Columbia Guide to Social Work Writing

Warren Green founded the Writing Center at Columbia University School of Social Work and has been its director since 1995. He holds a BA and MFA from Columbia University and is a writer and educator living in New York City. Barbara Levy Simon is an associate professor of social work at the Columbia University School of Social Work and has served on its faculty since 1986. Her research focuses on the history of social work and social welfare in colonial and postcolonial settings and gender and sexuality in social work practice. Her books are The Empowerment Tradition in American Social Work and Never Married Women.

This book will help all social workers - students, seasoned professionals, and educators - to improve their writing. More importantly, the authors remind us of the critical role we have in giving voice to our clients and advocating for them through the words we use. The comprehensive approach includes writing for different audiences and in the context of various fields of practice. -- Wynne Sandra Korr, Dean and Professor of School of Social Work University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Up-to-date and reflective of current trends in the field. The authors continually demonstrate their understanding about how technology has revolutionized professional writing in agency as well as academia. There is no other book that addresses in such a comprehensive manner various types of social work writing. -- Elaine Congress, Associate Dean and Professor, Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service A valuable acquisition... Highly recommended. Choice

• Foreword. A Social Work Leader on Writing, by Linda Hoffman Preface, by Jeanette Takamura Introduction, by Warren Green and Barbara Levy Simon Part I. The Foundations of Good Writing 1. Writing in Social Work in the United States: 1880s to the Present, by Barbara Levy Simon 2. Writing Strategies for Academic Papers, by Warren Green 3. Writing for Publication in Social Work Journals, by Ronald A. Feldman 4. Inscribing Knowledge: Writing Research in Social Work, by Denise Burnette Part II. Applied Professional Writing 5. Student Writing in Field Education, by Kathryn Conroy 6. Writing For and About Clinical Practice, by Mary Sormanti 7. Getting the Policy Message Across to Diverse Audiences, by Shirley Gatenio-Gabel and Sheila B. Kamerman 8. Writing in Program and Proposal Development: The Social Work Writer as Translator, by Marion Riedel 9. Advocacy, by Vicki Lens 10. Administrative Writing, by Sue Matorin Part III. Writing in Distinct Fields of Practice 11. Writing in Family and Child Welfare, by Brenda G. McGowan and Elaine M. Walsh 12. Writing Strategies for School Social Workers, by Alida Bouris and Vincent Guilamo-Ramos 13. Writing About Contemporary Social Issues: Lessons Learned from Working with Street-Based Sex Workers, by Susan Witte 14. Writing in the Field of Aging, by Ann Burack-Weiss 15. Writing in International Work: Power, Knowledge, and Social Interventions in the Globalized World, by Fred Ssewamala and Elizabeth Sperber Notes Contributors Index