Research enthusiasm: Developing conceptual utilisation by engaging the undergraduate nursing student

Although it is identified that research is the most important tool for advancing knowledge, faculty face many interesting challenges when teaching research to nursing students. The challenge is to make the graduate a 'global citizen'. As consumers of research, it is expected that undergraduate nursing students graduate with a basic understanding of the research process. But, how do we engage the student and stimulate an enthusiasm for research, when generally the student is not able to see research as part of 'real nursing'. Publishing nursing student's literature reviews in an 'in house' journal, not only sparked an interest in research, but stimulated an enthusiasm to produce work of a high quality. The journal celebrated the efforts of the students and illustrated that their work was valued. By using a mixture of creative teaching methods the students were drawn into a collaborative and rewarding literature review project