Social Work MSWI Reading & Writing Workshop

1. Social Work MSWI Reading & Writing Workshop Thursday, September 3, 2009 Teiahsha Bankhead, PhD, LCSW Building on the work of Susan Eggman, PhD, MSW

2. What are some of the values of social work? • Equity-building • Human rights • Increasing access • Challenging oppression, marginalization & disenfranchisement • Freedom fighting • Challenging stereotypes

3. Why have a writing workshop for MSW students? • To underscore the importance of writing • Pause to think about writing style, techniques, process, quality of outcome • Requested by practice community • Grade inflation can allow for poor writing

4. Writing as a tool to social justice • Finding your voice • Learning how to use literature to support your ideas • Remaining open to having your ideas changed or challenged based on data • A powerful vehicle for transformation

5. Exercise 1 • Read the handout and tell me what is important…

6. What are your purposes for reading?

7. What do you do when you read? • Generate ideas for writing • Build vocabulary • Understand different viewpoints • Draw inferences • Understand structure and models of topic • Develop writing skills through modeling • Find main ideas and arguments • Learn new information • Are convinced, persuaded • Apply issues to new content • Vicarious experience

8. Reading Process • Pre-Read • Activate schema – prior knowledge • Survey text • Background info. – author, context, time • Identify purposes for reading material • Determine “how to” read • Reading • More focus on text as a whole • With purpose in mind • Use appropriate “active reading” strategies • General comprehension • Connect to personal experience • Re-reading • Focus on details related to purpose • Find clarification • Reconsider the info. • Connect to other ideas

9. Creating Good Reading Habits • Acknowledge different types of reading for different purposes • Know the purpose of reading assignments and read accordingly • Read for pleasure • Skim • Major arguments • Specific information • In-depth engagement • Allocate time for the process of reading

10. What is a literature review? • It can be different things to different people at different times • It can stand alone • It can be part of a larger paper • It can be something you do out of curiosity

11. Why is writing a literature review often viewed as difficult or mysterious? • There is not one way to complete it • There is no formula • You may approach it from many different angles • How it is organized depends upon the content, main points and argument of the piece • Often not taught to undergraduates, but expected of graduate students

12. What does a literature review do? • Provides background to a problem & explains the relationship between previous & current studies • Places research in historical & theoretical context • Identifies risk factors, problems, current trends & debates in field • Gives direction to the project (recent work cited) • Allows author to contribute new knowledge by analysis and synthesis of primary works • Requires use of libraries – subscriptions & limitations of web – (interlibrary loan, reference librarian) • Depends on search methods – synonyms & key words – relevant article subject headings – use in subsequent searches

13. Formal systematic search of the literature Mental work – cognitive processing Generate useful knowledge - Make a contribution to knowledge by analyzing and synthesizing existing work Gain knowledge Determine what has been written about a topic Clearly present and critique existing findings Build on existing findings & point out why and how your paper adds a unique perspective Goal – to constantly refine and develop and evolve the research community’s body of knowledge in any given area What do we hope to accomplish in the literature review?

14. Steps to Completing Writing Assignments • Choose a topic • Narrow the topic • Research the topic • Reading related manuscripts • Organize your literature • Group themed findings together • Analyze & critique the findings • Conceptualize the paper • Plan the main points & thrust of the paper • What is your central argument and how do you prove it?

15. Conceptualization Exercise 2 • Assignment: • Write a paper about which consequences of the current economic crisis have the greatest impact on low income, marginalized and vulnerable people. • What are these consequences and how would you go about writing a paper about them? • Break into groups of 10 and without words show us what your paper would be about

16. Process for Clarity in Writing

17. What is the assignment? • Clarify the purpose and scope • Number of references? • Number of pages? • APA

18. Example of Writing Criteria • Effective use of knowledge: the integration of concepts, theories, models, and information from readings, lectures, and class discussions is used in a way that demonstrates internalization. • Appropriate inclusion of personal points of view along with rationale, logic, and examples: generalization of ideas, observations, concepts, and experiences are carefully supported with empirical data, conceptual work generated by authors, practitioners, or researchers, and/or original thoughts. • Organization:  thesis in introduction, smooth relationship between ideas and between paragraphs, clear overall structure,  and integrative concluding section. Careful planning is evident in the organization. • Clarity: syntax, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. Sentences and paragraphs are clear, unified, and coherent. • References in appropriate format (use of APA format).

19. Problem Statement • What is the difficult situation, item, relationship or issue for which more knowledge is needed? • What do you know about it? • How can we know more? • Provide a roadmap to your literature review

20. Sharpen the question Is the question about who, what, where, why or when? What are the variables or factors under consideration? Be specific, relevant & reasonable for the field? Targeting the population Activity or practice Gender Age Race/ethnicity Region Program/agency Sexual orientation Ability/disability Illness Narrowingyour research topic…

21. A framework • Decide on a topic • Begin your search • Narrow your topic • Search • Conceptualize • Assess the literature • Organize • Synthesize • Summarize

22. Do what you need to do … • Meditate • Think quietly • Write a zero draft • Engage in challenging spirited dialogue • Draw it out • Act it out • BECOME CRYSTAL CLEAR – about what you want to say

23. Critically analyzing the literature • What is the research problem addressed in this article? Is the design (qualitative, quantitative, or mixed) appropriate for the question? • What are the variables in this study? How are they operationally defined? Are these definitions sensible and appropriate? • What is the population of interest in this study? What is the sampling frame? Are the subjects used in the study representative of the population of interest? • What, if any, are the potential problems with the data collection and analysis procedures used? • Does the research problem apply to diverse groups of people and populations at risk? Were the methods used ethical and sensitive to the inclusion of disenfranchised populations? • What conclusions does the author make on the basis of the study? Does the author discuss implications for social work practice? • Are the conclusions and implications reasonable, based on the findings of the study? Why or why not?

24. Common Pitfalls in Literature Review Writing • Poor conceptualization – piece not thought through • Taking on too much at once – (i.e. you can do anything but not everything at once) • Poor organization, opening sentence or thesis statement • Too broad, too general and lacking depth • Formulaic writing • Fragmented flow of ideas • Colloquial vs. scholarly language • Poor use of references or poor references • Inaccurate or biased assumptions used as facts • Anxiety that stifles creativity

25. What do you mean by poor use of references? • General • Inaccurate • Overuse of a single reference • Overuse of direct quotes • Use of ideas of author’s for which they have not received credit • Ideas inappropriately referenced • Annotated bibliography

26. Examples of good and bad reference use – Depending on purpose • In one study, over 900,000 elders were found to have evidence of physical abuse     (author, year). Another study reported that “perhaps millions of elders are suffering physical abuse” (author, year, page number). The National Center for Elder Abuse indicates that there were 6,000 cases of abuse annually including 4,000 physical, 1,500 financial, 400 emotional, and 100 sexual (year). •  Instead, synthesize the multiple sources: •     Over a million cases of elder abuse were reported to elder abuse hotlines nationally in 2005, and the majority of abuse reported was physical (author, year; author, year; author, year).

27. Well done Integrated Synthesized – use of multiple authors referenced in a sentence Convincing Appropriately critiques and challenges existing works Provides details Lead the reader through a logical sequence of ideas Well organized, w/ref. to begin., mid., end Impeccable grammar Makes sense Poorly done Fragmented Disjointed Leaves gaps in argument Encourages debate for which there is no response Assumes literature is comprehensive and correct all the time General Illogical presentation of ideas Poor grammar Doesn’t make sense How do you know when a paper is in good enough shape to turn it in?

28. Plagiarism • The word “plagiarize” is defined by Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary as: “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one’s own: use (another’s production) without crediting the source; to commit literary theft: present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source” (2006).

29. REFERENCES ARE YOUR FRIENDS • Take care of your references • ORGANIZE YOUR REFERENCES EARLY AND OFTEN

30. Hierarchical Value of Scholarly References • Rated on objectivity • Scrutiny – levels of outside review • Originality – primary vs. secondary ******************************** • Peer reviewed journal articles – narrow and current • Government reports & documents – large & not user friendly • Chapters in edited book – secondary data • Researched manuscript – biased w/o peer review • Edited book – biased, secondary • Newspaper article – NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post – conceptualization is narrow, not scholarly, reactionary • Books – lack peer review, secondary analysis ********************************* • Popular periodicals • Personal testimony

31. How do you best use references? • Group common themes • Critique – • Methods • Findings • Sample • Time period • Purpose • Assumptions • Gaps • Reduce / eliminate use of direct quotes

32. …(Cox, 2007). …(Cox, 2007; Jones, 2003). …(Cox, 2007, p. 126). …(Cox, Om & Takaki, 2003) then (Cox et al., 2003). Single author Two authors in a single sentence, alphabetical order Direct quote, page number List all authors first time mentioned in an article. If more than two, in future refs., use first author, et al.) Examples of proper use of APA style references in a sentence

33. APA References in Bibliography • An article in a scholarly journal Thighs, C. G. (2005, June). War, rivalry, and state building in Latin America. American Journal of Political Science, 49(3), 451-466. • A book with more than one author Miller, P. M. & Wilson, M. J. (1983). A dictionary of social science methods. New York: Wiley. • An edited book Braithwaite, W. & Bottomore, T. (Eds.). (1993). The Blackwell dictionary of twentieth-century social thought. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Reference. • Web page, no publication date, date retrieved and URL – Uniform resource locator United States Sentencing Commission (n.d.). 1997 Sourcebook of federal sentencing statistics. Retrieved December 8, 1999, from http://www.ussc.gov/annrpt/1997/sbtoc97.htm

34. References & Guides • APA Publication Manual • Student Writing Handbook • Elements of Style • www.csus.edu/writingcenter • Division of Social Work – tutors • Student peers • Core faculty

35. Keys to Successful Writing in Graduate School • Be critical of your own work • Write and rewrite – walk away from your work and reread it at a later time to assess clarity, logic and perspective • Be organized and clearly articulate the position for which you are advocating • Make sure your positions are grounded in data • Let your clear vision be your guide • Your ideas, beliefs and values may be transformed in graduate school, so expect this to be true as well for your writing • Leave enough time for the assignment • Be careful of your optimism about how long writing takes – manage time • You can get to “good enough” in your writing but a piece of serious intellectual work is never really finished