Research Progress Report:

Social Work: Education and Writing in the Field

Genifer Heath

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1302

Dr. Vierra

03/12/2020
 Scope and Purpose

Social work is a profession where educated and trained people make it their priority to

help others in their community by alleviating problems that affect their client or patient’s

personal situation. Being an educated field, rhetoric and communication are taught to students of

social work, but at what level is to be discussed. This research progress report serves the purpose

of providing my professor with an update on my research for my topic.

Research Questions

After conducting research, it will be apparent what social work is and how students of

social work are prepared for this profession at the undergraduate and graduate levels of

education. Also, research will answer the place that writing and rhetoric have in social work as a

student and a professional. Most importantly, the question of rather or not social work

professionals have the writing skill for proper job performance will be evaluated.

Progress

Research has been completed through various genres. At this point, there has been 12

sources gathered and thoroughly examined. Among these sources are a video, an essay, an

anthology, two monographs, three scholarly websites, and four journal articles. All of the

monographs and other readable sources have been completely read, and the video has been

watched several times. From this research, there have been seven expository reflections written.

This research topic has been an easy one to gather information on since there is an enormous

amount of information out there on this topic. The only issue that has presented is finding an

inconsistency in the history of social work. The most significant discoveries thus far in the

research is the overwhelming amount of research conducted on the writing skills and education
of social work students. Specifically, the fact that many students are not prepared educationally

for working in the field and that some professionals do not see the problem in this. Upon

working on this research assignment, there has been an abundant amount of new knowledge

obtained. Examples would be the education required to be a social worker and the problems

present in the field.

Remaining Work

Most of the research has been completed for this assignment, but there still needs to be a

primary source, such as an interview or something of that nature. Options for this could be

talking with professors or the dean of the social work program at UTEP and possibly other

universities. Another option would be to talk to social work professionals and whether or not

they felt prepared for their fields through their educational programs. Another question to ask

would be an honest answer on how much writing they do in their day to day lives. Also, it would

benefit the assignment greatly to have some more current sources to compare the current sources

to.

Assistance

The main question concerning the research assignment is to obtain some guidance on the

primary source. With this specific research assignment, what are other examples of primary

sources that could be obtained in addition to what has already been added? With current events,

what are some alternatives to obtaining a primary source? Also, are the rhetoric questions

presented in this report on the right track for what is expected of this assignment?
 Primary Research

One way to obtain a primary research source will be to interview an instructor that

teaches social work classes at the university. Also, I could interview a current social worker to

see if they felt they were properly prepared for the writing demands of their fields. This could

also be performed as a survey, meaning that a variety of interviews would be performed to obtain

a better understanding of how students feel their education in writing helped or did not help them

in their fields. Observation, depending on university policies, might not be as feasible as the

other methods. Observing a class for social work could be useful to get an idea of how students

are being taught, specifically if they are being taught any writing skill. Ideally, this would be

performed at different campuses.

 References

Primary Sources

None at this time.

Digital Media

Social workers as super-heroes. TedxColumbia, S. C. (Director). (2017, April 10,). [Video/DVD]

Columbia, SC:

Monographs

Payne, M. (2005). The origins of social work: Continuity and change. New York: Palgrave

Macmillan. 

Rehr, H., & Rosenberg, G. (2006). The social work-medicine relationship: 100 years at mount

sinai Haworth Press.

Essays

Hopps, J. G., & Morris, R. (2000). Social work at the millennium: Critical reflections on the

future of the profession. Social efficiency and social work research. New York: Free

Press. 

Maynard, D. C., & Feldman, D. C. (2011). Underemployment: Psychological, economic, and

social challenges. Springer.

Journal Articles

Alter, C., & Adkins, C. (2001). Improving the writing skills of social work students Council on

Social Work Education. Retrieved from http://0-

search.ebscohost.com.lib.utep.edu/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=edsjsr&AN=edsjsr.23043882&site=eds-live&scope=site 
Cronley, C., & Kilgore, C. D. (2016). Social work students and faculty: Testing the convergence

of perspectives on student writing abilities Routledge.

doi:10.1080/10437797.2016.1151275 

Lynn Glassburn, S. (2020). Where's the roadmap? the transition from student to professional for

new Master of Social Work graduates Sage Publications, Ltd.

doi:10.1177/1473325018807746 

Nelson Reid, P., & Edwards, R. (2006). The purpose of a school of social Work—

An American perspective Routledge. doi:10.1080/02615470600738817 

Scholarly Websites

National Association of Social Workers. (2020). Why chose the social worker profession.

Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/careers/career-center/explore-social-

work/choose-the-social-work-profession 

SocialWork.org Staff. (2020). Writing guide for social workers. Retrieved

from https://www.socialwork.org/resources/writing-guide/ 

USC Staff. (2011). Top five skills in a social worker’s professional toolbox. Retrieved

from https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/top-five-skills-in-a-social-workers-professional-

toolkit/