Social Work : Help/Writing

If you are embarking on a university social work degree the books in this series will help you acquire and develop the knowledge, skills and strategies you need to achieve your goals. They provide support in all areas important for university study, including institutional and disciplinary policy and practice, self-management, and research and communication. Tasks and activities are designed to foster aspects of learning which are valued in higher education, including learner autonomy and critical thinking, and to guide you towards reflective practice in your study and work life.

Winner of the 2006 Giovanni Sartori Book Award, given by the American Political Science Association's Qualitative Methods Section. The use of case studies to build and test theories in political science and the other social sciences has increased in recent years.

Teeming with practical examples, this guide promotes an integrated approach for carrying out a case study. With a background emphasis on how to ensure the reliability and validity of results, the different steps of this approach are detailed: assessing the appropriateness of a case study; preparation; selecting cases; data collection, analysis and interpretation; and reporting results

Case study research is a versatile approach that allows for different data sources to be combined, with its main purpose being theory development. This book goes a step further by combining different case study research designs, informed by the authors' extensive teaching and research experience. It provides an accessible introduction to case study research, familiarizes readers with different archetypical and sequenced designs, and describes these designs and their components using both real and fictional examples. It provides thought-provoking exercises, and in doing so, prepares the reader to design their own case study.

With more than three-quarters of a million copies sold since its first publication, The Craft of Research has helped generations of researchers at every level--from first-year undergraduates to advanced graduate students to research reporters in business and government--learn how to conduct effective and meaningful research. Conceived by seasoned researchers and educators Wayne C. Booth, Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams, this fundamental work explains how to find and evaluate sources, anticipate and respond to reader reservations, and integrate these pieces into an argument that stands up to reader critique.

Writing good essays can be a real challenge.  If you need a helping hand (or simply want to improve your technique) this book sets out proven approaches and techniques which can help everyone write good essays. Extensively revised and updated, this 4th edition includes new material such as: A chapter on essay planning, focusing on literature searching (using online materials), note-taking and formulating an argument A comparison of essay writing to exam writing The use of academic language, vocabulary and register, and its ′accuracy and appropriateness′ A new Companion Website providing additional activities, downloads and resources.

What are the core elements of a strong proposal? ""How can I accent the strengths of my study design? ""How can computer use facilitate my literature review?"" ""What is the best way to get my proposal reviewed and approved?"" You will find the answers to these and other key issues in this unique ""assembly manual"" for crafting a complete and convincing dissertation proposal. Three extensively annotated proposals of former students provide examples of the guidance offered and illustrate common types of studies. Whether you study best by example, review, memorization, or problem solving, this book's format enables you to follow your own pace and style. This is no ordinary step-by-step guide. The authors begin by identifying and defining the basics of a dissertation proposal. With careful consideration, they explore proposal functions and parts, show how to build your study's chain of reasoning, and carefully review alternate study designs.

An informative real-world guide to studying the "why" of human behavior Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods is a practical, comprehensive guide to the collection and presentation of qualitative data. Unique in the market, this book describes the entire research process -- from design through writing -- illustrated by examples of real, complete qualitative work that clearly demonstrates how methods are used in actual practice.

With real-world examples and an emphasis on ethics throughout, AN INVITATION TO SOCIAL RESEARCH: HOW IT'S DONE, Fifth Edition combines balanced coverage of quantitative and qualitative methods of social research with a unique behind the scenes approach. Built on focal research pieces and excerpts from real research projects, chapters present the insights, perspectives, and challenges of actual researchers in the field. The result is a comprehensive resource that guides readers step by step through the many stages of social research-from selecting a researchable question and designing a study to choosing the best method of data analysis for a particular study-and prepares them for the ethical issues and problems that they may face along the way. Reflecting the latest practices from the field, the Fifth Edition also integrates a greater emphasis on research focusing on evidence-based programs and policy.

A down-to-earth, practical guide for interview and participant observation and analysis. In-depth interviews and close observation are essential to the work of social scientists, but inserting one's researcher-self into the lives of others can be daunting, especially early on.

This book is a road map for researching, arguing, and composing a literature review. It gathers into one volume the strategies, tools, and techniques of the experienced researcher, in order to help the reader build a high quality literature review.

This invaluable guide helps social workers develop the writing skills necessary for a successful career. Actual examples drawn from all arenas of social work demonstrate strong and problematic writing. Organized around the core social work curriculum, the book's examples are applicable to every foundation course. Each example begins with field notes and proceeds through drafts to the final version, with explanations about corrections. Readers learn by doing through exercises interspersed throughout. Written by a social work professor and an English professor, the book provides a fusion of writing and practice, covering all the tools necessary for developing professional social work writing skills.

A WALL STREET JOURNAL, USA TODAY, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER - The new 2020 copyright release of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition includes three different formats -- spiral and tabbed, paperback, and hardcover, all of which are full-color. It is the official source for APA Style.

The primary goal of science is to "get it right," meaning that scientists seek to accurately document the world as it is. While erroneous conclusions and flawed theories can and do occur, they can only be tolerated as long as reliable mechanisms of self-correction exist, but an array of recentevidence suggests that this is not always the case. This book offers a behavioral science perspective on how scientific practice becomes compromised and provides recommendations for improvement.

This book addresses a set of interlocking and overlapping big questions that sit behind the plethora of doctoral advice texts and run through the practice of knowledge/identity work."

A thoroughly revised and updated classic. This step-by-step guide takes masters and doctoral students through the five stages of writing a thesis or dissertation: preparing the way, choosing and defining research topics, collecting and organizing information, interpreting the results, presenting the finished product. The authors have successfully led hundreds of graduate students through the masters theses and disseration process. This comprehensive guidebook includes helpful checklists, multiple examples, and practical strategies. It covers both qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research.

Using Documents in Social Research offers a comprehensive, yet concise, introduction to the use of documents as tools within social science research. The books argues that documents stand in a dual-relation to human activity, and therefore by transmitting ideas and influencing the course and nature of human activity they are integral to the research process.

Like a series of productive meetings with a trusted advisor, each chapter of this text provides practical information and sound insight, thoughtfully organized and generously shared. A uniquely inclusive consideration of the process of graduate research, this is the companion that graduate students crave. Attentive to the academic issues and personal trials that often accompany thesis writing in the arts, humanities, and sciences, Lorrie Blair offers a guide that is comprehensive and clear, sensitive to the distinctions among fields, and sympathetic to the various ways that the process can confuse and confound scholars in the making.

The encouraging book that has guided thousands of students step by step through crafting a strong dissertation proposal is now in a thoroughly revised second edition. It includes new guidance for developing methodology-specific problem statements, an expanded discussion of the literature review, coverage of the four-chapter dissertation model, and more.

For more than thirty years, Writing for Social Scientists has been a lifeboat for writers in all fields, from beginning students to published authors. It starts with a powerful reassurance: Academic writing is stressful, and even accomplished scholars like sociologist Howard S. Becker struggle with it. And it provides a clear solution: In order to learn how to write, take a deep breath and then begin writing. Revise. Repeat. This is not a book about sociological writing. Instead, Becker applies his sociologist's eye to some of the common problems all academic writers face, including trying to get it right the first time, failing, and therefore not writing at all; getting caught up in the trappings of "proper" academic writing; writing to impress rather than communicate with readers; and struggling with the when and how of citations.