can you use personal knowledge in a research paper

How do I cite personal experiences in APA format?

Personal experiences and knowledge generally do not need to be cited in an APA references page or within the body (in-text citation) of your paper. Personal experience and knowledge is part of your voice; it is what you bring to your paper.  If you use personal knowledge that is unusual or to make a statement that someone might question, however, you will want to find research to back your knowledge up. Read more in our answer on self-citing .

Personal communications . Frequently confused with personal knowledge and experience are personal communications (any information that is not retrievable, such as phone conversations, interviews, email, memos, and personal letters). Personal communications (interviews, conversations) need to be cited in-text, but not in the reference list. Click here to learn more.

• Last Updated Apr 05, 2024
• Views 76746
• Answered By Kerry Louvier

FAQ Actions

• Share on Facebook

Comments (0)

Hello! We're here to help! Please log in to ask your question.

Need an answer now? Search our FAQs !

How can I find my course textbook?

You can expect a prompt response, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM-4:00 PM Central Time (by the next business day on weekends and holidays).

Questions may be answered by a Librarian, Learning Services Coordinator, Instructor, or Tutor. 

Using Information Sources Ethically and Legally

• Understanding Plagiarism
• Avoidance Tips

When do I need to cite sources?

Does everything need to be cited, all you need to know about citing sources, get help from libraries and writing centers.

Always give credit where credit is due. If the words that you are including in your research belong to someone else, give credit. 

Here is  a brief list of what needs to be credited or documented :  

• Words or ideas presented in a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, website, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium  
• Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing  
• When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase  
• When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or other visual materials  
• When you reuse or repost any digital media, including images, audio, video, or other media  

There are certain things that  do not need documentation or credit, including :  

• Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and insights, your own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a subject  
• When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field experiments  
• When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio, etc.  
• When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but  not  historical documents)  
• When you are using generally accepted facts (e.g., pollution is bad for the environment) including facts that are accepted within particular discourse communities (e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing is a process" is a generally accepted fact).  

(From Plagiarism FAQs - Purdue Writing Lab )

The following chart from the UT Arlington Library Acknowledging Sources tutorial will guide you in your decision:

What is common knowledge? This refers to facts well known by many people and verifiable in five or more sources. Examples:

• Bill Gates is the founder of the Microsoft Corporation.
• There are 60 minutes in an hour.
• Columbus is the capital of Ohio.
• The whole is greater than the part.
• Common Knowledge inforgraphic

If you have any doubts or questions, ask your professor or librarian. Err on the side of caution: when in doubt, cite!

The online guide Citing Your Sources provides information on citation, style guides, citation tools, and more.

• Ask a Question (UC Libraries form) Email you reference question and get a response within 24 hours.
• Subject librarians Contact a specialist in your discipline.

Writing Centers

• Academic Writing Center (UC Clifton) Trained writing center tutors provide UC students with free writing assistance.

Schedule an appointment

AWC Tutor Feedback (submit a paper of six double-spaced pages or less and get  feedback from a tutor within 48 hours)

Email: [email protected]

• UC Clermont Learning Commons Support Services

Email: [email protected]

• UC Blue Ash Writing and Study Skills Center

Submit your work (submit a paper of six double-spaced pages or less and get  feedback from a tutor within 24-48 hours)

Email: [email protected]

• << Previous: Avoidance Tips
• Next: Credits >>
• Last Updated: Oct 24, 2023 3:13 PM
• URL: https://guides.libraries.uc.edu/integrity

University of Cincinnati Libraries

PO Box 210033 Cincinnati, Ohio 45221-0033

Phone: 513-556-1424

Contact Us | Staff Directory

University of Cincinnati

Alerts | Clery and HEOA Notice | Notice of Non-Discrimination | eAccessibility Concern | Privacy Statement | Copyright Information

© 2021 University of Cincinnati

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

1 Introduction

How do we know what we know, and how is that knowledge valued? Why is some knowledge deemed more valuable or valid than others? What if a person has multiple degrees, or even a university education? Is their knowledge more valuable? What if a person has not been formally trained on research methodologies? Do the person’s personal lived experiences still have value in their own academic research?

These were questions that arose in class discussions among undergraduates and a graduate student instructor in the context of learning about international justice mechanisms and the admissibility of evidence in international court proceedings, where we discussed hierarchies of truth and knowledge. We were wrestling with questions about the possibility of an objective truth, reliability of eyewitness and survivor testimony, and what justice means and to whom.

Out of these discussions, we realized how limited conventional citation guidelines were in recognizing and validating the full range of knowledge and experience students wanted and needed to bring to their research papers for the class. While academia has a strong tradition of in-depth interviews with “research subjects” in ethnographic research and autoethnography as an autobiographical form of writing and research, we wanted to acknowledge and address the power imbalance in these accepted forms of research. Ethnographic (or qualitative), interpretivist research is often seen as less objective or “valid” in disciplinary debates, whereas quantitative, positivist work is often seen as more objective and “pure.” [1] This hierarchy of knowledge production reinforces colonial practices, and western, white epistemologies.

We wanted to raise up the value and validity of personal interviews which we define as more informal conversations with friends, family, and neighbors, for example: the story that has been told around your dinner table for generations, or stories neighbors and family friends have shared for as long as you can remember. This type of “interview” is really more of a conversation and can be rich with context and cultural meaning, and deeply personal. These interviews are closely aligned with lived experience. The “interviewer” is in a unique position to be able to speak to this rich context in ways that more traditional ethnographic interviews by outsiders are not able to.

Similarly, we wanted to uplift and validate personal experiences beyond the traditional uses in autoethnographic research. This was motivated by Emily’s experience as a teaching assistant. She was grading a student’s paper about Latin America and the student failed to provide a citation for a historical event that was described in the paper. According to the grading rubric and conventional expectations, the student was supposed to lose points on the assignment. However, after speaking with the student, Emily learned that the student had lived through the event themselves. The expectation was that the student find a secondary or other primary source to cite, other than their own lived experience or those of their community. There was no convention for them to cite their own personal knowledge even though they lived through it. External sources were valued higher than the student’s own lived, embodied knowledge.

In order to address these concerns, we the authors created a set of guidelines for students to cite their own personal experience and personal interviews in academic research papers that allows for the inclusions of more diverse forms of knowledge production. While there are still arguably some concerns with the convention of citations in general, we wanted to give students and educators practical tools to adapting existing academic practices and expectations to include these traditionally less-valued forms of knowledge production and acknowledge the value of the lived experiences of students and their communities. We wanted to give students the opportunity to center their own knowledge and experience, as well as that of their community.

The first set of guidelines were used in 2018, created in direct response to student’s needs to cite personal experience and family interviews in their research papers. After the course,  Emily, the instructor, interviewed several of the students who used the citation guidelines for feedback and recruited 2 students (Emma and Jake) who had an interest in continuing to develop the guidelines, forming the team that continued to work for the next 4 years to create additional iterations of the guidelines, conduct interviews with students and professors, and search for additional research on development of citation guidelines. Through encouragement of several professors and research librarians, we decided to create this e-book to share the guidelines open source, providing an important tool for students, as well as a starting point for others to continue building, improving, and drawing from our work through a Creative Commons license. More traditional publishing platforms proved to be too limited, closed, and inflexible to meet our needs.

Our hope is that this guide to citing personal experience and interviews meets our goal of supporting students to produce their own knowledge, as well as honoring the academic value of their lived experience and the experiences of their families and communities. Through the use of a set of guidelines we created for students to cite personal experience and interviews, we found students self-reported increase in engagement and success in academic assignments. We propose this set of guidelines as an important practical tool for critical, feminist, and anti-racist pedagogy, as well as a method for teaching ethical research.

Scholars across disciplines are moving toward challenging the status quo in classrooms, and in research. In recent years, the movement to engage in anti-racist pedagogy has strengthened as the United States wrestles with legacies of colonization and racism which continue to permeate our ways of life in this country. Kyoko Kishimoto writes of the need for the practical application of critical race theory, not simply about what is taught in the classroom, but how it is taught. Kishimoto argues that anti-racist, feminist, and critical pedagogy “critique positivist assumptions of knowledge, of an objective universal truth which fails to acknowledge embedded Eurocentrism and male privilege.” [2]

Alongside the movement for anti-racist pedagogy, Indigenous ways of knowing have always challenged these ideas. It is inherent in Indigenous cultural practices like oral and embodied histories. The Indigenous Studies discipline challenges the traditional, rigid separation of “the researcher” and “research subjects.” Instead of the strict boundaries in research, scholars call for collaborative research that values diverse forms of knowledge production, and partnership. Kimberly TallBear writes about this approach as “standing with.” As TallBear argues, “standing with” seeks to build relationship based out of mutual care and concern. [3]

Broader discussion of citations guidelines for scholars has been actively developing. There are more tools now in 2022 than when we originally started this project back in 2018. Most disciplines encourage and value boundaries and distance between the researcher and the researched. [4] Further, researchers are discouraged from studying issues related to their own community. [5] However, there is a movement within Indigenous Studies and critical theory that values diverse forms of knowledge production. [6] There is a movement in various disciplines to value connections between researchers and communities, and collaborative projects. [7] There is an extensive body of literature that argues for a breakdown of this barrier as a way to decolonize research. [8] Some scholars write about the politics of citation, encouraging more inclusive and diverse conversations in the academe. [9] Scholars in education studies and critical pedagogy write about rethinking-knowledge production and citations as a way to address equity and racism. [10]

These guidelines explain and provide examples of how to cite personal experience, the proper structure of the citation, adapted from Chicago, APA, and MLA citation formats, and additional reading suggestions. This guide also provides information about how to cite personal interviews and conversations, including the importance of obtaining consent from the person you are interviewing. These guidelines are proposed in an effort to move toward decolonizing the classroom in a practical way by making space for diverse forms of knowledge production by people who have lived experiences in the contexts we study, but also to make space for the forms of knowledge production that students–along with their communities and families–create as valuable parts of their research.

Through a collaborative process of implementation and evaluation of the use of the guidelines, four outcomes emerged: students consider their own relationship to their research whether or not they use the guidelines; students think critically about all sources, not just those they cite; students bring their own passion and knowledge into the classroom; and students report increased engagement and success in class. As a result, we hope that the use of these guidelines, which foster student knowledge production and deep engagement with course material, can be an important way to decolonize the classroom, bring a diversity of voices into the classroom, and serve as an important tool for critical, feminist, and anti-racist pedagogy.

In the following sections, we will explain how we developed the guidelines and evaluated their impact on students’ academic research and assignments. We will also discuss our suggestions for using the guidelines based on student feedback, as well as areas for further research.

• Willard, Emily, doctoral dissertation program, class discussions, conversations with professors and classmates. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2015-2020. ↵
• Kishimoto (2018), p. 541 ↵
• TallBear (2014) ↵
• Emerson, Fretz, and Shaw (1995); Gerring (2012) ↵
• Willard, Emily, doctoral dissertation program, class discussions, conversations with professors and classmates. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 2015-2020 ↵
• Kovach (2009); Tuhiwai-Smith (2012); Stoler (2006); Thomas (2015); Strega and Brown (2015) ↵
• Bishop (1998); Moses et al (1984); Baumann (2019). ↵
• Audra Simpson (2007), Stuart Hall (1996) ↵
• Mott and Cockyane (2017); Tuck, Yang, and Gaztambide-Fernández (2015) ↵
• Kindon and Ellwood (2009); Kishimoto (2018); Trott, McMeeking, and Weinberg (2019); Cammarota and Romero (2009) ↵

Our Voices: A Guide to Citing Personal Experience and Interviews in Research Copyright © 2023 by Emily Willard is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Feedback/errata, leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Request new password
• Create a new account

Doing Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy

Student resources, using personal experience as a basis for research: autoethnography.

Autoethnography is quite different from other genres of research, in being based in first-person writing and reflection on personal experience. Carrying out an autoethnographic study not only has the potential to contribute to the research literature – it can also be highly personally meaningful, and provide a distinctive vantage point from which it is possible to see other types of research in a fresh way.

To appreciate what is involved in autoethnographic research it is necessary to try it out on yourself. This set of reflexive writing tasks provide suggestions about how to make a start with this kind of process. It is not necessary to complete all the writing exercises, or to begin with the first one – better to scan through the options and engage with the ones that strike a chord.

Articles on ethical issues in autoethnographic research are available in the Chapter 5 section of these online resources.

Papers on engaging in autoethnographic inquiry

These papers on psychotherapeutic topics illustrate different styles of autoethnographic inquiry, and different writing techniques. When reading them, make notes about those elements of each paper that could be usefully incorporated into your own study, and these elements that would be inappropriate.

Douglass, B.G. & Moustakas, C. (1985) Heuristic inquiry: the internal search to know.  Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 25, 39 – 55. 

Heuristic inquiry was an important precursor of autoethnography – this article highlights aspects of the study of personal experience that are not always given enough emphasis in the contemporary autoethnographic literature

Chang, H. (2016). Autoethnography in health research: growing pains? Qualitative Health Research, 26, 443 – 451. 

A useful discussion of current trends in autoethnography

Harder, R., Nicol, J. J., & Martin, S. L. (2020). " The power of personal experiences": post-publication experiences of researchers using autobiographical data.  The Qualitative Report , 25(1), 238 – 254.

Autoethnographic work is personally highly revealing – this study explores how experienced autoethnographic researchers evaluate the impact this has had on them​  

Wall, S. (2006) An autoethnography on learning about autoethnography.  International Journal of Qualitative Methods,  5, 146 – 160.

Wall, S. (2008) Easier said than done: writing an autoethnography.  International Journal of Qualitative Methods,  7, 38 – 53. 

Many researchers have found these papers – which tell the story of conducting an autoethnographic study – useful in terms of their own development

Exemplar autoethnographic articles

Asfeldt, M., & Beames, S. (2017). Trusting the journey: Embracing the unpredictable and difficult to measure nature of wilderness educational expeditions.  Journal of Experiential Education , 40(1), 72 – 86.

Brooks, C.F. (2011). Social performance and secret ritual: battling against Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.  Qualitative Health Research, 21, 249 – 261.

Fox, R. (2014). Are those germs in your pocket, or am I just crazy to see you? An autoethnographic consideration of obsessive-compulsive disorder.  Qualitative Inquiry , 20(8), 966 – 975.

Matthews, A. (2019). Writing through grief: Using autoethnography to help process grief after the death of a loved one.  Methodological Innovations , 12(3), 1 –10 .

How can I use my own personal experiences as a reference in my research paper?

It is very tempting to want to use things that we know based on our own personal experiences in a research paper. However, unless we are considered to be recognized experts on the subject, it is unwise to use our personal experiences as evidence in a research paper. It is better to find outside evidence to support what we know to be true or have personally experienced.

If it is not possible to find outside evidence, then you will have to construct your paper in such a way as to show your reader that you are an expert on the topic. You would need to lay out your credentials for the reader so that the reader will be able to trust the undocumented evidence that you are providing. This can be risky and is not recommended for research based papers. But even if you do use your own experiences, you would not add yourself to your References page.

Sometimes you will be assigned to write a paper that is based on your experiences or on your reaction to a piece of writing, in these instances it would be appropriate to write about yourself and your personal knowledge. However, you would still never cite yourself as a source on your References page. 

For assistance with APA citations, visit the APA Help guide.

Thank you for using ASK US. For further assistance, please contact your Baker librarians .

• Last Updated Oct 26, 2021
• Views 53642
• Answered By Baker Librarians

FAQ Actions

• Share on Facebook

Comments (0)

We'll answer you within 3 hours m - f 8:00 am - 4:00 pm..

• Walden University
• Faculty Portal

Academic Skills: Writing: Reusing Your Work and Citing Yourself

As you progress in your Walden program, you may find that you research and write about a topic more than once. This is typical as you engage with key concepts and specialize in your field of study. See the information and best practices on this page to ensure you follow APA citation guidelines and Walden policy if you plan to reuse past written work.

Your Published Writing

If you have published your writing outside of the Walden classroom—in a journal or even in a local newsletter or blog—and would like to reuse portions of it or refer to the findings or ideas in that work, you will need to cite yourself.

Follow APA’s guidelines for citing and referencing published works.

Your Previous Coursework

If you are considering reusing your previously submitted Walden coursework in a new course or term, review the following best practice and policy sections.

Best Practices for Reusing Work

• During your studies at Walden, you may write on the same topic for a second, third, or fourth time; regardless, your writing should reflect new approaches and insights into that topic to demonstrate intellectual growth.
• Your writing submitted for previous Walden courses will show up in the Turnitin Similarity Report when reused. Contact your faculty if you plan to reuse your work to avoid concerns about possible plagiarism. Additionally, you could cite your unpublished writing (see How to Cite Your Unpublished Work below).
• Your faculty for your current course can guide you about whether reusing your previous writing seems appropriate for a particular assignment or writing task.

Walden University’s Policy on Reusing Work

The following comes from the Walden Student Code of Conduct :

Walden Students’ Use of Their Own Scholarly Work

• Students may reuse their work without an expectation that previously awarded grades or credit will attach to the new assignment. Any work previously published by the student must be appropriately cited if reused. 
• Field Experience Exception: Any assignments or documentation submitted related to field experience (work, hours, client or patient logs, etc) must be new, current, accurate, and relate to clients or patients seen during the term and in direct reference to the assignment.

How to Cite Your Unpublished Work

Although not required in the policy above, in rare instances, you may need to or want to cite your unpublished Walden coursework.

If you cite or quote your previous work, treat yourself as the author and your own written document as the source. For example, if Marie Briggs wanted to cite a paper she wrote at Walden in 2022, her citation might look like this:

Briggs (2022) asserted that previous literature on the psychology of tightrope walkers was faulty in that it "presumed that risk-taking behaviors align neatly with certain personality traits or disorders" (p. 4).

And in the reference list:

Briggs, M. (2022). An analysis of personality theory [Unpublished manuscript]. Walden University.

Multimedia Resources

• The Northwest Passage, or Why You Should Cite Yourself Only Sparingly (blog post)
• To Cite Yourself or Not Cite Yourself (blog post)

CODE: HERO IMAGE

• Office of Student Disability Services

Walden Resources

Departments.

• Academic Residencies
• Academic Skills
• Career Planning and Development
• Customer Care Team
• Field Experience
• Military Services
• Student Success Advising
• Writing Skills

Centers and Offices

• Center for Social Change
• Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services
• Office of Degree Acceleration
• Office of Research and Doctoral Services
• Office of Student Affairs

Student Resources

• Doctoral Writing Assessment
• Form & Style Review
• Quick Answers
• ScholarWorks
• SKIL Courses and Workshops
• Walden Bookstore
• Walden Catalog & Student Handbook
• Student Safety/Title IX
• Legal & Consumer Information
• Website Terms and Conditions
• Cookie Policy
• Accessibility
• Accreditation
• State Authorization
• Net Price Calculator
• Contact Walden

Walden University is a member of Adtalem Global Education, Inc. www.adtalem.com Walden University is certified to operate by SCHEV © 2024 Walden University LLC. All rights reserved.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Wiley Open Access Collection

Rethinking Carper's personal knowing for 21st century nursing

Sally thorne.

1 School of Nursing, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC, Canada

In 1978, Barbara Carper named personal knowing as a fundamental way of knowing in our discipline. By that, she meant the discovery of self‐and‐other, arrived at through reflection, synthesis of perceptions and connecting with what is known. Along with empirics, aesthetics and ethics, personal knowing was understood as an essential attribute of nursing knowledge evolution, setting the context for the nurse to become receptively attentive to and engaged within the interpersonal processes of practice. Although much has been done over the 40 years since Carper described these ways of knowing, and we have seen enormous advances in empirics and ethics, and I would argue even in aesthetics (understanding the subtle craft of nursing in action), personal knowing may not have attracted its fair share of critical unpacking. Further, we see increasing evidence of a distortion on how forms of personal knowledge, including beliefs and attitudes, are being taken up within segments of the profession; these include legitimizing idiosyncratic positionings and, most worrisome, challenges to the idea that there are and ought to be fundamental truths within nursing that stand as central to disciplinary knowledge. In this paper, the author reflects on the confusion that a continued uncritical deference to personal knowing may be creating and the evolving interests it seems to serve.

1. A CHALLENGE TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL CORE

Despite the well known conundrums we encounter when we try to create an operational definition of the discipline of nursing, I have always been convinced that it is characterized by a strong and enduring set of core values and principles. I have understood the disciplinary lens of nursing—the manner in which one sees the world when that seeing is grounded within the social mandate of our profession—to represent a distinctive epistemological perspective on the universe. I have been confident that this distinctive perspective can be known and taught, and that it is of inherent value to society, even though society may not always understand or be able to articulate that value. I have also known, with as profound a conviction as one can have in the world of complex ideas, that a core constituent of nursing exists and that it can be recognized, even across a diversity of linguistic, national and practice setting contexts. My read of our history and our literature assures me that, while the technical detail of our practice in this discipline may differ from era to era, place to place and setting to setting, how we think and the value proposition that we bring to the domain of human experience in health and illness does not.

However, several recent experiences have led me to wonder if I had been doggedly clinging to an outdated way of thinking about my discipline or, alternatively, if my discipline may be losing its grip on that coherence and allowing the winds of change to disrupt that epistemological centre. A couple of years ago, I was part of a discussion at a conference of nursing editors, held in the USA, in which the topic of politics as they affect editors of nursing journals was under consideration. A number of the participants in that particular discussion were nursing deans and directors—exemplars of strong and confident scholars in our discipline. As the dialogue advanced, it became apparent that there was a shared understanding that it was no longer “safe” for faculty members to talk about issues of racism within the nursing undergraduate classroom. Their explanation was that any such activity in the nursing education environment was considered politically partisan and, therefore, unacceptable. I was deeply shocked by what I was hearing, recognizing that these were nurses charged with shaping the core values of the next generation of nursing without the tools to enact a core component of a nursing's mandate. And to be entirely clear, I understood all of these colleagues, without exception, to be expressing moral distress about this situation, as they clearly knew what was right in terms of guiding the profession forward but felt themselves to be structurally prevented from enacting it.

To cope with my distress around what I interpreted as a disjuncture between good nursing thought and action, I wrote an editorial entitled For What Do We Stand? , in which I called on nurses to remind themselves of the need to retain and enact those core values even under, and perhaps especially under, difficult political times. I wrote:

Protectionism, racial profiling, and the ideology of defending the privilege of some over the basic human rights of others are all products of the inability to move beyond simplistic thinking and into the domain of values, virtues, and high ideals. They reflect an immaturity of the human spirit, focusing on the self rather than the other, privileging the moment over the long game. It is not at all difficult to see how the story unfolds when the forces of fear, hatred, intolerance, and privilege gain influence at the expense of decency, compassion, and mutual respect. Clearly there is a need for the skill set that nurses so clearly exemplify in their individual practice context to be enacted at the societal level. Not only do we need to support and encourage those among us who do this kind of work as their practice—work such as refugee and immigrant health, harm reduction, reproductive rights advocacy—but we also need to champion the values that underpin this work within the larger community. We need to help teach society how to overcome fear, distrust, and personal insecurity in order to do what is right, to meet the call of those who are the most small and vulnerable among us, and to enact those central ideals that are consistent with valuing health for all. (Thorne, 2017 , np)

Editorials are written with the intention to provoke dialogue. But somewhat to my surprise, I was directly challenged on that argument in a manner that made it clear that the notion that nursing could and should claim fundamental values in this manner was not as self‐evident or shared as I had presumed it to be. In a response to that editorial, my learned friend Martin Lipscomb took issue with my assumptions, writing:

Often it is argued or assumed that nurses share values. Specifically, it is supposed that “the profession” possesses and promotes values, and nurses, as individuals, purportedly hold these values because they are members of the profession. Evidence in support of this assertion is rarely offered. Nonetheless, proclaiming that nurses share values serves multiple purposes. The claim bolsters conceptions of professional identity. It also masks the promulgation of political opinions that, if overtly stated, would be rejected by some and possibly many nurses. … The notion that a collective stance on politically sensitive issues could be formed or sustained is implausible and, perhaps, our voices might be better heard if we ditched the pretence that beyond abstractions, substantive professional values exist or are desirable. (Lipscomb, 2017 , np)

I sincerely respect the logic of the argument that Lipscomb was making in that commentary and was grateful that he articulated it so thoughtfully. Our exchange of ideas led me to further reflect on the extent to which diversity of thought can and should be welcomed within our discipline. The idea that we may no longer be able to answer that question perturbed me greatly.

In the context of that troubled reflection, I found myself drawn back to the notion of personal knowing that has been with us over the past 40 years of nursing thought, and perhaps taken on the stature of an uncritically held assumption with respect to our individual freedom with regard to those core commitments. In this paper, I take up the invitation to further wrestle with that idea.

2. CARPER'S IMPACT ON NURSING THINKING

I begin with a brief review of what I believe Barbara Carper was attempting to accomplish and how this aspect of our disciplinary epistemological hardwiring seems to have evolved over time. In 1978, Carper published a paper based on her 1975 doctoral dissertation entitled “Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing;” that paper appeared in the very first edition of Advances in Nursing Science (Carper,  1978 ). Over time, it became one of the most influential of early nursing theoretical papers (Chinn & Kramer,  2018 ). In a 2015 interview, the essence of which was also published in that journal, Carper described her motivation for that work as encouraging reflective nursing practice (Eisenhauer,  2015 ). She had been concerned that nursing curricula in the late 1960s had become overly focused on science to the extent that there was an “exclusion of everything else” (Eisenhauer,  2015 , p. 76), and her conviction was that what was essential to the practice of nursing entailed a great deal more than just science. Although she had initially limited her focus to trying to work out how to add ethics into the nursing curricula of the day, the philosophy courses in her doctoral program at Columbia University had ultimately led her to propose the four‐part model of patterns of knowing that we recognize today as Carper's “Ways of Knowing.”

Carper did not see her work as being in any kind of competition with the nursing theories that were being debated in that era of our disciplinary history, but instead as an adjunct to them (Carper,  1988 ). In her view, they helped to justify the broader humanistic aspect of excellent nursing practice—a counterargument to the excessive influence of scientific thinking on the way we taught and wrote about the discipline. Interestingly, despite the wide uptake of her ideas, she did not much engage in the ongoing discussion, preferring instead to let others find what interpretations they might in the insights she offered (Eisenhauer,  2015 ). However, as the uptake of her work within the wider body of theoretical literature made apparent, many of her contemporaries considered her patterns of knowing as triggering a paradigmatic shift in their own thinking (Chinn & Kramer,  2018 ; Jacobs‐Kramer & Chinn,  1988 ; Johns,  1995 ).

Although it may be difficult to stretch our minds back to why that might have been, it is instructive to consider that Howard Gardner's book, Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences , was not published until 1983 . His view differentiated human intelligence into specific modalities (such as visual‐spatial, verbal‐linguistic, logical‐mathematical, bodily kinaesthetic, interpersonal, naturalistic, existential and moral) instead of thinking about it as a single general ability. In a somewhat similar manner, Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats , which was first published in 1985 , was an idea that was originally conceived of as a way of understanding different styles of business decision making but also found an audience in applied disciplines such as nursing (Cioffi,  2016 ). Using the heuristic of differently coloured hats, de Bono identified six characteristic approaches to working through complex challenges, each with potential merits towards a particular decision and each with its own set of limitations. The “blue hat,” which de Bono referred to as the “manager,” or “big picture thinker” was essential to optimally capitalizing on each of the aptitudes brought to the table by different members of a business team, but without falling prey to the inevitable problems if each style was used alone. In a subsequent analogy to nursing applications, this “blue hat” thinking became known as the “critical thinking” required to examine multiple possible approaches to a complex problem, and incorporating and understanding of their implications into a final decision (Price & Harrington,  2018 ). Thus, in Carper's time, the wider scholarly community was only just beginning to push past a more global understanding of knowledge and knowing within an applied discipline and to see it as a multifaceted and dynamic kind of activity. Her thinking was therefore quite provocative for its time, and it is understandable that it had such a profound and lasting impact.

Over time, Carper's four “ways of knowing” became ubiquitous in nursing curricula and served to justify many of the later trends in thinking about the nature of the discipline (Garrett & Cutting,  2014 ). We began to see creative approaches, such as personal stories, criticism of works of art, principles and codes, dialogic justifications, appreciative inspiration being used to teach the thought processes of nursing and to enter into our lexicon as frames of reference for nursing knowledge. Although there was very little challenge to the basic four ways of knowing, scholars began to augment them, extending theorizing into other possible options to explain the complexity that is excellent thought within nursing. For example, in 1993 , Munhall proposed that knowing could lead to closure based on false confidence in one's own interpretation. She accordingly proposed “Unknowing” (or not knowing) as a fifth pattern of knowing (Heath,  1998 ). In 1995 , White re‐examined the fundamental patterns of knowing and added one she termed “Sociopolitical Knowing.” She conceptualized this as occurring on two levels: the sociopolitical context of persons (both the nurse and patient) and the sociopolitical context of nursing as a practice profession, including both society's understanding of nursing and nursing's understanding of society and its politics. “Emancipatory Knowing” was added to the lexicon in 2008 , in the 7th edition of Chinn and Kramer's popular Integrated Theory and Knowledge Development in Nursing text—a text that has been widely used to introduce nursing graduate students to the world of nursing theory. For Chinn and Kramer, this pattern of knowing reflected an aptitude to acknowledge social and political “injustice or inequity, to realize that things could be different, and to piece together complex elements of experience and context to change a situation as it is to a situation that improves people's lives” ( 2011 , p. 64). It was an essential competency, from their perspective, if nursing was to focus its attention on developing an awareness of social problems and taking action to create social change. More recently, the ideas of “Organizational Knowing” (Terry, Carr, & Curzio,  2017 ) and “Spiritual Knowing” (Willis & Leone‐Sheenan,  2019 ) have been proposed as additional fundamental patterns of knowing that nursing requires in order to fulfil the mandate of the profession—the latter being a particular issue to which I will return later in this discussion.

3. THE PARTICULAR INSTANCE OF PERSONAL KNOWING

Although each of the original and augmented ways of knowing deserves deep reflection and attention, it is Carper's original pattern of “personal knowing” that seems most urgently in need of a careful unpacking and reconsideration in the context of current thought within the discipline. Carper's understanding of this form of knowing was that it was the most difficult to master and teach and also the most essential to understanding the essence of patient care (p. 18). She described it as the knowledge needed to engage in authentic interpersonal relationships, a “standing in relation to another human being… unmediated by conceptual categories or particulars abstracted from complex organic wholes” (p. 18), something that was arrived at through reflection, synthesis of perceptions and connecting with what is known.

Although, comparatively speaking, there has been relatively little critical reflection in our literature on the concept of personal knowing (Porter,  2010 ), we can see the potential in the 1990 writing of Moch, who noted that “Any encounter with a person or event is an opportunity for personal knowing, provided the person has attempted to eliminate preconceived notions and has cultivated a receptive attending .”(p. 155). In this way, it would seem that the original notion of personal knowing, which was intended as a critically reflective approach to knowing and understanding one's role in the clinical encounter and in relational practice, is being taken up within certain segments of the profession in support of ideas that extend well beyond that initial context. And this becomes especially concerning in the context of an intellectual climate within which personal knowing is understood to reference holistic thinking and, therefore, to uncritically trump the other components. As Smith argued in 1992, because all knowing is personal knowing, personal knowing ought to have a central and primary place in nursing thought ( 1992 , p. 3).

In 1995 , Silva, Sorrell and Sorrell questioned the application of Carper's four ways of knowing, pointing out that they had come to address all aspects of both knowing (epistemology) and also being (ontology) in the discipline. They also noted that personal knowing was in fact most problematic among the four, in that it validated “unique” stories of everyday existence, such that multiple realities that can come from personal knowing are expected and become justified. This seems to suggest an is/ought dichotomy. Because personal knowledge is fundamental, what is contained in personal knowledge takes on the cache of legitimacy as valid epistemology and even ontology for the discipline. Although Benner's ( 1984 ) early work in particular has helped us appreciate that pattern recognition is a basic mechanism for advancing one's knowledge from novice to expert in the practice application domain, presumably we would not accept the corollary that all patterns that develop are evidence of expert thinking. Consider, for example, what we know all too well about stereotypical patterns that can be discerned on the basis of prior conditioning or selective attention, such as might derive from ingrained theoretical or attitudinal biases.

Thus reflecting on both the intention and the subsequent application of the idea of personal knowing, it becomes important to put some thought towards how vulnerable our discipline's core values ought to be in relation to the changing external forces that may exert an influence on the reflective capacity of individual nurses. In a world in which new technologies, corporate interests, political ideologies, social media and many other often pernicious forces are at play (Porter‐O'Grady,  2001 ; Scott, Matthews, & Kirwan, 2013 ), we clearly need to ensure we have a strong grip on what it is that nursing is saying when it takes the position that personal knowing is a legitimate, and in fact dominant, form of professional practice expertise.

4. SLIDING OFF THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL RAILS

It is widely recognized within the nursing philosophical community that a healthy critique of empirical science as the predominant form of credible knowledge in the health field is both useful and appropriate. We see widespread evidence of the untoward impact of an over‐reliance on science in excessive standardization and depersonalization within care systems. The capacity to conceptualize and enact care that is individualized, which can be seen as the antithesis of standardized practice, has a long history as a central feature of nursing's distinctive mandate (Liaschenko,  1997 ). However, having legitimized and welcomed something of an open challenge to evidence‐based practice, we may have allowed those other ways of knowing to occupy more privilege in our discipline's identity than was intended.

To illustrate, we might look to the worrisome wave of antiscience showing up in nursing internationally (Garrett,  2018 ). As is most evident in the sphere of social media, we hear of self‐identified nurses publicly expressing overt endorsement of an antivax position, especially on social media. And we also see confusing interpretations of what constitutes science made by nurses to their patients, such as justifying various holistic practices (such as body therapies, devices, and natural products) to their patients as “evidence based.” Further, our literature frequently references such claims by virtue of the conviction that there are “multiple forms of evidence” (e.g. Rycroft‐Malone et al.,  2004 ). As a qualitative researcher, I am greatly concerned when I read findings of small qualitative investigations of various patient phenomena being reported as “evidence” justifying the efficacy of a therapeutic approach or the appropriateness of a particular policy direction. This kind of slippage around what the wider world intends when it refers to a piece of knowledge as “evidence based” suggests that we are all too often conflating the idea that there are multiple forms of knowing something with the assertion that what we believe we know is, by default, a product of evidence. Do we have disciplinary clarity on what the boundary really is between a substantive logical assertion made on behalf of the profession and a spurious idiosyncratic claim based entirely on belief or opinion? Or, in a climate of trying to be respectful of diverse perspectives, have we lost the foundational core that keeps our profession grounded?

In a similar vein, as I referenced earlier, we seem to be seeing hesitation in some sectors of nursing and within nursing organizations to step into policy issues in which a clear nursing voice supported by established evidence would seem entirely appropriate if we had confidence in that moral core. By this, I am thinking about issues that are prominent in our public press in recent years—issues such as universal health coverage, equitable access to health services, gun control, protesting the detention of migrant children, decriminalizing persons who use substances, LGBTQ+ rights, threats to women's reproductive rights and nursing's complicity in health inequities for indigenous persons. Especially in politically explosive times, perhaps because they expect some diversity in opinion among individual members of the profession, we start to see our professional nursing bodies shying away from strong policy advocacy on the very issues that would seem to most benefit from a coherent nursing perspective. All of these issues are matters in which there is a history of strong and powerful nursing advocacy and which are easily justified by virtue of our knowledge of the social determinants of health and the mandate nursing has with respect to the dignity of all persons.

5. RETURNING TO THE INTENDED FOCUS

Carper's idea of personal knowing was never intended to justify the correctness of individual nursing opinions and beliefs; rather it was proposed as a way of thinking about the kind of relational authenticity that that nursing excellent inevitably requires within the multiplicity of encounters in the practice context. It acknowledged that the building of this skill set draws into the nursing knowledge equation ideas from multiple sources including one's own experiences, ideas and values; it was never meant to condone relying on them exclusively, any more than using evidence in practice should imply allowing that which has been convincingly quantified in populations to unilaterally dominate decisions on behalf of individuals. And it was never meant to legitimize prioritizing a personal idea or bias over a coherent grounding in nursing knowledge.

If we reflect back on the ideas from Carper, Gardner and de Bono, what we were seeing in this movement was a way of addressing the complexity of excellent thinking—confirming that the capacity to see a situation from multiple perspectives offers us the opportunity to approach higher quality, more robust and better informed decisions. Science denial, therefore, is clearly inconsistent with this ideal. What is consistent with the intended purpose is being in possession of a solid understanding of the science and yet coming to a reasoned determination on the basis of other patterns of knowing that it does or does not apply to the particular case I have before me at this juncture in time.

In order to keep the multiple intelligences and differing patterns of knowing in perspective, and in a balanced relationship with one another, nursing must have the capacity to uphold a set of shared core values that constitute its professional and disciplinary angle of vision. Arguably, we once had such convictions, and perhaps the forces of social change have weakened our collective confidence that these remain relevant. Our advanced education within professional nursing is increasingly being dominated by clinical training rather than a strong theoretical and philosophical grounding within the nature and tradition of what constitutes nursing knowledge (Grace, Willis, Roy, & Jones,  2016 ). We are also growing more comfortable with interdisciplinary learning and training opportunities in which core nursing disciplinary knowledge may not feature at all in curriculum. However, without solid grounding in what it means to be a nurse, and what serve as core disciplinary values, a new generation of nurses may be increasingly at risk for confusion over what differentiates the ideas we hold as individuals and the ideas that we claim to share.

As a case in point, I turn to the example of Medical Assistant in Dying (MAiD) in Canada as new development that has significantly challenged the profession. Historically, most of our nations have upheld prohibitions against anything that might hasten death, and nurses have walked a fine line to ensure that our comfort measures were in balance with that prohibition. However, in Canada, as in a number of other nations, the context of what this might mean it is evolving. Our particular legislation around this explicitly allowed for “conscientious objectors”—those for whom the idea was unacceptable and who needed to be protected from having to participate in it. In implementing this, Canadian nurses have drawn upon their experience with abortion, in which the profession has never faltered in its policy commitments in support of a woman's right to choose, even as it has made room for individual nurses who may have difficulty with such practices for personal reasons. In the MAiD context, nursing organizations have been consistently strong in their advocacy for a patient's right to a preferred death and to systems that respectfully and expertly support that, even as our care systems manage the reality of differing personal perspectives. Interestingly, this nuanced perspective is also exemplified in Canada's only faith based nursing education program at Trinity Western University. That program secured its approval to provide nursing education by demonstrating a commitment to values clarification consistent with provincial nursing practice standards. The faculty have become exemplary role models of high quality critically reflective practice knowledge on behalf of nursing. Individual students may enter that program with firm ideas, biases and religious convictions, but they leave their educational programs knowing how to ensure that such views never inflict harm on their patients.

To me, this stands in direct contrast to the conception of “spiritual knowing” that I referenced earlier—which seems an extension of the problem I have been articulating in relation to personal knowing. As I read some of this work, I interpret authors as taking the argument in an entirely different direction, endorsing specific religions as the appropriate source of core nursing values. To illustrate:

We live within a complicated social, historical, and political time throughout the universe, existing in a world marked by myriad threats to well‐being: violence, environmental hazards, climate change, health inequities, drug crises, toxic stress, ruthless killings, suicide, technology/information explosion, and other humanitarian crises. These are conditions that can be seen as mirroring ways of knowing antithetical to spiritual qualities (Willis & Leone‐Sheenan, 2019 , p. 60). ….Explicating spiritual knowing as a pattern of knowing in nursing is an important contribution, given that nursing has been grounded in a wholistic view of the human being, accounting for the spiritual nature of human beings from a Christian call to service. (p. 63)

Thus, I conclude that if we are unable to re‐engage with the core theoretical values proposition that nursing represents in the world, we run the serious risk of allowing ourselves to be caught in the winds of political and religious persuasion, rather than the fundamental mission and mandate of our discipline. If we claim that nursing does not in and of itself have core values, then we expose ourselves and our work on behalf of this discipline to the same kinds of forces that made those strong nursing leaders I mentioned earlier uncomfortable addressing racism in the classroom.

6. AND LOOKING FORWARD

If we can agree to stand firm on the idea that nursing does constitute core values, I think we are capable of being a force for enacting the social mandate that our discipline has always claimed. To illustrate this, I return to the example of how MAiD is being implemented by nursing in Canada. Regardless of the convictions of individual nurses, or the presence or absence of their declarations of conscientious objection, the nursing collective priority has become creating the envelope of safe and supported care surrounding any patient who may be considering this as an end‐of‐life option (Pesut, Thorne, Schiller, Greig, & Roussel,  2020 ). Such a collective priority clearly relies on a confident sense of a disciplinary core value, which is the safeguarding of patients and their families, regardless of their end‐of‐life decisions, during such a delicate and complex phase of their lives. Interestingly, for many nurses who began with the belief that they opposed MAiD for reasons of faith or conviction, when faced with the reality of a real patient situation, they often conclude that “being fully present” to making that patient's experience as positive as it could be is actually the higher order value and entirely consistent with their understanding of what nursing is and does. To me, this exemplifies the existence of core nursing values as a fundamental reason that multiple ways of knowing, including personal knowing, can work in the everyday practice world. We come to know those core values—to engage with them, reflect on them and wrestle with them—through the dialectic of our disciplinary theorizing and philosophical work.

7. CONCLUSION

In 2020, in conjunction with the World Health Organization's declared Year of the Nurse and Midwife, we may have a once in a generation opportunity to demonstrate to the broader world what nursing is and what it stands for. In justifying such an international focus, Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained “We simply cannot achieve universal health coverage and the health‐related targets in the Sustainable Development Goals unless we empower and equip nurses and midwives, and harness their power” (Branigan,  2019 , np). Such strong positions on issues of equity, access and public health policy around social determinants of health are unquestionably values driven initiatives. One hopes that nursing can fully capitalize on this game changing opportunity in a manner that showcases not only the technical competencies it brings to a care delivery system but also, and as importantly, the powerful set of core values it brings to health advocacy and public policy.

Personal knowing out of context can be dangerous. Within the context of nursing theoretical or epistemological frameworks and philosophies that guide us to attend to the multiplicities of factors involved in determining action, and—in the context of the core values that are an inherent part of all of those frameworks—personal knowing can spur us into action, provide us with the nuanced capacity to engage in difficult circumstances and help us make creative and strategic choices in how each of us can act to mobilize our collective social mandate.

If we accept the argument that a shared set of values is consistent with nursing's social mandate, then these might be some of its manifestations: that no person should ever be denied health service by virtue of religion, skin colour, sexual or gender orientation, politics and even economic status; that it is unacceptable to treat anyone in an undignified manner, regardless of that person's capacity to engage in with us in a manner that shows dignity; that the smallest, most marginalized vulnerable voice in our society would be supported to speak out and receive the care that is needed and deserved; and that every person who enters into the care of a nurse should be able to feel confident in the knowledge that the care will be culturally safe and respectful. In the policy domain, nursing will use the public trust it has engendered to advance ethical person‐centred policies, such as harm reduction, even when they may be politically controversial. Within the healthcare arena, nursing must embrace the guidance that science can provide us while also being vigilant for the diversity of persons for whom “best practices” are not reflective of individual needs.

In this context, we need the nursing philosophy community to be strong and relevant, and to fully engage with the advocacy arm of nursing to express and enact the core values that underlie those kinds of commitment. As Yeo has reminded us “The future of nursing care will depend in some measure on how nursing positions itself in relation to the politics of knowledge” ( 2014 , p. 241). While personal knowing is and will continue to be an important experiential aspect of our collective knowledge work, we need to understand it in its full complexity such that we can detect and act on its abuses. We need to ensure that it is brought to bear in ways that serve the discipline, and not the self‐interest of individual nurses. Finally, if nursing is to be what the world wants and needs it to be as a global force for health in the 21st century, then its values driver must remain a strong, coherent and fundamentally moral shared disciplinary mandate.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

None declared.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

An earlier version of this paper was presented as a keynote address at the 13th Philosophy in the Nurse's World Conference & 23rd International Philosophy of Nursing Conference, Victoria BC Canada, August 19, 2019. The author is grateful to the organizing committee for the opportunity.

Thorne S. Rethinking Carper's personal knowing for 21st century nursing . Nurs Philos . 2020; 21 :e12307 10.1111/nup.12307 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

• Benner, P. (1984). From novice to expert: Excellence and power in clinical nursing . Menlo Park, CA: Addison‐Wesley. [ Google Scholar ]
• Branigan, D. (2019). Dr. Tedros calls for investment in nurses, highlights WHA2020 focus on nurses & midwives . Geneva, Switzerland: Health Policy Watch; Retrieved from https://www.healthpolicy‐watch.org/dr‐tedros‐calls‐for‐investment‐in‐nurses‐highlights‐wha‐2020‐focus‐on‐nurses‐midwives/ [ Google Scholar ]
• Carper, B. (1978). Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing . Advances in Nursing Science , 1 ( 1 ), 13–23. 10.1097/00012272-197810000-00004 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Carper, B. (1988). Response to “Perspectives on knowing: A model of nursing knowledge” . Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice , 2 ( 2 ), 141–144. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chinn, P. L. , & Kramer, M. K. (2008). Integrated theory and knowledge development in nursing (7th ed.). St Louis, MO: Mosby. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chinn, P. L. , & Kramer, M. K. (2011). Integrated theory and knowledge development in nursing (8th ed.). St Louis, MO: Mosby. [ Google Scholar ]
• Chinn, P. L. , & Kramer, M. K. (2018). Knowledge development in nursing: Theory and process (10th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cioffi, J. M. (2016). Collaborative care: Using six thinking hats for decision making . International Journal of Nursing Practice , 23 ( 6 ), e12593 10.1111/ijn.12593 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• de Bono, E. (1985). Six thinking hats: An essential approach to business management . New York, NY: Little, Brown, & Company. [ Google Scholar ]
• Eisenhauer, E. R. (2015). An interview with Dr. Barbara A. Carper” . Advances in Nursing Science , 38 ( 2 ), 73–82. 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000067 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences . New York, NY: Basic Books. [ Google Scholar ]
• Garrett, B. M. (2018). Empirical nursing: The art of evidence‐based care . Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing. [ Google Scholar ]
• Garrett, B. M. , & Cutting, R. L. (2014). Ways of knowing: Realism, non‐realism, nominalism and a typology revisited with a counter perspective for nursing science . Nursing Inquiry , 22 ( 2 ), 95–105. 10.1111/nin.12070 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Grace, P. J. , Willis, D. G. , Roy, C. Sr , & Jones, D. A. (2016). Profession at the crossroads: A dialog concerning the preparation of nursing scholars and leaders . Nursing Outlook , 64 ( 1 ), 61–70. 10.1016/j.outlook.2015.10.002 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Heath, H. (1998). Reflection and patterns of knowing in nursing . Journal of Advanced Nursing , 17 ( 5 ), 1054–1059. 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1998.00593.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jacobs‐Kramer, M. K. , & Chinn, P. L. (1988). Perspectives on knowing: A model of nursing knowledge . Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice , 2 ( 2 ), 129–139. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Johns, C. (1995). Framing learning through reflection within actions, Carper's fundamental ways of knowing in nursing . Journal of Advanced Nursing , 22 ( 2 ), 226–234. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Liaschenko, J. (1997). Knowing the patient? In Thorne S., & Hayes V. (Eds.), Nursing praxis: Knowledge and action (pp. 23–38). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [ Google Scholar ]
• Lipscomb, M. (2017). Nursing values: Divided we stand . Nursing Inquiry , 24 ( 2 ), e12209 10.1111/nin.12209 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Moch, S. D. (1990). Personal knowing: Evolving research and practice . Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice , 4 ( 2 ), 155–165. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Munhall, P. (1993). ‘Unknowing’: Towards another pattern of knowing in nursing . Nursing Outlook , 41 ( 3 ), 125–128. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pesut, B. , Thorne, S. , Schiller, C. J. , Greig, M. , & Roussel, J. (2020). The rocks and hard places of MAiD: A qualitative study of nursing practice in the context of legislated assisted death . BMC Nursing , 19 , art.12. 10.1186/s12912-020-0404-5 [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Porter, S. (2010). Fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing: The challenge of evidence‐based practice . Advances in Nursing Science , 33 ( 1 ), 3–14. 10.1097/ANS.0b013e3181c9d5eb [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Porter‐O'Grady, T. (2001). Profound change: 21st century nursing . Nursing Outlook , 49 ( 4 ), 182–186. 10.1067/mno.2001.112789 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Price, B. , & Harrington, A. (2018). Critical thinking and writing in nursing (4th ed.). London,UK: Sage. [ Google Scholar ]
• Rycroft‐Malone, J. , Seers, K. , Titchen, A. , Harvey, G. , Kitson, A. , & McCormack, B. (2004). What counts as evidence in evidence‐based practice? Journal of Advanced Nursing , 47 ( 1 ), 81–90. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Scott, P. A. , Matthews, A. , & Kirwan, M. (2013). What is nursing in the 21st century and what does the 21st century health system require of nursing? Nursing Philosophy , 15 , 23–34. 10.1111/nup.12032 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Silva, M. C. , Sorrell, J. M. , & Sorrell, C. D. (1995). From Carper's patterns of knowing to ways of being: An ontological philosophical shift in nursing . Advances in Nursing Science , 18 , 1–13. 10.1097/00012272-199509000-00002 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith, M. (1992). Is all knowing personal knowing? Nursing Science Quarterly , 5 ( 1 ), 2–3. 10.1177/089431849200500102 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Terry, L. , Carr, G. , & Curzio, J. (2017). Expert nurses' perceptions of the relevance of Carper's patterns of knowing to junior nurses . Advances in Nursing Science , 40 ( 1 ), 85–102. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Thorne, S. (2017). Editorial – For what do we stand? Nursing Inquiry , 24 ( 2 ), e12195 10.1111/nin.12195 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• White, J. (1995). Patterns of knowing: Review, critique and update . Advances in Nursing Science , 17 ( 4 ), 73–86. 10.1097/00012272-199506000-00007 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Willis, D. G. , & Leone‐Sheenan, D. M. (2019). Spiritual knowing: Another pattern of knowing in the discipline . Advances in Nursing Science , 42 ( 1 ), 58–68. 10.1097/ANS.0000000000000236 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yeo, M. (2014). Implications of 21st century science for nursing care: Interpretations and issues . Nursing Philosophy , 15 , 238–249. 10.1111/nup.12066 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

• Have your assignments done by seasoned writers. 24/7
• Contact us:
• +1 (213) 221-0069
• [email protected]

How to Use Personal Experience in Research Paper or Essay

Personal Experience In Research Writing

Personal experience in academic writing involves using things that you know based on your personal encounter to write your research paper.

One should avoid using personal experience to write an academic paper unless instructed to do so. Suppose you do so, then you should never cite yourself on the reference page.

Some instructions may prompt you to write an essay based on personal experience. Such instances may compel you to write from your personal knowledge as an account for your past encounters over the same topic.

Can you Use Personal Experience in an Essay?

In most of the essays and papers that people write, it is highly recommended that one avoids the use of first-person language. In our guide to writing good essays , we explained that the third person is preferred for academic work.

However, it can be used when doing personal stories or experiences. But can is it possible?

In practice, you can use personal experience in an essay if it is a personal narrative essay or it adds value to the paper by supporting the arguments.

Also, you can use your personal experience to write your academic paper as long as you are writing anything that is relevant to your research.

The only harm about such an essay is that your experience might sound biased because you will be only covering one side of the story based on your perception of the subject.

Students can use the personal story well through a catchy introduction.

Inquire from the instructor to offer you more directions about the topic. However, write something that you can remember as long as you have rich facts about it.

People Also Read:   Can Research Paper be Argumentative: How to write research arguments

How to Use Personal Experience in a Research Paper

When you are crafting your easy using your personal experience,   ensure you use the first-person narrative. Such a story includes the experiences you had with books, situations, and people.

For you to write such a story well, you should find a great topic. That includes thinking of the events in your life encounters that can make a great story.

Furthermore, you should think of an event that ever happened to you. Besides, you can think of special experiences you had with friends, and how the encounter changed your relationship with that specific person.

The right personal experience essay uses emotions to connect with the reader. Such an approach provokes the empathic response. Most significantly, you can use sensory details when describing scenes to connect with your readers well.

Even better, use vivid details and imagery to promote specificity and enhance the picture of the story you are narrating.

Structure of the Essay

Before you begin to write, brainstorm and jot down a few notes. Develop an outline to create the direction of the essay story.

Like other essays, you should use the introduction, the body, and a conclusion. Let your introduction paragraph capture the reader’s attention.

In other words, it should be dramatic. Your essay should allow the audience to know the essence of your point of view.

Let the body of this essay inform the reader with clear pictures of what occurred and how you felt about it.

Let the story flow chronologically or group the facts according to their importance. Use the final paragraph to wrap up and state the key highlights of the story.  

Make it Engaging

The right narrative needs one to use interesting information engagingly. Record yourself narrating the story to assist you in organizing the story engagingly. Furthermore, you are free to use dialogue or anecdotes. For that reason, think about what other people within your story said.

Moreover, you should use transition words for better sentence connections. Again, you should vary the sentence structures to make them more interesting. Make the words as lively and as descriptive as possible.

People Also Read: Can Research Paper Use Bullet Points: when & How to Use them

The Value of Personal Experience

We use personal experience to connect your artwork with your readers since they are human and they would prefer real stories. You will become more realistic when you describe emotions, feelings, and events that happened to you.

Your wealth of personal experience in a specific field will offer you a great advantage when you want to connect all the facts into a useful story.

People Also Read: What is a Background in an Essay: Introducing Information

Reinforcing your Writing Skills

Some students may have brilliant ideas and fail to capture them on paper properly. Some seek to write personal issues but also want to remove first-person language from their writing. This is not good.

However, you can sharpen your writing skills in this aspect. One can use the following tips to make your personal research paper readable and more appealing:

1. Sharpen grammar

The readability and clarity of your content will rely on grammar.

For that reason, you should polish your spelling, grammar skills, and punctuation daily.

Moreover, you should practice regularly and make the essay more appealing.

2. Expand Vocabulary

It can be helpful if you expand your vocabulary to describe your events successfully. Using better word choice enable the writer to connect with the topic well.

3. Have a Diary

Having a personal diary helps you by boosting your memory about past memorable events. That ensures that you do not lose hold of something important that happened in your past encounter.

4. Systematize it

Make your narration appear systematic to improve the flow. For example, you can divide your experiences in particular importance, emotions, events, people, and so on.

5. Interpret your feelings

It is not a walkover for one to remember every feeling he or she encountered when particular events happened. One should try to analyze and interpret them for better and more effective delivery when writing about personal experiences.

Can you Cite yourself or Personal Experience?

You cannot cite yourself or reference your personal experience because it is your own narration and not data, facts, or external information. Ideally, one does not need to cite personal experiences when using any writing style whether APA or MLA.

It will be unprofessional if you cite yourself in your research paper.  Such an experience is your voice which you are bringing to the paper.

Choose the relevant essay based on your essay.

People Also Read: Best Research Paper Font and Size: Best Styles for an Essay

Instances when to use Personal Experience in a Research Paper

There are many instances when you have to apply personal narrations in an essay. In these instances, the use of first language is important. Let us explore them.

1. Personal essays

You can use personal essays in academic writing to engage readers.  It makes your writing to be credible and authentic because you will be engaging readers with your writing voice. Some stories are better told when given from personal encounters.

The secret lies in choosing the most relevant topic that is exciting and triggers the right emotions and keeps your audience glued to it. You can include some dialogue to make it more engaging and interesting.

2. Required by the instructions

Some situations may prompt your professor to offer students instructions that compel them to write a research paper based on a personal encounter. Here, you have to follow the instructions to the latter for you to deliver and earn a good score well.

One way of winning the heart of your professor is to stick to the given instructions. You should relate your past events with the topic at hand and use it to connect with your readers in an engaging manner.

3. Personal Research Report

When you are doing research that involves your personal encounter, you will have to capture those events that can reveal the theme of your topic well.

Of course, it is an account of your perception concerning what you went through to shape your new understanding of the event.

A personal research report cannot be about someone’s also experience. It states the details of what you encountered while handling the most memorable situations.

4. Ethnography Reports

Such a report is qualitative research where you will immerse yourself in the organization or community and observe their interactions and behavior. The narrator of the story must use his perception to account for particular issues that he may be tackling in the essay.

Ethnography helps the author to give first-hand information about the interactions and behavior of the people in a specific culture.

When you immerse yourself in a particular social environment, you will have more access to the right and authentic information you may fail to get by simply asking.

We use ethnography as a flexible and open method to offer a rich narrative and account for a specific culture. As a researcher, you have to look for facts in that particular community in various settings.

When not handling complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

Related posts

Titles for Essay about Yourself

Good Titles for Essays about yourself: 31 Personal Essay Topics

How to Write a Diagnostic Essay

How to Write a Diagnostic Essay: Meaning and Topics Example

How Scantron Detects Cheating

Scantron Cheating: How it Detects Cheating and Tricks Students Use

The complete guide to writing a brilliant research paper

Planning to Write

Editage Insights

• Find a curated list of 51 resources to write your research paper
• Get access to 7 actionable video tutorials

Your one-stop resource  to writing a great research paper  

Writing a research paper is a challenging job for most of us --- from conceptualizing the paper, to breaking it down to its constituent parts, and finally, to referring to numerous other papers and books to get your own paper going --- it is daunting, to say the least. What it is not is, impossible! What follows is a step-by-step guide on how you can make your research paper a good read and improve the chances of your paper's acceptance: 

1. How to dive into the process of writing a research paper

Many a time, we are advised to start with a clean slate, or go Tabula Rasa! However, it isn’t always easy to make a fresh start. What you can do instead is to start on a creative note! How does one do that, you ask? By adopting a creative frame of mind! A research paper does not have to be seen as an exercise in writing turgid prose. You can start with an incident or an episode that links to your research topic. You can also start with a news item from history, to connect to your area of research. The sky is the limit when it comes to exploring such angles. If you’re jittery about sending out your paper for publication, worry not! Just ensure that you grab some eyeballs, while you bring out your creative side at the very start of diving deep into your research paper. What follows are the next steps that need to be taken in the process of writing your research paper: Originality is often what separates great research from mediocrity. How does one write an original research article? Here is some insight:  A young researcher’s guide to writing an original research article Writing a research paper Before embarking on the process of writing a paper, it is important to get all your doubts cleared. One query that we frequently receive was on the difference between a review and a research paper. Find out more here:  What is the difference between a research paper and a review paper ?

Another query some researchers have is this: What is the difference between a research proposal and a research paper? Did you know that Stuart Hall, the media and cultural theorist extraordinaire had published his work called ‘Keywords’? Keywords are often like SEO builders--Keywords help readers discover papers that are relevant to them and that they supplement the title? Here are some tips on how to write keywords:  How to create keywords for a research paper? Why do journals ask for keywords? How does one go about putting text onto paper or screen? Does this send shivers up your spine? Here are some practical tips on how to clock in some words per hour: Tackling the task of writing text If this is the first time you’re working on a scientific paper, here’s what you could do to put together a good one: 5 Practical tips for writing your first scientific paper

Outline of a research paper

It is always a useful endeavor to create an outline or inventory of the things that would go into your research paper. We have a ready reckoner on how you can do that. Watch this video for some excellent ideas:

Keep sub-topics and references ready 

Before you begin writing your paper, it is a good idea to collect an initial set of references to match the various topics and sub-topics to be covered in the paper. This way, you will not waste time balancing writing ideas and references, once you start writing. What should you be including as references in your paper? This is a query we received, and here’s our answer: What should be included as references in my paper? One of our readers asked us to help identify what a comprehensive citation list should include. Here’s how we responded: What does a comprehensive citation list include? Picture this: As part of preparing for your literature review, you have been reading a fascinating article that has some useful pointers for your work. The article cites some primary resources that you would like to use for your own work. How does one cite primary sources that one comes across in a secondary resource? Read on to find out: Should I cite the primary source if I have come across them in a secondary source Similarly, the article also has references that you would like to draw on. How does one go about this? Here’s what we have to say: How should I cite a reference that I found in a paper? Authorial responsibility in citing sources is an ethical aspect of publishing that all authors must understand well. Here’s a query that we received on this aspect of publishing: What is an author’s responsibility while citing sources? Is there a minimum or a maximum number of references that papers should have? Find out what the standard numbers of references in a paper are: What is the standard number of references a paper should have?

2. Getting the title of your research paper right

A good title grabs attention like none other. Make sure that your title is catchy and informative, all at once. Allow your title to pique your readers’ curiosity or even make a statement. Here are some easy-to-follow tips to come up with a great title for your research paper. 

Is it fair to judge a book by its cover? Unfortunately, that’s how most people decide if they’d like to read your article. Fortunately, there’s something you can do about it! Read on to read some basic tips on writing a good title for your research paper: 3 Basic tips on writing a good research paper title I hope you found the tips useful. Writing a good title for a research paper comprises a few basic steps as well. Here are a bunch of steps that you should follow to writing a good research paper title: 5 Simple steps to write a good research paper title

Let us round it off with some more quick tips with examples of getting the title of your research paper right: Quick tips to help you get the title of your research paper right

One of our readers sent in a query that is pertinent to all of us --- how to write the title and introduction to a research paper. Often, readers (including journal editors) read the title and the first passage and then decide whether they want to read any further. So, make sure your work grabs attention: Can you help me write the title and introduction of my research paper? A good title hits like a bullet, is descriptive, yet crisp. We also have a video to guide you through the process of creating a title for your research paper. Here goes:

3. Writing the abstract of your research paper

A good abstract is one that not only succinctly summarizes your paper but also eggs your readers to read on. It provides a broad overview of your paper in an easy-to-grasp manner. Here’s more on what your abstract should read like:

Writing an abstract is like giving a glimpse of your research paper in a short paragraph. What are the components that go into writing a good abstract? Here’s a 10-step guide to writing a good abstract: A 10-step guide to making your research paper abstract more effective Gone are the days when tough prose was the only way to express research work. With the coming of easy-to-use technology and innovative ways of explaining science, graphical and video abstracts are becoming increasingly popular. Find out more about innovative ways of putting together your abstract: The coming of age of the abstract in scientific writing Want to learn the secret to writing a great abstract for a research paper in 3 minutes? Here’s a video that unravels tips that you could make use of:

Often times, abstracts differ according to the broad field of study that you work in. One of our readers sent in a query about writing an abstract for a social sciences or humanities paper. Find out more on how you can tailor-make your abstract here: How to write the abstract for a social sciences or humanities paper? Is it possible for a research paper to be written without an abstract added to it? Here’s what our publication expert has to say: Can a paper be published without an abstract? Is there a fundamental difference between an abstract and a synopsis? How do they differ from each other? If you too are baffled like one of our readers was, read the response to this question: What is the difference between an abstract and a synopsis for a biological science research paper What are the ethics of converting a conference abstract and paper in two different journals? Is this an acceptable norm? Join in to read our reflections on this: Is it acceptable to publish a conference abstract and an article based on it in two different journals? Are you still unsure of the importance of writing an effective abstract? This case study will surely convince you: The need to write an effective abstract: A case study

4. How to structure an original research paper (IMRAD)

The IMRAD is a passkey to the structure and function of a good research paper. Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion --- these are the key components of a good paper.

What is the IMRAD structure and its components?

This 2-minute video tells you more about what each section of your paper should include and how the sections should be organized:

Have you felt too cluttered in your head and found it hard to grasp what you should focus on while writing your paper? Delineating the most important ideas and knowing which ideas go where is crucial for a good research paper. Here’s an excellent article to guide you on the IMRAD structure: How to convey your most important ideas through your paper The introductory abstract tells you the gist of the research paper, hooking you on to it but keeping the suspense alive: I want to write an introductory abstract before writing a manuscript. How do I go about it? How you write your introduction sets the tone of your paper. And the section that follows introduction is the one where you become all descriptive. For some great tips on writing the introduction and methods section to your paper, read on: The secret to writing the introduction and methods section of a manuscript Establishing the end result is extremely important once you’ve got the readers hooked on to your research paper. And what these results imply, what are the limitations of the study, etc. is what constitutes the discussion section. So the results and discussion section of your manuscript are as important as a good introduction and body: The secret to writing the results and discussion section of a manuscript

5. How is a research paper formatted

Formatting your research paper can help you present your research in an accessible, discernible manner. Formatting adds or takes away layers from your written work, and good formatting accentuates the key ideas of your paper.

Capturing research data is an art, be it in words or in an artwork. Tables and figures are often the more communicative of the mediums to establish facts, provide comparisons, or state data. Here are some tips on how to use tables and figures effectively: 

Tips on effective use of tables and figures in research papers As we have already attuned ourselves to various kinds of data representations, how do you zero in on the best format? Find out more here:

Choose the best format for presenting your research data

Do you find it difficult to present your data effectively in the form of tables and figures? We have some handy guidelines for you:

6 Easy guidelines for preparing tables and figures for a research manuscript

6. How should you reference your research paper?

Usually, referencing styles are prescribed by the journal or your place of submission. As you may already know, there are numerous referencing styles that help present the works you have referred to, in a concise, stylized manner.  

Which style should you pick for referencing?

There are numerous stylistic formats in which your research papers and writing can be drafted. The American Psychological Association (APA) is one among the many bodies which prescribe referencing formats for academic works. Here’s a link that allows you to understand what the APA style sheet is: How to cite a journal article using APA style? Have you comes across research works that involve more than one author? If the number of authors is above three, you would have noticed that the phrase ‘et al.’ is used. You would have wondered what the rules are around using the phrase. Here’s an article that sheds light on when and how you can use et al. Using et al for in-text citations in research papers You were just introduced to a style of referencing. You would have noticed that there are various editions of such referencing formats, prescribing the style sheet. How are the style manuals updated with every version? Find out more: How are style manuals updated If your research work has legends and illustrations, graphs and pictorial representations, how would you go about referencing them? Here’s a look at how major style guides advice on multiple illustrations: 4 Major style guides on labeling composite or multi-part illustrations We have some interesting comparison of the styles of scientific publishing in English and Chinese! Find out more here: The style of scientific manuscripts published in Chinese and English in addition to language is quite different Avoid grammar and writing mistakes in your writing Grasping citation styles is usually a matter of practice. How do you format an article using a particular style? Similarly, how do you steer clear of plagiarism by citing right? Read on to find out: How to format an article using APA style What citation style should I use to avoid unintentional plagiarism?

7. Avoid grammar and writing mistakes in your writing

Can you understand this sentence: “He telephoned asking me to come next Sunday today”? Language is the medium to convey your ideas to your readers, so writing an error-free paper is essential. A badly written paper could potentially lead to journal rejection. So here are some quick and easy tips to avoid grammar and writing related mistakes. Grammar eludes many authors. Should you or should you not add a comma after “etc.”? Read on to find out: Comma after etc. at the end of a sentence Did you write the paper or is the paper written by you? Confused? Active and passive voices are both right but should be used appropriately. Here’s what you should be using in research writing: Using the active and passive voice in research writing Is it alright to use ‘I’ when you write your research paper, or is it too informal and not scientific enough? Here is some guidance on that: Is it acceptable to use first-person pronouns in scientific writing Are all abbreviations Greek and Latin to you? Worry not, for our publication experts will tell you how you could use some Latin abbreviations in your research writing: Difference between eg., i.e., and namely A lot of times, journal guidelines prescribe word limits for papers, and we tend to overshoot. Is there a knack to reduce the length of your paper without altering the meaning too much? Read on: 10 Tips to reduce the length of your research paper What is the difference between the terms “gender” and “sex?” How should you use these terms when you write your research paper? Our experts weigh in: Should I use the word sex or gender in my scientific research paper? Here’s a quick look at how you can use commas, brackets, and dashes when you write your research paper: Quick tips on using commas, brackets, and dashes in a research paper Writing clearly and crisply is half the battle won. But research writing process is fraught with difficulties since many researchers feel compelled to use jargon. Here are some tips on writing in simple and clear language: 5 Steps to simplifying the language in research communication Let us round those tips off with an article for you on improving academic writing: Language tips to improve academic writing  

8. How to keep your paper away from unethical practices

Ethics are an integral aspect of research, so it is extremely important that your research and writing are rooted in good ethical practices. Read on to find out more about how we address ethics in research: If you are unaware of publication ethics, without  intending to plagiarize, you may accidentally stumble into the trap of plagiarism. This is called accidental plagiarism. Authors who struggle with writing in English too fall prey to this. Plagiarism is often career-wrecking and can bring disrepute and shame. It is best to avoid any remote possibilities of accidental plagiarism. Here’s how you can do that in 5 easy steps:

Find out an experienced journal editor’s views on what constitutes plagiarism, and how you can be wary of this unethical practice:

So you decided to write a research paper drawing on your previous work. Are there any pitfalls here? There may be if you decide to copy parts of your previous paper. To avoid self-plagiarism, follow the guidelines below: What’s the big deal about self-plagiarism Is there a way of avoiding plagiarism? Well, yes! Paraphrase what you read and reference it clearly. Here is a great video on how you could paraphrase English text effectively:

Is paraphrasing necessary at all? What if you quote the original text, and then cite it? Would that amount to plagiarism? If you have these questions, then you should read what our experts have to say: Is it plagiarism if I use the same words as the original text but cite the source?

We hope our effort in putting together a curation on the norms and ways of academic and research writing helps you in tackling your everyday tryst with the world of academia and research and helps you in your journey to getting published in an international journal. Do drop us a message on what else you’d like covered extensively like this, and we’ll make sure it happens. Onwards, to write!

for this article

Published on: Jun 05, 2018

• Writing Process

You're looking to give wings to your academic career and publication journey. We like that!

Why don't we give you complete access! Create a free account and get unlimited access to all resources & a vibrant researcher community.

One click sign-in with your social accounts

Sign up via email

1536 visitors saw this today and 1210 signed up.

Subscribe to Conducting Research

Confirm that you would also like to sign up for free personalized email coaching for this stage.

Related Reading

A young researcher's guide to a systematic review

The basics of converting your PhD thesis into journal articles

A young researcher's guide to writing a clinical case report

The complete guide to writing a brilliant research paper 17 min read

Our secret recipe (with 5 key ingredients) for a winning manuscript 9 min read

How to write an effective title and abstract and choose appropriate keywords 11 min read

50 Motivational quotes and tips, 1 for each week of 2019 37 min read

Guidelines for young researchers on tackling common problems in scientific publishing 15 min read

Trending Searches

• Statement of the problem
• Background of study
• Scope of the study
• Types of qualitative research
• Rationale of the study
• Concept paper
• Literature review
• Introduction in research
• Under "Editor Evaluation"
• Ethics in research

Recent Searches

• Review paper
• Responding to reviewer comments
• Predatory publishers
• Scope and delimitations
• Open access
• Plagiarism in research
• Journal selection tips
• Editor assigned
• Types of articles
• "Reject and Resubmit" status
• Decision in process
• Conflict of interest

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts
• 12 May 2024

Is the Internet bad for you? Huge study reveals surprise effect on well-being

• Carissa Wong

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

A global, 16-year study 1 of 2.4 million people has found that Internet use might boost measures of well-being, such as life satisfaction and sense of purpose — challenging the commonly held idea that Internet use has negative effects on people’s welfare.

Access options

Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals

Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription

$29.99 / 30 days

cancel any time

Subscribe to this journal

Receive 51 print issues and online access

$199.00 per year

only $3.90 per issue

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01410-z

Vuorre, M. & Przybylski, A. K. Technol. Mind Behav . https://doi.org/10.1037/tmb0000127 (2024).

Article   Google Scholar  

Heffer, T. et al. Clin. Psychol. Sci. 7 , 462–470 (2018).

Coyne, S. M., Rogers, A. A., Zurcher, J. D., Stockdale, L. & Booth, M. Comput. Hum. Behav . 104 , 106160 (2020).

Download references

Reprints and permissions

Related Articles

• Public health

Why role-playing games can spur climate action

World View 22 MAY 24

How does ChatGPT ‘think’? Psychology and neuroscience crack open AI large language models

News Feature 14 MAY 24

Daniel Kahneman obituary: psychologist who revolutionized the way we think about thinking

Obituary 03 MAY 24

Ozempic keeps wowing: trial data show benefits for kidney disease

News 24 MAY 24

Trials that infected people with common colds can inform today’s COVID-19 challenge trials

Correspondence 21 MAY 24

A global pandemic treaty is in sight: don’t scupper it

Editorial 21 MAY 24

Can mathematicians help to solve social-justice problems?

Career Feature 22 MAY 24

Internet use and teen mental health: it’s about more than just screen time

Professor, Division Director, Translational and Clinical Pharmacology

Cincinnati Children’s seeks a director of the Division of Translational and Clinical Pharmacology.

Cincinnati, Ohio

Cincinnati Children's Hospital & Medical Center

Data Analyst for Gene Regulation as an Academic Functional Specialist

The Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn is an international research university with a broad spectrum of subjects. With 200 years of his...

53113, Bonn (DE)

Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität

Recruitment of Global Talent at the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ, CAS)

The Institute of Zoology (IOZ), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is seeking global talents around the world.

Beijing, China

Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOZ, CAS)

Full Professorship (W3) in “Organic Environmental Geochemistry (f/m/d)

The Institute of Earth Sciences within the Faculty of Chemistry and Earth Sciences at Heidelberg University invites applications for a   FULL PROFE...

Heidelberg, Brandenburg (DE)

Universität Heidelberg

Postdoctoral scholarship in Structural biology of neurodegeneration

A 2-year fellowship in multidisciplinary project combining molecular, structural and cell biology approaches to understand neurodegenerative disease

Umeå, Sweden

Umeå University

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Handwashing
• Hand Hygiene as a Family Activity
• Hand Hygiene FAQs
• Handwashing Facts
• Publications, Data, & Statistics
• Health Promotion Materials
• Global Handwashing Day
• Clean Hands and Spaces: Handwashing and Cleaning in Educational Facilities
• Life is Better with Clean Hands Campaign
• Clinical Safety
• Healthcare Training
• Clean Hands Count Materials

About Hand Hygiene for Patients in Healthcare Settings

• Patients in healthcare settings are at risk of getting infections while receiving treatment for other conditions.
• Cleaning your hands can prevent the spread of germs, including those that are resistant to antibiotics, and protects healthcare personnel and patients.
• Patients and their loved ones can play a role in asking and reminding healthcare personnel to clean their hands.

Your hands can spread germs.

• Hands have good germs that your body needs to stay healthy. Hands can also have bad germs on them that make you sick.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer kills most of the bad germs that make you sick.

• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill the good and bad germs, but the good germs quickly come back on your hands.

Alcohol-based hand sanitizer does not create antimicrobial-resistant germs.

• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers kill germs quickly and in a different way than antibiotics.
• Using alcohol-based hand sanitizers to clean your hands does not cause antimicrobial resistance.

Steps to take

When patients and visitors should clean their hands.

• Before preparing or eating food.
• Before touching your eyes, nose, or mouth.
• Before and after changing wound dressings or bandages.
• After using the restroom.
• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• After touching hospital surfaces such as bed rails, bedside tables, doorknobs, remote controls, or the phone.

How to clean hands

With an alcohol-based hand sanitizer:.

• Put product on hands and rub hands together.
• Cover all surfaces until hands feel dry.
• This should take around 20 seconds.

With soap and water:

• Wet your hands with warm water. Use liquid soap if possible. Apply a nickel- or quarter-sized amount of soap to your hands.
• Rub your hands together until the soap forms a lather and then rub all over the top of your hands, in between your fingers and the area around and under the fingernails.
• Continue rubbing your hands for at least 15 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing the "Happy Birthday" song twice.
• Rinse your hands well under running water.
• Dry your hands using a paper towel if possible. Then use your paper towel to turn off the faucet and to open the door if needed.

Clean Hands Count Campaign Materials‎

Ask your healthcare provider to clean their hands.

• Wearing gloves alone is not enough for your healthcare provider to prevent the spread of infection.
• "Before you start the exam, would you mind cleaning your hands again?"
• "Would it be alright if you cleaned your hands before changing my bandages?"
• "I didn't see you clean your hands when you came in, would you mind cleaning them again before you examine me?"
• "I'm worried about germs spreading in the hospital. Will you please clean your hands once more before you start my treatment?"

Speak up for clean hands in healthcare settings

• Clean your own hands and ask those around you to do the same.
• Don't be afraid to use your voice: it's okay to ask your healthcare provider to clean their hands.
• "I saw you clean your hands when you arrived some time ago, but would you mind cleaning them again?"

Frequently asked questions

Is there such a thing as too clean.

• Germs are everywhere. They are within and on our bodies and on every surface you touch. But not all germs are bad. We need some of these germs to keep us healthy and our immune system strong.
• Your hands have good germs on them that your body needs to stay healthy. These germs live under the deeper layers of the skin.
• Your hands can also have bad germs on them that make you sick. These germs live on the surface and are easily killed/wiped away by the alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
• Using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer is the preferred way for to keep your hands clean.

Washing with soap and water: 15 versus 20 seconds

• Wash your hands for more than 15 seconds, not exactly 15 seconds.
• The time it takes is less important than making sure you clean all areas of your hands.
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are the preferred way to clean your hands in healthcare facilities.

Which one? Soap and water versus alcohol-based hand sanitizer

An alcohol-based hand sanitizer is the preferred method for cleaning your hands when they are not visibly dirty because it:

• Is more effective at killing potentially deadly germs on hands than soap.
• when moving from soiled to clean activities with the same patient or resident.
• when moving between patients or residents in shared rooms or common areas.
• Improves skin condition with less irritation and dryness than soap and water.

Guidelines for Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings Published 2002

Core Infection Prevention and Control Practices for Safe Healthcare Delivery in All Settings

What CDC is doing

CDC's Clean Hands Count campaign offers posters, factsheets, and brochures for healthcare providers and patients.

Keep reading: Clean Hands Count materials

Healthcare personnel

When and how to practice hand hygiene. Learn more .

New Training and Education Resources available for Healthcare Professionals.

Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings Video Series link: Education Courses | Hand Hygiene | CDC

Clean Hands

Having clean hands is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and prevent the spread of germs to others.

For Everyone

Health care providers.

Research involvement of medical students in a medical school of India: exploring knowledge, attitude, practices, and perceived barriers

• Find this author on Google Scholar
• Find this author on PubMed
• Search for this author on this site
• ORCID record for Abhinav Jha
• ORCID record for Deepak Dhamnetiya
• For correspondence: [email protected]
• ORCID record for Ravi Prakash Jha
• Info/History
• Preview PDF

Introduction Research in the medical discipline significantly impacts society by improving the general well-being of the population, through improvements in diagnostic and treatment modalities. However, of 579 Indian medical colleges, 332 (57.3%) did not publish a single paper from the year 2005 to 2014," indicating a limited contribution from medical fraternity In order to probe in to the cause of this a study was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitude, practices (KAP) and perceived barriers to research among students of a medical school in Delhi, India.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students and the data on academic-cum-demographic information, assessment of knowledge, attitude, practices and barriers to research was collected using a pre-tested, semi-structured questionnaire. Chi-square test was used to check the association of various factors with the KAP of research. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.

Results A total of 402 (N) subjects were enrolled in the study. Majority were male (79.6%) and from clinical professional years (57%). Majority (266, 66.2%) of the subjects had adequate knowledge. Of the study subjects (61,15%) having inadequate knowledge of research, sixty percent were from pre- and para-clinical years, while around 70 % of those having good knowledge were from clinical professional years. However, only 16.9% of the participants had participated in a research project, and only 4.72% had authored a publication. Sixty one percent of study subjects having a positive attitude towards research, were from pre- and para-clinical years. Among the study subjects having a positive attitude towards research, over 60% were from pre- and para-clinical years. The barriers for conducting research were mostly; lack of funds/laboratory equipment/infrastructure (85.1%), lack of exposure to opportunities for research in the medical (MBBS) curriculum (83.8%), and lack of time (83.3%). There was a statistically significant association between knowledge and attitude towards research with a professional year of study.

Conclusions The study revealed that while most of the students had a positive attitude towards research as well as an adequate knowledge of research, there was a poor level of participation in research. These challenges can be overcome by incorporating research as a part of the medical school curriculum from early years on, setting aside separate time for research, and establishing student research societies that can actively promote research.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This study did not receive any funding.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

The ethics committee of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Medical College and Hospital, New Delhi gave ethical approval for this work.

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Email id: jhaabhinav677{at}gmail.com , manas.shah1999{at}gmail.com , Ritikgoyal152{at}gmail.com , drdeepakdhamnetiya{at}gmail.com , apoorv1729{at}gmail.com , raviprakashjha{at}gmail.com , dr.prachi.obg{at}bsamch.in

Data Availability

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.

View the discussion thread.

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about medRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Citation Manager Formats

• EndNote (tagged)
• EndNote 8 (xml)
• RefWorks Tagged
• Ref Manager
• Tweet Widget
• Facebook Like
• Google Plus One

Subject Area

• Medical Education
• Addiction Medicine (324)
• Allergy and Immunology (632)
• Anesthesia (168)
• Cardiovascular Medicine (2400)
• Dentistry and Oral Medicine (289)
• Dermatology (207)
• Emergency Medicine (381)
• Endocrinology (including Diabetes Mellitus and Metabolic Disease) (850)
• Epidemiology (11798)
• Forensic Medicine (10)
• Gastroenterology (705)
• Genetic and Genomic Medicine (3769)
• Geriatric Medicine (350)
• Health Economics (637)
• Health Informatics (2409)
• Health Policy (940)
• Health Systems and Quality Improvement (905)
• Hematology (342)
• HIV/AIDS (787)
• Infectious Diseases (except HIV/AIDS) (13347)
• Intensive Care and Critical Care Medicine (769)
• Medical Education (369)
• Medical Ethics (105)
• Nephrology (401)
• Neurology (3524)
• Nursing (199)
• Nutrition (529)
• Obstetrics and Gynecology (681)
• Occupational and Environmental Health (668)
• Oncology (1835)
• Ophthalmology (539)
• Orthopedics (221)
• Otolaryngology (287)
• Pain Medicine (234)
• Palliative Medicine (66)
• Pathology (447)
• Pediatrics (1038)
• Pharmacology and Therapeutics (426)
• Primary Care Research (424)
• Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology (3190)
• Public and Global Health (6184)
• Radiology and Imaging (1291)
• Rehabilitation Medicine and Physical Therapy (751)
• Respiratory Medicine (832)
• Rheumatology (380)
• Sexual and Reproductive Health (373)
• Sports Medicine (324)
• Surgery (406)
• Toxicology (50)
• Transplantation (172)
• Urology (147)