Social Workers In Diversion

Social Work Research Paper

I. Cover Page

II. Abstract – Brief, comprehensive of the entire article. It should include 1-3 sentences describing each section of the paper.

III. Table of Contents

IV. Introduction – this section is brief (3-4 paragraphs) and sets the stage for the entire paper. You should use this section to grab the reader and convince them that they should read the rest of your paper.
a. What is the problem being examined in this study? Define the key concepts.
b. Why is this problem important? What is the purpose of your study?
c. How will the study be conducted? What is your research question?

V. Literature Review – this section should be 5-7 pages and should be a synthesis of articles.
a. Background/history – put things in perspective. What are the major issues, controversies, etc., that impact your study?
b. Current literature – what is known about your topic? What are the gaps in the literature?
c. State hypotheses and explain how you developed them (i.e., based on a theory, practice model, or trend in the literature)

VI. Methodology – describe in detail how the study was done. Break into subsections, with headers. This section should be 2-5 pages.
a. Research Design – restate purpose of study, state the type of design used (e.g., cross-sectional, mixed-method, etc.), describe the procedures of the study in great detail so they may be replicated.
b. Participants – criteria used to include participants in the study, recruitment, sampling, sample size, response rate (if applicable). You should also describe the safeguards built into your study to protect human subjects and that you received approval from the UWRF IRB.
c. Measures – describe operational definitions of variables and levels of measurement (e.g., nominal, ordinal, etc.). If scales are used, describe them here (and cite them) and provide details about reliability and validity. Ranges and scoring information for scales should also be provided.
d. Data Collection – description of how data was gathered (e.g., online survey, face-to-face interviews, etc.), how long it took, and where it was gathered.
e. Data Analysis – describe the statistical tests used and/or coding process. If using a computer program for analysis, you must cite the program.

VII. Results – summarize results of your tests or coding process. Start by restating your research question or hypothesis and then describe your participants (i.e., demographics of who participated). Then, describe each variable and the relationships between them. Organize the results by question/hypothesis and provide graphs or tables (in APA format) to supplement your narrative description. This section should be 3-5 pages.

VIII. Discussion – summarize and interpret results, relate results back to the literature, and provide implications of your study for social work. This section should be 3-5 pages, use headers throughout.
a. One paragraph summary of the results. Describe in non-statistical language. Address whether your research question was answered/hypothesis supported.
b. Your interpretation of the results, in the context of previous research (you should bring citations back in from your literature review). Do your findings support previous research or are they contradictory? Which studies are similar and which ones are different? What gaps remain in the literature?
c. Implications for social work research, policy, and practice (you should address all 3 of these areas, using sub-headers, and give details about how your results could inform all 3 areas).
i. Research – How can future research build upon what you learned in this study? What gaps still need to be addressed?
ii. Policy – What policies should be created or adapted to address the needs of your population? What gaps in policy could be informed by your findings?
iii. Practice – How do your findings relate to social work practice (engagement, assessment, and intervention)?
d. Limitations of your study and generalizability of your results.
e. Conclude with one a one paragraph summary of your results and implications.

IX. References (in APA formatting)

X. Appendices

Grading for final paper:
Revisions to Intro, Literature Review, and Methods 10
Results 10
Discussion 15
APA formatting (e.g., abstract, page numbers, references, citations, etc.) 10
Professional writing 5
Total 50 points