19 Dec SOCW 8002 WEEK 3 ASSIGNMENT
Throughout your doctoral journey, as you collect articles on your general topic and your research problem, it is advantageous to write annotated bibliographies to track and keep notes of what you read. If you do this for all the articles you read about your research topic from the onset, can you imagine the library of articles you will have when you get to your DSW capstone or PhD dissertation stage? You will be on your way to writing a literature review!
As with many aspects of research, finding articles is a skill you can develop. Search strategies, familiarity with databases, and relevant search results improve with practice. Tips include using a variety of databases and even exploring databases outside the discipline (e.g., nursing, education, sociology, etc.). Social work is a multidisciplinary field, and your topic will be touched by diverse disciplines.
In this Assignment, you develop an annotated bibliography for your potential research topic. You also think deliberately about and reflect on your search strategy so that you can continue to improve your research skills.
Part 1
Write two annotated bibliography entries from the literature you found. The articles you annotate must be from an academic peer-reviewed journal.
Use comment bubbles to analyze each entry, explaining how each of your paragraphs demonstrated the following skills: summarizing, applying, and analyzing.
Part 2
Describe your search strategy.
Identify the keywords you used. How did you broaden or narrow your search after reviewing initial results?
Identify the databases in which you found the most relevant results. What database limiters did you use?
Analyze your search strategy and identify areas for improvement.
Refer to the PhD Social Work dissertation and the DSW capstone project you located in Week 2. For a PhD dissertation, refer to Chapter 2 and the literature search strategy. For a DSW capstone project, refer to Section 1 “Review of the Professional and Academic Literature” and the literature search strategy.
Review the Sample Annotated Bibliography Document listed in the Learning Resources.
Observe how the sample annotated bibliography contains three paragraphs and that each paragraph summarizes, applies, and analyzes. Review the comment bubbles in the sample.
When you work on your DSW capstone or PhD dissertation, your dissertation committee members will provide feedback using comment bubbles and track changes. It is a good idea to learn how to use these features in Word.
In the Discussion last week, you began to search the library to find literature to support your claims about the scope and consequences of the social problem you analyzed. Find two more articles to create your annotated bibliography.
Part of this Assignment includes a self-analysis on how you found your articles in the library. Like a math problem, you will “show your work” to reflect on your search skills.
