Editor Guidelines and Grading Criteria

Editor Guidelines and Grading Criteria

Letter to the Editor Guidelines and Grading Criteria

Directions

Write a letter to the editor of a peer reviewed professional nursing, medical, or health care administration journal (that publishes letters to the editor) in response to an article or study published within the last month. Do not select an editorial or a regular column. Choose an article or study on a topic that you are passionate about.

The letter should be brief, substantive, and succinct, and present a perspective that is different and contributes to the literature. The topic should be related to leadership and leadership strategies to improve health care quality and patient or client outcome (e.g., leadership, evidence-based decision-making, patient-safety culture, workforce and workplace issues, conflict management, team building, staffing, nurse fatigue, creating a culture that supports evidence-based management, leading effective teams).

Upload your letter to the assignment drop box by the scheduled due date with a copy of the author’s guidelines for the selected journal.

Submit your letter to the selected journal after reviewing your graded assignment. . Paste a copy of the submitted version, with the name of the journal and the date submitted on the Final Letter to the Editor DB. Please notify your faculty and coach if your letter is accepted for publication and add the publication to your resume.

Guidelines:
1. Write articulately in response to a publication within the last month.
1. Use no more than one double-spaced page (or the word limit specified in the selected journal).
1. Write a letter that is brief, substantive, and succinct.
1. Follow the published guidelines for letters to the editor in the selected journal (e.g. word limit, to whom to submit, how to submit, and reference guidelines). If the journal does not provide guidelines for letters, refer to the journal’s guidelines for authors.
1. Write the letter in the style used by the journal you selected (e.g., APA, MLA, AMA).
1. Include at least one primary reference in addition to the reference for the article to which you are a responding. Include a copy of the journal’s letter to the editor publishing guidelines when submitting the assignment.
1. Establish your expertise and platform for responding. Your expertise includes your clinical and/or administrative experience. Do not specify that you are writing as a student in your signature.
1. Identify why you’ve chosen to respond to this article (e.g. dissenting view point, alternate perspective, additional perspective). Do not indicate that you are writing to complete a school assignment.
1. Present a perspective that is different and contributes to the literature.
1. Provide supporting documentation from the literature for your rationale and/or perspective.
1. Identify why your response is important to nursing leadership or leadership in health care
1. Offer a suggestion(s) for further action.
1. Demonstrate critical thinking skills.
1. Demonstrate effective writing principles (e.g., spelling, grammar, punctuation).
1. Follow appropriate business letter standards (e.g., include the correct name, credentials, and email address of the editor; include your name, credentials, and email address.)
Note: refer to the sample Letter to the Editor in Blackboard and sample letters in journals that publish excellent letters to the editor (e.g., Journal of Nursing Administration (JONA), American Journal of Nursing (AJN), Journal of Nursing Scholarship, New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Note: A title page is not required for the Letter to the Editor assignment.