Writing an academic essay is never easy and social work essays present their own challenges. Here, experts and fellow students offer their advice on what to do and what not to do and suggest approaches to some typical essay questions.
How to write a social work academic essay: the basics
Open University lecturer Alison Higgs explains how to plan your essay, develop an argument and include the correct references
Writing a social work essay: 4 pointers for success
London Metropolitan University lecturer Liz Davies offers four key pointers that will set you on the road to essay success
A selection of social work students and academics offer their advice on writing better essays
How avoid common social work essay mistakes
Professor Peter Beresford of Brunel University suggests there are some common social work essay mistakes which can easily be avoided
How to write a social work dissertation
Professor Jill Manthorpe of King’s College London, explains how to keep your social work dissertation on track
Guide to using bibliographies and references in social care
Community Care Inform provides a free downloadable guide to selecting and citing resources using the ‘Harvard’ system of referencing (pdf).
The Open University offers advice on good academic practice and how to avoid plagiarism
Online forums can be great for sharing essay ideas but how do you make sure that doesn’t become collusion?
Tackling common social work essay questions
Some social work essay topics keep cropping up. Here, social work academics offer advice on how to tackle them:
An essay on the social work response to a disclosure of child abuse
An essay on adult safeguarding
An essay analysing an example of your practice in children’s services
More questions about essays?
Ask for advice and join the discussion with fellow students and social workers on CareSpace
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