Assignment 1. Prepare a briefing paper in the form of essay 1200 words. Due by 12 April 2021
Reference: Harvard
What is “briefing paper”? ??
A briefing document is a good communication tool to inform others of a certain issue or advocate for a specific group of people. A briefing document identifies a particular problem to get others to address the issue.
Part A: Essay Task
Please locate yourself as a social worker employed by an organisation to work with the community in an urban/rural area. You need to prepare a briefing paper in the form of the essay, for a social work interest practice group in the Australian Association for Social Workers (please see below my interest practice group).You should discuss two uncertain areas that have impacted the community and your social work practice (look at part B for detail).
Part B: The structure of your briefing paper (your essay)
Introduction (no more than 200 words)
In your introduction, you should describe your position, your organisation and the community group that you are working with. You can choose any community groups like Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities (CALD) or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples or any other communities that you are interested in or have knowledge. You can also be specific about a particular group of people in the community you are working with.You should also specify the aims of your briefing paper in the introduction to make it clear for your audience and why this briefing paper is important.
PS: My chosen organisation is: inTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence. inTouch works with refugee and immigrant women from CaLD backgrounds who are experiencing family violence.
Body of the briefing paper
You need to describe uncertain areas below, that have impacted this community and social work practice.
1. Uncertainty and social work in a global context
2. Technological development, opportunities and challenges for social work
Discuss the two topics and identify challenges and opportunities that you find particularly interesting, important or relevant to social work. This should also critically reflect on social work practice and uncertainty in your practice setting. You must use the related literature and unit readings to describe the phenomena and their impacts on the community.
- Fook, J 2013, Uncertainty The defining characteristic of social work?, in VE Cree (ed.), Social work: a reader, Routledge.
- Taylor, C & White, S 2006, Knowledge and reasoning in social work: Educating for humane judgement, British Journal of Social Work, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 937-54.
- Harrison, G & Melville, R 2010, Rethinking social work in a global world, Macmillan International Higher Education. Pp 12-17
- Morley, C, Ablett, P & Macfarlane, S 2019, Engaging with Social Work, Cambridge University Press.
- White, S 2009, Fabled uncertainty in social work: A coda to Spafford et al, Journal of social work, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 222-35.
- Reamer, FG 2013 Social Work in a Digital Age: Ethical and Risk Management Challenges, Social work, vol. 58, no. 2, pp. 163-72, https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/swt003
- Boddy, J & Dominelli, L 2017, Social Media and Social Work: The Challenges of a New Ethical Space, Australian Social Work, vol. 70, no. 2, pp. 172-84.
- Lenette, C, Cox, L & Brough, M 2013, Digital Storytelling as a Social Work Tool: Learning from Ethnographic Research with Women from Refugee BackgroundsThe British Journal of Social Work, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 988-1005.
Conclusion (not more than 150 words)
Please conclude the essay with a short summary, including your recommendations for social work practice to deal with these issues and uncertainties.
Presentation and Academic Writing Skills
Use the third person and consider the social work audience who will read this briefing paper (you can use the first person for the introduction section). You must use required readings and recommended readings, academic journals and social workbooks, not websites or wiki! As fourth-year students, you need to demonstrate strong academic skills and expertise in using relevant resources. You need to demonstrate your abilities in utilising academic resources, and a minimum of six references are required.
This is an academic essay; please use academic skills and standards. Please use headings as a way to signpost shifts or guide the reader. To write paragraphs, which flow, you should combine more than one or two sentences. Also, each paragraph needs a first topic sentence to introduce the main topic of the paragraph. Then in the following sentences, you will unpack the topic and further discuss the idea.
Clumsy sentences and grammatical errors need to be avoided. Clear sentence structure helps develop your argument. Put some time into editing, try to read your paper out loud; when you read it aloud, you may also hear your sentences errors. You can also print off your essay, look at it on paper with a pencil, and edit in that mode.
Please type the report in 12 font, Arial, and double space. Double spacing is very helpful for us in marking your essay.
Referencing
I do not recommend using direct quotations in a 1200 word essay. You need to use the Harvard referencing style. Please check Deakin University Harvard guideline. Please access the Deakin referencing/citation guide in this link: https://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/referencing/harvard
Deakin Harvard referencing style was updated in 2020; however, you still are able to use Deakin Harvard 2013 edition. The style needs to be correct and consistent throughout your essay, in both the text and reference list. All in-text references have to be in the reference list and vice versa.
I highly recommend using Endnote for your reference. More information is available in this link https://deakin.libguides.com/endnote?hs=a
The Assignment’s Assessment Criteria
• Ability to provide clear introductory notes for briefing paper by specifying community, aims and rationale for the paper
• Identify and discuss the first uncertain area and explore opportunities and challenges for social work practice
• Identify and discuss the second uncertain area and explore opportunities and challenges for social work practice
• Ability to present a well-organised and well-written essay with academic skills, evidence of reading, and appropriate and accurate referencing.