, not a retrospective index of what the paper contained.
Fewer Than Two Professional References
Including only one reference — often just the ANA Code of Ethics — when the rubric requires at least two. One correctly formatted reference in the 20-point APA section drops the score substantially even if everything else is correct.
Instead
Plan for at least two professional sources from the start. The ANA Code of Ethics covers the ethical factor. Add at least one peer-reviewed article or textbook — on nursing philosophy, professional nursing identity, or evidence-based nursing practice — that supports claims in the Essence of Nursing or another content section. Cite both sources at least once in the paper body.
One-Sentence Paragraphs Throughout
The rubric for Writing Conventions under Format specifically states that paragraphs of at least three well-written sentences each are required for Accomplished performance. A paper written in one- or two-sentence paragraphs falls into Needs Improvement for writing conventions — 5 points out of 10 possible — regardless of content quality.
Instead
Write each paragraph with a minimum of three sentences: a statement, development or explanation, and a conclusion or connection to the paper’s broader argument. If a paragraph is only two sentences, find one more dimension of the idea to develop. Three well-written sentences is the floor, not the target — aim for four to five in the substantive sections.
Frequently Asked Questions
How the Sections Connect to Each Other
A personal philosophy of nursing paper is not six independent sections — it is a single, cohesive document that tells a professional story with a consistent voice and connected ideas. The strongest papers have internal consistency: the values you describe in Choice of Nursing appear again in Beliefs and Values; the professional goals in Vision for the Future are grounded in the same philosophy you articulated in Essence of Nursing; the limitations in the Summary connect honestly to the ambitious goals in the Vision section. Graders reading the whole paper notice when sections feel disconnected or when the voice changes between sections.
Before you submit, read the paper start to finish as if you are reading someone else’s work. Ask: does the Introduction prepare the reader for what follows? Does the Choice of Nursing connect logically to the professional beliefs in Essence of Nursing and Beliefs and Values? Do the Vision for the Future goals follow plausibly from who you are and what you believe about nursing? Does the Summary feel like a genuine conclusion to this specific paper? If any section feels like it could have been written separately and dropped in without relation to the others, it needs revision.
For direct support with this assignment — whether you need section-by-section review, APA formatting help, or assistance developing the Essence of Nursing discussion — our nursing assignment writing team works specifically with RN-BSN coursework, philosophy papers, and the formatting requirements these programs use.
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