Essentials of Academic Writing is exactly what post-master's certificate nurses need before tackling a capstone-level scholarly project — a dedicated course in the craft of professional academic writing itself.
What D314 covers
The course explores professional communication by applying the principles of academic writing to the student's discipline, incorporating these skills into developing an evidence-based scholarly paper in the student's specialty area.
As learners develop a scholarly paper, they acquire a deeper understanding of their chosen research topic and analyze whether initiatives and interventions have been effective or ineffective.
The D314 performance assessment
Expect a performance assessment requiring you to produce a scholarly paper in your specialty area, applying academic writing principles and evaluating the effectiveness of a chosen initiative or intervention.
Key topics in D314
- Principles of academic writing
- Developing an evidence-based scholarly paper
- Analyzing intervention effectiveness
Writing tips for D314
Follow the task instructions and rubric line by line
WGU performance assessments for D314 are graded against a fixed rubric — every rubric line has to be visibly addressed, usually with a labeled heading that mirrors the rubric language. Skipping a rubric point because it seems minor is the single most common reason a competent submission comes back "Not Yet Competent" for revision.
Ground clinical reasoning in a specific patient or scenario, not general nursing theory
WGU evaluators are trained to distinguish genuine clinical reasoning from a paraphrased textbook summary. Anchor your submission in the specific patient scenario the task provides, and show the clinical judgment model reasoning connecting your assessment to that patient's actual presentation.
Because WGU is self-paced, don't let "no deadline pressure" become no submission
There's no weekly due date forcing progress, which means procrastination costs more at WGU than at a traditional term-based school — a stalled task can quietly eat weeks of a term. Treat your own target date for each D314 assessment as a real deadline.
Stuck on your D314 task?
Our writers know WGU's competency-based format and this course's performance assessment. Get an original, properly cited paper matched to your task instructions.
Why students seek help with D314
Students sometimes treat this as a "soft" writing-skills course and under-invest in the evidence-based rigor it actually requires — the scholarly paper still needs genuine research grounding and effectiveness analysis, not just polished prose.
How GradeEssays helps with D314
Share your specialty topic and rubric, and your writer will build a properly researched, evidence-based scholarly paper with genuine effectiveness analysis, not just stylistically clean writing.
Get Help With D314
Share your task instructions and rubric and we match you with a writer who knows this course and WGU's evaluation standards.
Place Your Order View All ServicesPrerequisites and program context
D314 has no listed additional prerequisites and is shared between the Post-Master's Nursing Education and Leadership/Management certificates.
- Post-Master's Certificate, Nursing - Nursing Education (Post-MSN)
- Post-Master's Certificate, Nursing - Leadership and Management (Post-MSN)