Writer’s choice
December 20th, 2022
The purpose of this assignment is to: identify relevant literature for your research proposal,
strengthen your research, critical thinking, and writing skills, and develop a well-defined social
work research question. This assignment will be graded using a rubric.
Select a social issue/problem that is of interest to you and locally relevant to social work (for
example, “Experiences of racialized newcomer youth in Toronto” or “Social isolation of older
adults in Hamilton”). Find and read at least 5 peer-reviewed, research journal articles related to
your topic. The research should be Canadian, and the journal articles published within the last 5
to 10 years. Based on the selected articles, write a literature review that includes the following
sections:
a) Introduction (approximately 1 page)
Describe the nature and scale of the problem (i.e. include statistics)
Explain why this an important problem to study/area of research for social work
b) Review (approximately 3-3.5 pages)
Synthesize and critically evaluate the knowledge you gained from the journal articles.
Be sure to address: What is known about this topic? Where is the research on your
topic weak (i.e. study problems or limitations, inconclusive results, etc.)? What is still
unknown about this topic?
c) Conclusion (approximately 1-1.5 pages):
Summarize and integrate the knowledge you gained from the journal articles in brief.
Be sure to address whether there is general agreement among the authors of these
journal articles; if there is disagreement, what are some possible reasons for this?
Also, based on your review of the literature, what are some possible areas for research (i.e. research gaps), and 1 or 2 possible research questions?
Note: You may find it helpful to create a table that summarizes the key elements of each journal
article (i.e. objectives, theory, type of research, methods, participants, findings, and limitations).
This may be helpful for both this assignment and the subsequent assignments.
Page requirement: 5-6 pages (minimum and maximum)
References: At least 5 peer-reviewed research journal articles
strengthen your research, critical thinking, and writing skills, and develop a well-defined social
work research question. This assignment will be graded using a rubric.
Select a social issue/problem that is of interest to you and locally relevant to social work (for
example, “Experiences of racialized newcomer youth in Toronto” or “Social isolation of older
adults in Hamilton”). Find and read at least 5 peer-reviewed, research journal articles related to
your topic. The research should be Canadian, and the journal articles published within the last 5
to 10 years. Based on the selected articles, write a literature review that includes the following
sections:
a) Introduction (approximately 1 page)
Describe the nature and scale of the problem (i.e. include statistics)
Explain why this an important problem to study/area of research for social work
b) Review (approximately 3-3.5 pages)
Synthesize and critically evaluate the knowledge you gained from the journal articles.
Be sure to address: What is known about this topic? Where is the research on your
topic weak (i.e. study problems or limitations, inconclusive results, etc.)? What is still
unknown about this topic?
c) Conclusion (approximately 1-1.5 pages):
Summarize and integrate the knowledge you gained from the journal articles in brief.
Be sure to address whether there is general agreement among the authors of these
journal articles; if there is disagreement, what are some possible reasons for this?
Also, based on your review of the literature, what are some possible areas for research (i.e. research gaps), and 1 or 2 possible research questions?
Note: You may find it helpful to create a table that summarizes the key elements of each journal
article (i.e. objectives, theory, type of research, methods, participants, findings, and limitations).
This may be helpful for both this assignment and the subsequent assignments.
Page requirement: 5-6 pages (minimum and maximum)
References: At least 5 peer-reviewed research journal articles
