My main takeaway from rereading my blog posts is that conducting, reading, and evaluating research is a process. I learned so much in this class including how to: find information, evaluate research, write a literature review, and most importantly, how to structure and write a research proposal. One of my many takeaways is that research is the backbone of social work practice and that my ongoing professional development should include paying attention to the research. I will think about how research informs current trends in treatments, interventions, and programs. I will continue to read the Journal of the National Association of Social Workers, and in the future, I will make an effort to attend continuing education classes, lectures, seminars, and conferences.
At the onset of this class, I was hoping to learn the basics of how to access research, evaluate it, and incorporate research into a literature review and paper. I was intimidated by the prospect of doing these things but this class broke down the literature review and research proposal into manageable pieces. The lectures and textbooks worked together to guide me through the process.
Looking back at my blog posts highlights the full scope of writing a research proposal and how each step has a specific process and set of requirements. I am very glad I did all of the readings and took notes during the lectures. I learned that I have the patience to learn something new and the stamina to sit and write for 2 -3 hours at a time. At the beginning of the school year, I was worried about learning APA formatting. So, in September I started using Mendeley to organize my sources and manage and format my bibliographies and citations. At the beginning of this semester, and in preparation for this class, I purchased a hard copy of the current APA Publication Manual so I could look up formatting and citation questions. I spent a lot of time on my literature review so I would become more comfortable doing thorough searches. I loved using the library databases and I learned how to request articles. I think going forward I will feel more confident writing research papers because now I have an understanding of the process and some experience!
My final thought is based on a reading from my human behavior class. The last chapter we had to read included a section on translation research. I had never heard this term before and it is a process “involving overcoming all of the obstacles that prevent the application of research findings beyond academic circles and professional journals”, and how to incorporate findings into real-life practice (Marsiglia & Kulis, 2016). I think this goes along with the question I asked you in class about who reads all of the journal articles. I want to know more about translation research and how research makes its way into practice.
Liz R. 512 Social Work Research 