1

Annotated Bibliography

Writers, S. (2019, July 1). Social Work Careers and Salaries. SocialWorkLicensure.org.

https://socialworklicensure.org/careers/.

Social Work Licensure is an American organization which protects the public by making

sure that future and current social workers have been or will be properly educated, and

trained and fit the right criteria for their state requirements. This particular website goes

over the different careers in social work, what social workers do, the requirements for

various jobs, why someone may want to pursue a career in social work, where to find jobs

as a social worker, the steps to becoming a social worker, the average salary for the

different branches of social work, and much more. Other parts of the website also go over

the licensure requirements for each state. I will be using this website to gain enough

information regarding the basics of social work to efficiently write my research paper. The

website has plenty of information to get me off to a good start. The website also provides

articles of interest regarding social work news. This source is reliable because of the

credibility of the organization. All of the articles of interest were written by people working

in the social work field which hold credibility.

Rocks, T. (2021, May 18). The US is Facing Massive Social Worker Shortages – What Can be

Done About it? The Realtime Report.

https://therealtimereport.com/2020/01/30/the-us-is-facing-massive-social-worker-shortages-what

-can-be-done-about-it/.
 2

Although this source is not the most reliable or credible source, it provided good

information about how social workers are typically underpaid and overworked, which is

going to be one of the central points in my Project 1 essay. The author of the article also

cited other studies and information that she used. The article goes into great detail about

how and why social workers are in poor working conditions. The article explains how and

why the United States is facing a massive shortage of social workers. The author, Theresa

Rocks, goes over the current and future state of social work as well as the various factors

influencing the social work shortage. Rocks also suggested possible solutions to the

shortage problem, with that solution being to increase the average pay for social workers. I

plan on using this resource to introduce the topic of my essay.

Writer, S. (2020, September 11). Careers in Social Work. SocialWorkGuide.org.

https://www.socialworkguide.org/careers/.

Social Work Guide is an organization very similar to my first source, the Social Work

Licensure organization. This source is more recent than the others, with the last update

being in early September of 2020. Like the other sources, this article focuses on the various

careers in social work. The author provided information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor

Statistics as well as a report from the Council on Social Work Education. The author

provided citations for the info provided and suggested other sites to visit. This website also

broke up the different types of social work practice, including micro social work, mezzo

social work, and macro social work. I plan on using this website for background

information, similar to my first source provided.

 3

Dworak-Peck, S. (n.d.). "Grand Challenges for Social Work" Identify 12 Top Social Problems

Facing America. USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

https://dworakpeck.usc.edu/news/grand-challenges-for-social-work-identify-12-top-social-proble

ms-facing-america.

A professor in the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of

Southern California published this article which goes over the various obstacles that

social workers face. This is a credible and reliable source because the author is a professor

for a school of social work. This source also gives a perspective different from the previous

sources. This site also discusses different opinions about the future of social work from the

perspective of three professors at the University. Unlike the other sources, this one is fairly

old, having been published in January of 2016. The article, “Grand Challenges for Social

Work” identified the top 12 social problems in America, with the American Academy of

Social Work and Social Welfare launing the Grand Challenges for Social Work. I plan on

using this source to introduce the problems in my essay.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2021, April 9). Social Workers : Occupational Outlook

Handbook. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/social-workers.htm.

The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics published this website which highlights the

statistics surrounding Social Work as a career. The author provided quick facts, such as the

median pay and job outlook, as well as more in-depth statistics. This site also describes the

work environment for a typical social worker. They list mental health clinics, schools, child

welfare and human service agencies, hospitals, and many more. They also claim that social
 4

workers generally work full time, including evenings, weekends, and holidays. This bit of

information about how often social workers may need to work will contribute to my claim

that social workers are typically overworked. This website is very credible, as it was

published by the U.S Government. The information provided is also very recent, with the

last update being on Friday, April 9th of 2021. I intend on using the information from this

website to discuss the job outlook and employment change in social work related careers.

Salsburg, E. (2017). Profile of the Social Work Workforce. National Workforce Initiative Steering

Committee.

The George Washington University Health Workforce Institute and School of Nursing

published a Profile of the Social Work Workforce in October of 2017 as a report to Council on

Social Work Education and National Workforce Initiative Steering Committee. The book starts

by introducing the National Workforce Initiative Steering Committee, which is made up of ten

professionals in the field of social work. The book has an executive summary, preface, estimated

number of social workers, a description of the social work workforce (in 2015) as well as where

social workers work, compensation, and more basic statistics. One thing that this resource

provides that others don’t is a section highlighting the distribution of social workers. Larger

states tend to have more social workers while smaller states tend to have fewer. A map is

provided that shows the number of social workers by state. This book has a lot of different

graphs and charts that can be used, and the Appendix provides date sources. The graphs and

charts will be a great resource to use when writing my Project 1 essay. The visual representation

of the field makes it much easier to understand and write about.

 5

Council on Social Work Education. (n.d.). 2019 Statistics on Social Work Education in the

United State.

Similar to the previous source, this book’s central focus is statistics on social work in the

United States, but more specifically about social work education. This resource was published

fairly recently in 2019. The book goes over the steps required to join the social work workforce

and the education requirements as well as faculty data. Also similar to the previous source, there

are many graphs and charts provided to give the reader a visual representation. YouTube. (2018).

The truth about social work and social workers | salary, reputation, turnover rate, etc.

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=315HVAmYcT0.

This source is an interview from a former social worker. She focuses on the main

problems in social work and essentially says that social workers are underpaid and overworked,

the main idea of my essay.

Clark, E. J. (2018, March 12). Does Social Work Matter? SocialWorker.com.

https://www.socialworker.com/extras/social-work-month-2018/does-social-work-matter/.

This article was written by Dr. Elizabeth J. Clark and discusses the importance of the

social work field. I plan on using the information in this article to support my introduction that

introduces the idea of social work being important in society.

Writers, S. (2021, April 5). An Interview with Julia Fanning. SocialWorkGuide.org.

https://www.socialworkguide.org/advice/julia-fanning/.
 6

This site is an interview with social worker Julie Fanning. She discusses the ups and downs of a

social work career that is quite similar to the interview from the youtube video.