Process Paper
After brainstorming ideas for my topic, I decided on nursing during the Civil War. I found this topic interesting because I recently did a project on Clara Barton, so I wanted to learn more about how Civil War nurses affected the profession of nursing.
I started off my research by searching my topic online to learn more information about it. I found many articles that helped me to start learning about my topic. One article was helpful because it discussed what had happened with nursing at that time. I looked at the end notes of this article to find any sources that might help me. Then, I found books on women in history which touched on nursing for women during the Civil War. These books raised questions for me about women that kept coming up during my research. I did further research on these women to find out why the field was so greatly impacted by them. I found some primary sources in the Library of Congress’s database that had to do with my topic. These were all good sources because they were written from around the same time period as the war. Two of these books contained stories of the women which helped me to learn what it was like to be a nurse. These raised the question of who were the more prominent female nurses. I searched for primary sources on Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton. I decided to then look for a more complete primary source from a nurse. This is how I found a book written by a veteran Civil War nurse. This part of my research raises the questions of how were these women able to overcome such adversity. From this, I was able to find a good journal article entitled “Women Providing Nursing Care in Charlottesville during the American Civil War, 1861-1865”. I then looked at the end notes of this article to try to find other sources. This led me to another article that turned out to be about African Americans in the war effort, but in this article it included the names of two books written in the 1860s about female nurses. After looking at these books, I decided that, in order to further complete my research, I should find out about the long term effects Civil War nurses had on the world of nursing today. Then I decided that I should find out more about what the profession was like before the Civil War.
It's hard to believe that before the Civil War, seeing a female nurse was extremely rare where today it is so commonplace. During the American Civil War era, women joined the profession of nursing and therefore changed it forever. Nursing before the Civil War had consisted of only males, but the high demand for nurses during the war had women flocking in to join the profession. These women were of great value to both male nurses and patients alike, and the impact that they made helped to modernize the nursing profession and turn it into what it is today.
I started off my research by searching my topic online to learn more information about it. I found many articles that helped me to start learning about my topic. One article was helpful because it discussed what had happened with nursing at that time. I looked at the end notes of this article to find any sources that might help me. Then, I found books on women in history which touched on nursing for women during the Civil War. These books raised questions for me about women that kept coming up during my research. I did further research on these women to find out why the field was so greatly impacted by them. I found some primary sources in the Library of Congress’s database that had to do with my topic. These were all good sources because they were written from around the same time period as the war. Two of these books contained stories of the women which helped me to learn what it was like to be a nurse. These raised the question of who were the more prominent female nurses. I searched for primary sources on Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton. I decided to then look for a more complete primary source from a nurse. This is how I found a book written by a veteran Civil War nurse. This part of my research raises the questions of how were these women able to overcome such adversity. From this, I was able to find a good journal article entitled “Women Providing Nursing Care in Charlottesville during the American Civil War, 1861-1865”. I then looked at the end notes of this article to try to find other sources. This led me to another article that turned out to be about African Americans in the war effort, but in this article it included the names of two books written in the 1860s about female nurses. After looking at these books, I decided that, in order to further complete my research, I should find out about the long term effects Civil War nurses had on the world of nursing today. Then I decided that I should find out more about what the profession was like before the Civil War.
It's hard to believe that before the Civil War, seeing a female nurse was extremely rare where today it is so commonplace. During the American Civil War era, women joined the profession of nursing and therefore changed it forever. Nursing before the Civil War had consisted of only males, but the high demand for nurses during the war had women flocking in to join the profession. These women were of great value to both male nurses and patients alike, and the impact that they made helped to modernize the nursing profession and turn it into what it is today.