adult nursing assignments as a first year >:(

so i just got back my feedback from my first essay on my adult nursing course and it was terrible. i thought i would've done a lot better than i did but i did not, unfortunately (i did pass though...just barely). They kept talking about critical thought in the feedback and better referencing, meaning less websites and online sources. They also said about not describing in my writing. I got 48% for this one. i need real tips and advice on how i can be hitting 60-70% and above because the uni just does not help at all which is just normal for them at this point.

For context, the assignment was about PCC and an experience of this chosen from my last placement, meaning it would be my experiences and opinions but i still had to reference my experiences? I'm just confused is all, i thought it would've been a piece of cake but apparently not? Also different teachers want different things in terms of references for example one wanted no citations and referencing for the intro but another did? And even in the feedback when there were no citations in my intro i got a comment about that too.

Anyway i need a lot of advice on how to write assignments well for my adult nursing course please.
Thanks!!

Don't feel bad about your score. It's your first essay at uni and it takes a while to understand what is required for academic writing, and how to cite and analyse references. I suspect a lot of your course mates will have a similar score.
In terms of references, always look at the reading list you are given at the start of a module and work from this. Read the abstract/summary for each paper and decide if it is relevant to your assignment or not. Every point you make usually needs to be supported with a reference to a study/data, etc. You also need to critique those sources. For example, you might find that one source says x and another says y. Discuss this in your essay and see if you can find more sources that support one theory more than the other. A study might be based on a small sample size so the findings might not be reliable, or might be relying on qualitative rather quantitative data. Also, go to your uni library and ask one of the staff members to explain how you search for quality references for you course, rather than using a lot of websites. Most journals have online versions and it is fine to cite those, and the NHS website is often a good source of statistics for some assignments.

so i just got back my feedback from my first essay on my adult nursing course and it was terrible. i thought i would've done a lot better than i did but i did not, unfortunately (i did pass though...just barely). They kept talking about critical thought in the feedback and better referencing, meaning less websites and online sources. They also said about not describing in my writing. I got 48% for this one. i need real tips and advice on how i can be hitting 60-70% and above because the uni just does not help at all which is just normal for them at this point.
For context, the assignment was about PCC and an experience of this chosen from my last placement, meaning it would be my experiences and opinions but i still had to reference my experiences? I'm just confused is all, i thought it would've been a piece of cake but apparently not? Also different teachers want different things in terms of references for example one wanted no citations and referencing for the intro but another did? And even in the feedback when there were no citations in my intro i got a comment about that too.
Anyway i need a lot of advice on how to write assignments well for my adult nursing course please.
Thanks!!

Hey there,
I totally get how frustrating that is, but honestly, well done for passing! The first few essays are always a learning curve, and it sounds like you’ve already picked up on what needs improving, which is a good start.
For critical thinking, it’s less about describing what happened and more about depth, why it happened, what it means, and how it relates to nursing practice. A good way to structure it is:
Make your point – What are you trying to say?
Back it up – Use research (journals, books, NMC guidelines) to support your point.
Explain it – Why does this matter in practice?
Link it back – How does it answer the question or relate to PCC?
For referencing, unis tend to prefer journals, books, and official guidelines over websites and yeah, different lecturers can be inconsistent, which is annoying, but if you’re ever unsure, it’s worth checking the module guide or asking the module lead directly.
It does get easier the more you do it. Have you tried looking at any past essays, exemplars or marking criteria to see exactly what they want?
-Annabel (Kingston rep)

hii tysm for the tips I'm definitely gonna be using these for my next essay. I didn't know I could even access past essays tbh but will they even help even if they aren't related? I wanna be able to just get my structure and writing style down so I know I'm gonna be able to nail any assignment I do you know?