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Canyon College

online writing for professional articles course at Canyon College

COURSE SYLLABUS: WRITING FOR PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES


Course Title:
Department:
Instructor:
Writing for Professional Articles
Social Work
Alice Yick Flanagan, Ph.D., M.S.W. E-Mail - Vita


Course Description

The National Association of Social Workers (1981) stated that one of the many roles of social workers includes conducting research in order to build, expand, and refine the knowledge base of the social work profession. Research is a science, and the characteristics of science are systematic, replicable, and public. That is, science endeavors to lay out all its procedures in an organized manner so that the public (i.e., scholars, students, and practitioners) has the opportunity to duplicate the study. In addition, science is a public endeavor, which means that findings or the knowledge gleaned from research must be disseminated to the public in order to expand the discipline's knowledge base.

This course is targeted to those students who are interested in disseminating their practice and/ or research knowledge to the public via publications, monographs, or academic journals. The public is defined as the broad social work and social science community as well as the practitioner's local community. That is, the practitioner/researcher will often have the opportunity to disseminate knowledge through unpublished reports as well as published articles.

Therefore, the goal of this course is to provide an overview of the skills and techniques to write a professional article or report with the objective of disseminating knowledge. This course will review basic elements of writing objectively and analytically, obtaining resources from libraries and the Internet, how to compile the resources to write a literature review, and other components that go into a professional article or report.

Course Prerequisite

Students who enroll in this course must have enrolled and completed Social Work Research. The skills acquired in research class are needed as a foundation for this course. You will also see some concepts reviewed in the research class that you will actually apply in this writing course.

Course Objectives

** Students will understand how to conduct basic literature searches by learning how to use resources such as their library and the Internet.

** Students will learn how to compile the information and data from literature searches to write literature reviews.

** Students will become familiar with the American Psychological Association (APA) rules of formatting and citing references.

** Students will become familiar with process of selecting a journal for article submission.

** Students will acquire the skills of organizing and putting a professional article together.

Course Philosophy

The only way to learn how to write is to practice, practice, and practice. It takes patience and discipline. Therefore, we will employ the "iterative process." This means that writing is collaborative and process-oriented. You will gradually build upon what you learn, and you will receive comments and feedback from your instructor. You will then use this feedback to further revise your manuscript. This will again be turned in for further revisions and feedback. Writing is a process - it is never a one-step endeavor.

Students' assignments from the Practice Guide will lead to a final product, which entails a "publishable" paper. This does not necessarily mean that this is a guarantee that a manuscript you complete will actually be published. It means that the manuscript is closer to the caliber and quality of articles that has been published in an academic journal.

Students will actually select an academic journal for submission. Their final product will be a manuscript that conforms to the guidelines of the journal that the student would like to submit, and the manuscript will the (Whether students ultimately decide to submit for publication is their choice).

Course Format

** Weekly readings
** Some lectures, but primarily students who take this course are committed to self-directed study.
** Weekly assignments in the Practice Guide to be e-mailed to the instructor

Required Texts/Readings -- Online Bookstore

Galvan, J.L. (1999). Writing literature reviews: A guide for students of the social and behavioral sciences. Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak Publishing. (ISBN #: 1884585183)

Pyrczak, Fred and Randall, Bruce R. (2000). Writing empirical research reports (3rd edition). Los Angeles, CA: Pyrczak Publishing. (ISBN #: 1884585248)

Supplemental Texts

The following are some texts that will help you write not only a manuscript for publication, but will assist you as complete your studies. As you know, writing is important, and if you seek further graduate education, you will have to write a thesis or perhaps even a dissertation. Some of these texts are also excellent resources if you decide to write a grant for program development or for research.

Beebe, Linda (1993). Professional writing for the human services. Washington, DC: NASW Press. (ISBN #: 0871011999)
(This is an excellent resource. I highly recommend this book for those who seriously want to submit an article for publication).

Becker, Howard (1986). Writing for social scientists: How to start and finish your thesis, book or article. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. (ISBN #: 0226041085)

Hult, Christine (1996). Researching and writing in the social sciences. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon. (ISBN #: 0205168418)

Course Requirements and Evaluations

** Weekly Assignments (55 points) - The assignments can be found in the Practice Guide.

** Final Project: Publishable Article (45 points) - Please refer to the instructions at the end of the course outline.

There are a total of 100 points for the class. The following points determine the final grade for the class:

97-100 points = A+
96-92 points = A
91-89 points = A-
88-85 points = B+
84-81 points = B
80-74 points = B-
73-70 points = C+
69-65 points = C

Virtual Office Hours:

I check my e-mail several times during the day. Therefore, feel free to drop me an e-mail with questions about assignments and readings. If you want to schedule a telephone appointment, feel free to drop an e-mail, and we can arrange a mutually convenient time to talk.

Course Outline:


Unit 1:







Unit 2:








Unit 3:








Unit 4:






Unit 5:








Unit 6:







Unit 7:









Unit 8:
* Course introductions
* Types of journal articles
* Selection of a topic

Galvan, Chapters 1-3
Review Lecture 1


* Selecting an appropriate journal
* Conducting literature searches and analyzing and synthesizing literature
* Writing titles

Galvan, Chapters 4-6
Pyraczak & Randall, Chapter 4
Review Lecture 2


* Writing Introductions
* Writing Research Questions, Objectives, Hypotheses
* Writing Literature Reviews

Galvan, Chapter 7
Pyraczak & Randall, Chapters 3, 4, and 5
Review Lecture 3


* Practice, Practice Makes Perfect

Galvan, Chapter 7, 8, and 9
No Lecture
Be sure to complete the assignment in the Practice Guide.


* Writing Operational Definitions for Variables
* Writing a Methods Section
* Revising, Revising Makes Perfect

Galvan, Chapters 10 (Review Chapters 7, 8, and 9 as necessary)
Pyraczak & Randall, Chapters 6 and 8
Review Lecture 5.


* Writing Findings or Results Section
* Writing Discussion Section

Pyraczak & Randall, Chapters 9 and 10
No Lecture
Be sure to complete the assignment in the Practice Guide.


* Writing Limitations
* Writing Abstracts
* Revising, Revising Makes Perfect

Galvan, Chapters 10 and 11
Pyraczak & Randall, Chapters 7 and 11
No Lecture
Be sure to complete the assignment in the Practice Guide.


* Conclusion: Don't Give Up!

Review the chapters in the two books as needed.
Review Lecture 8.


Final Project: "Publishable" Paper

Your final product will be a "publishable" paper. The length and format will need to conform to the guidelines in the academic journal that you select for submission. You do not need to actually submit the manuscript, but the quality, formatting, and topic must conform to the journal that you select. All journals must be peer-reviewed.

You may decide to adapt a paper that you had written in class. Or you may have a research project that you participated in, and you would like to write up the findings. Or you can choose a conceptual topic and start from scratch.

Feel free to consult with me about your paper. I will be more than happy to provide feedback.

This paper is due within 1 weeks after you completed Unit 8. The longer you procrastinate, the more difficult it will be to complete it.