Written Assignments – SOWK 481
This is a writing-intensive course. There are three written assignments and one exam. All of the assignments will further your understanding of what it means to be a social work professional.
All written work must conform to APA (7th ed.) formatting guidelines, unless otherwise specified. Students’ grades on all written work will be based upon content and the quality of the writing. As required, papers must include citations to relevant text material and additional references. Points will be deducted for weak writing and if APA style has not been utilized, regardless of the strength of the paper’s content. Students should consult the following website for relevant APA guidelines:
http://www.wisc.edu/writetest/Handbook/DocAPAFormatting.html
The written assignments are as follows:
Agency analysis. A paper in which the student describes key aspects of the agency and analyzes the ways in which the organization influences and shapes her or his social work practice.
Group proposal. A proposal for a new mutual aid group, or a modification to an already existing group, that is responsive to the needs of current or prospective clients and that reflects the theoretical and empirical literature.
Critique of intervention. A paper in which the student critiques her or his work with a client across phases in the helping relationship and integrates and applies relevant research and theory. ********
Students are advised to pay close attention to academic policies and expectations. Most particularly, papers that are poorly written will be returned without a grade to be rewritten. All assignments must be completed in order to pass this course. All papers will be evaluated for their content and the quality of the writing; all must use APA style. All assignments are to be turned in when due (see Blackboard) unless student has discussed an extension with me and received my permission in advance. That means that they will be considered late if turned in after the start of class. Late papers will receive a point deduction per day late, and will not be accepted after two weeks past the due date. Since all assignments are required, this will mean a failure for the class, Submit an electronic copy via Blackboard. You may submit two copies to check Safe Assign.
Written Assignment One: ANALYSIS OF ORGANIZATION:
AGENCY CONTEXT OF PRACTICE
This paper actually consists of three parts. The first part of this written assignment requires you to describe, using examples, your initial impressions of the agency. In this section you should discuss whether and how your initial reactions changed during the semester, as you became more comfortable with and knowledgeable about your organization.
The second part of the writtent assignment one paper should include a detailed description of the agency. Here you should provide information on the following ten areas. I have provided some possible questions or issues for you to consider in each area:
- The physical plant: location; external appearance; interior appearance; configuration of office space; condition of waiting areas for clients, etc.
- The stated mission and goals of the organization and/or program within which you are working.
- Administrative hierarchy: Who reports to whom? Who establishes policies for the agency? Is there a board of directors (if so, who sits on it)? Where do the line workers (i.e., the social workers providing the direct services) “fit” in the hierarchy? Do the clients or representatives of the community have any input into agency policy? Include a diagram that illustrates this hierarchy.
- External communication: How does the agency inform potential clients and the community about itself and its services? Does the agency have a website? If so, how easy is it to navigate and use.
- Ethics: Does the agency have a code of ethics to which employees must adhere? If so what is it and how is it communicated to employees and enforced? [You need not include the entire code. Summarize it and explain where it came from.]
- Staffing: Who provides services to clients served by the agency? Are lay persons/ volunteers utilized to provide direct services to clients? Does social work operate in a “host” setting? (Note: a host setting is defined by the Social Work Dictionary as: An organization within which another organization provides specialized services. For example, a host setting for a hospital social service department would be the hospital”.) If there is more than one discipline, how do they “divide the labor”? Are there tensions, conflicts, “turf issues” present between the disciplines or between social workers?
- Funding: What is the agency’s source of funds. What is the agency’s actual operating budget? Does it operate with a surplus? A deficit? Are salaries of professionals competitive?
- Clients/community: Who are the clients served by the agency; What is the nature of the community served by the agency (include, as precisely as possible, relevant demographics: race, gender, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, etc.)?
- Service delivery: What is the nature of the services that are provided (i.e., casework, concrete services, etc.). What is the average caseload; average length of service; and agency’s model of service (if it has one).
- Program evaluation. How does the organization evaluate its programs and services? Do the results of this evaluation result in programs changes and improvements?
This description of the agency is the basis for the final section and most important section of your written assignment paper, which should be your assessment of how the agency’s structure and operation shapes and influences your social work practice. Here you should identify and discuss any constraints on your professional actions that have resulted from your being affiliated with the agency as well as your attempts to cope with these difficulties. This discussion should include ethical considerations: the ways in which your agency promotes and/or inhibits professional social work behavior. This discussion also should include your assessment of how well the agency responds to the needs of atrisk clients and the extent to which it promotes (or hinders) the empowerment of oppressed and disadvantaged populations and social justice.
Note: The emphasis in this written assignment paper is on examining how your agency and the way it is organized and functions influences the delivery of social services. It is not to critique your agency as a field placement site.
Suggested paper length: 8-10 pages excluding title page and references*
Your written assignment paper must include specific references, using APA format, to relevant text material. This may include community demographic information, agency websites, manuals, and interviews with staff.
*Points are not deducted for papers shorter or longer than suggested length.
Written Assignment Two
GROUP PROPOSAL
You are to prepare a detailed written plan for a group work service that is realistic and relevant for your setting and for your clients and that has theoretical and empirical support. This proposal may describe a new group, or it may reflect modifications to a group that is already being offered by your agency. In justifying your proposal, you must cite and discuss three professional sources, at least one of which should describe original research. Only one of these articles may come from the list of suggested readings. If your proposal builds on or reflects a group already in existence in your agency, discuss the current group and how and why your proposal differs. Your proposal also must address the following considerations:
- Purpose/focus of the group
What is it that your group will be about and do? Specifically discuss how the group is relevant to your setting and the client needs that will be met through the group.
- Theoretical foundation
What is the theoretical foundation of the group model/intervention you are proposing?
- Contract with the agency
Discuss how you would involve colleagues and mobilize needed support. Identify ways in which your group furthers your organization’s mission and goals. Identify potential obstacles and discuss strategies to deal with them. Are there specific issues (such as confidentiality) that must be negotiated and worked out ahead of time with members of the staff? Is this proposal likely to be carried out, why or why not?
- Group composition
Who are the prospective group members? How will members be recruited/selected? Identify criteria that would be utilized to distinguish appropriate from inappropriate candidates for the group.
- Group time frame
When, how long, and for how many sessions (if time-limited) will your group meet? Explain the rationale for these decisions.
- Group structure/type
What will be the format of the group? What are the expectations for participation that you think should exist in your group? Explain your rationale for these decisions.
- Group leadership
Would you lead this group alone or with someone else? Discuss what you believe your primary functions and tasks should be. If there will be a co-leader, discuss issues associated with this.
- Tuning in
What do you think members will be thinking and feeling as they contemplate coming to the first group? How would you plan to address these feelings and reactions? What would your feelings be as you prepared to lead the group?
- The first session
How do you plan to orient members to the purpose of the group? How do you plan to address members’ anxieties (if any) about starting the group? How will you go about creating a climate of socio-cultural safety? How will group norms and your role be explained? How do you plan to begin to establish a sense of “we-ness”? As appropriate, you should supply the actual statements you might make regarding these issues.
- Potential obstacles
What are possible obstacles (other than those discussed in #3) to either convening the group or assisting the group in achieving its goals? How might such obstacles be addressed? 11. Evaluation
Briefly identify and discuss how you would implement an evaluation strategy that would help you determine the effectiveness of your group. This could include some form of a member satisfaction survey and/or an assessment of individual members’ progress during the group.
Suggested paper length: 6-8 pages excluding title page and references*
Your paper also must include specific references, using APA format, to relevant text material and literature
*Points are not deducted for papers shorter or longer than suggested length
Written Assignment Three: Critique of Intervention
CSWE competencies:
6. Engage with individuals, families, groups, organization, and communities.
8. Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
This is a paper that serves as a final, culminating written assignment for this course. You will be required to provide a detailed analysis of your intervention efforts with and/or on behalf of one of the clients with whom you have worked this semester. The case can be one that is ongoing or closed.
The first section (I) of this written assignment is a description and assessment of the case. Provide a brief/concise description of the client, the circumstances under which the interaction(s) took place, and the nature and focus/purpose of the interaction(s), as well as the current status. This includes who participated, where the interaction(s) took place, and any other information that is relevant to your assessment and critique. Your brief (1 – 2 pages) social history summary should include an ecomap (as an appendix) of the individual. The social history can be in the style utilized in your agency, or you may use an abbreviated format from SOWK 397 based upon the guidelines provided in Gasker (2023; Chapter 6).
In either case, the case summary must be written by you and professionally organized and presented, including your professional impressions/assessments, including strengths and challenges in the micro, mezzo, and macro environments of the client.
The second section (II) of the written assignment paper is a literature review. You should identify a practice issue that is reflected in your work with this client and explain why you selected it. You should conduct a thorough literature search for empirical and theoretical literature that is relevant to the practice issue you have selected and find the most recent literature possible, preferably within the last five years. You should then select and read 3 articles from peer reviewed journals, reporting on qualitative or quantitative research and practice. Please avoid using articles from the reading list and find your own.
Provide a brief summary of the main points raised in each of the article. Critique and discuss your opinions about what you have read: points that you agreed and disagreed with, whether you thought the authors provided a thorough discussion of the topic, if the research methods were sound and what are limitations. In the third section of this paper, you should integrate what you learned from the literature review into the paper, focusing on how your thinking and actual social work practice with the individual has been informed by what you read.
The third section (III) of the written assignment paper is a detailed critique of your intervention with the client, building and expanding upon the previous sections. Here you should discuss what you did right, what you did wrong, what you could have done differently, why you did what you did, what you learned from the experience, and the like. It is here, as well, that you should discuss and analyze skills you used.
This section should be organized around phases in the helping relationship and generalist model of practice. The considerations and skills listed in each area should provide you with guidance and are appropriate for both brief and extended client contacts. Some students, after consulting with me, may need to make adjustments in the assignment to better reflect their particular work with clients, depending upon their agency setting.
SECTION IIIA. PRELIMINARY PHASE
What did you do to prepare yourself for working with this client and any significant others involved in the case? Apply knowledge of human behavior t, person-in-environment and other interprofessional conceptual frameworks to prepare for engagement with clients (for example, researched the differences that existed between you and the client? What did you learn about cultural sensitivity from this experience? Tie in to textbook, class lectures)
SECTION IIIB. BEGINNING PHASE
B1. Engagement: How did you use empathy, reflection and interpersonal skills to effectively engage diverse clients and constituencies in culturally responsive ways? What specific skills (name them) did you utilize to engage this client in a working relationship? Were there barriers to engagement and what did you do to address them?
B2. Empowerment and Strength based Intervention(s): How did you mutually agree upon a focus for work? Describe the nature of the intervention and working agreement you established and its rationale Critically analyze how you choose and implemented interventions to achieve practice goals and enhance the capacities of the client/constituencies
SECTION IIIC. MIDDLE/WORK PHASE
C1. What social work role(s) came into play when working on this client’s case?
C2. Did you or the client need to work with other systems or individuals as a part of the intervention? Discuss how you used inter-professional collaboration as appropriate to achieve beneficial practice outcomes.
C3. Specify how you negotiated, mediated and advocated with and on behalf of your client/ constituencies . Was there a need to refine or revise your working agreement? What skills and techniques did you use to facilitate this process?
SECTION IIID. ENDING/ TRANSITION PHASE AND EVALUATION
Describe and analyze the ending or future ending (will it be planned or unexpected?)
How did you facilitate effective transitions and endings that advance mutually agreed upon goals? If the case remains ongoing, what challenges and considerations will you need to take into account when the case is closed?
How effective were you in helping the client achieve personal and organizational goals? Upon what did you base this evaluation? Again, what (rapid) assessment instrument(s) were used for assessment? How did you go about establishing a means of evaluating your effectiveness using research methodology?
What were your/clients’ reactions to ending?
Section IV. The fourth section of the paper requires you to assess your ability to act professionally and engage in professional use of self. This discussion should center on an assessment of your ability to present yourself as a social work professional, including adhering to professional boundaries.
Address balancing being genuine with being disciplined and professional. Give examples of instances where your personal reactions got in the way of your work with the client and/or others involved with the case, and how you addressed this throughout your work with the client.
Section V.The fifth and final section of this critique addresses ethical considerations.
Identify three ethical principles that were apparent in your work with this specific case (using the NASW Code of Ethics as guideline).
What ethical dilemmas surfaced specifically (or could have; if they didn’t, think hypothetically). Note, for example, whether you/your agency uses evidence based practice or research methods to evaluate outcomes) in the course of your work on this case or in a broader sense with agency clients overall?
If so, how did you (or would you) resolve these ethical concerns?
In what ways did your work challenge (or support) your personal values and beliefs? How did you separate your personal beliefs from your ethical obligations to the client or as a social worker?
Suggested paper length: 12-14 pages excluding title page and references*
Your paper must include specific references, using APA format, to relevant text material and literature.
Please submit a copy via Blackboard. Submit ALL research articles via BB (no hardcopies).
*Points are not deducted for papers shorter or longer than suggested length but writing concisely is an important skill.
Jermaine Byrant
Nicole Johnson
OVER
RATING
YEARS
