Advanced Certificate in Geriatric and Gerontological Social Work
Guidelines for Final Project or Paper
Purpose of the Final Project or Paper
The final project or paper provides you with the opportunity to:

Define an issue related to aging that you focused upon in or observed to be
relevant to your ongoing work or interest in geriatrics or gerontology.

Locate that problem within or across the theoretical literature of the applicable
disciplines such as social work, sociology, psychology, political science,
economics, health care, health policy, geography, organizational behavior,
leadership, education, criminal justice, or public administration.

Analyze the identified problem or issue within the context of the appropriate
professional literature and the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE)
Geriatric Social Work Competency Scale II (GSWCS II).

Recommend appropriate action that addresses the problem.

Craft a document that is professional in content, structure, and style, and which
demonstrates your ability to use theory to improve the lives of older adults.

Produce a document that provides tangible evidence of your competence and
reflects positively on the professional education you received in the Master of
Social Work (MSW) program.
Getting Started on the Final Project or Paper
Start by identifying a topic that orients your final project or paper. For example, if your
internship required you to conduct a needs analysis for your organization, then you will
probably want to structure your final project or paper around that, rather than a
particular administrative procedure. Once you have identified the topic or problem
associated with your final project or paper, then it will be much easier to focus your
literature review.
The topic must be narrowly focused so as to be manageable within the time constraints
of the advanced certificate program.
Finding Appropriate Source Materials
As a first step, you should review your textbooks and course materials from all courses
completed as part of the MSW program. Next, review the journals that may have articles
related to your final project or paper topic. Look for books and articles that will provide
you with a framework to discuss your final project or paper problem/strength and/or
issue, but be careful not to settle on the first ideas that you find. Most topics in public
administration theory and practice have competing or alternative frameworks that you
could use to compare and contrast with your experience.
For references, at least twelve different refereed journal resources and a
minimum of five different professional monographs or books are required.
Your final project or paper will be professional in content, structure, and appearance.
Your final project or paper must be free of errors of spelling and punctuation. Your final
project or paper must be written in accord with the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association (6th ed.), and follow its standards for tables, references,
substantive footnotes, etc.
Submitting the Final Project or Paper Proposal
The following guidelines should be followed for your final project or paper proposal.
The proposal should be no more than five pages in length. The proposal is due at the
end of the fall semester after admission into the advanced certificate program. The
exact due date will be established with your faculty mentor/consultant.
I.
II.
III.
Introduction – Provide an overview of the problem/strength and/or issue you
intend to address in your final project or paper. Identify the context or contexts
within which this problem/strength and/or issue occurs. Include a clear
statement of the problem/strength and/or issue.
Developing a Theoretical Rationale for the Study – Why is your final
project or paper significant to social work practice, administration, or policy?
Why explore this topic?
Conceptual Framework – What are the specific theories that you will use to
frame the research question, and what are the specific linkages between
these theories and the research question or issue that you wish to explore
more fully?
IV.
Methodology – What are the research strategies, data collection procedures
and/or methods that you will use to examine and analyze your identified
problem/strength and/or issue?
Components of the Final Project or Paper
Introduction and Problem Statement. Your final project or paper must begin with a
problem/strength or issue statement that presents a clear description of the
problem/strength, issue, or program that you will examine and analyze. The
problem/strength or issue statement will focus readers upon one particular issue or
area; therefore, you must provide evidence that shows why the problem/strength or
issue you selected is important within the context of serving the needs of older adults,
and you must use the literature to provide evidence that the issue is an important one
for the social work field. This introductory section should show readers that you have
done your homework and are familiar with the extant work that may contribute to your
final analysis. The problem/strength or issue statement should be very specific and/or
focused. The research problem/strength or issue may be stated in the form of a
declaration of the research purpose or in the form of a research question to be
examined. Your problem/strength or issue statement should be supported by several
paragraphs, which place the problem in the appropriate context(s). The context(s) or
setting(s) may be global, institutional, political, economic, psychological and/or social.
Conceptual Framework and Literature Review. The conceptual framework section
links the research question or problem/strength or issue statement to the larger
literature of social work and social welfare and provides a theoretical context for the
entire final project or paper. You should review the literature that has addressed this
issue in other contexts or using other methods or approaches. You should present a full
and balanced review of both theoretical and practice-oriented concepts drawn from
appropriate scholarly and professional literature, comparing and contrasting different
perspectives and analyzing how they apply to your research question or
problem/strength or issue statement.
Methodology and Research/Project/Paper Procedures. Discuss how you plan to
conduct your analysis. You may apply quantitative or qualitative methods, as long as
your research methodology involves significant rigor and can generate results that
contribute to the improvement of the health and/or social welfare of older adults. Explain
why the methods you plan to use are appropriate for the problem you are studying.
Articulate additional or more specific research questions or hypotheses. Identify the
concepts of interest and, if you are conducting a quantitative analysis, how you plan to
select and operationalize your variables. Explain why the methods you used are
appropriate for the problem you are studying. For example, qualitative research
methodologies, such as critical ethnography, seek to both explore a given issue and
also contribute to its amelioration. The creation and examination of film documentaries,
for example, can be a form of ethnography, if the research procedures of ethnography
or critical ethnography are followed. Discuss the validity and reliability of your
measures, in the case of quantitative analysis, or credibility, transferability, and
dependability of your research procedures, in the case of qualitative or exploratory
research. Explain your rationale for the selection of people to interview, the use of
survey techniques, content analysis, participant observation, or other method. Provide a
discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the method you have selected based on
your review of research methodology literature. Carefully describe the steps you have
taken to ensure the validity or credibility of your research design and methodology to
maximize the usefulness of your research results.
Findings, Recommendations and Conclusion. Report your results and explain what
you found. Your results must be presented using appropriate tables/graphs, video,
audio, or slides, along with an accompanying discussion in the text of your final project
or paper. At this stage, you must not only report or present the findings, but also
interpret them. Provide your readers or audience with specific recommendations that
are fully supported by your analysis of findings. Discuss any weaknesses in your
analysis that may reduce your confidence in your findings. Relate your findings to
previous research and existing theory and practice (as presented in the Conceptual
Framework and Literature Review section). Finally, discuss how your work contributes
to social work practice, administration theory, or social policy.
References. A complete and accurate list of references must be included with your final
project or paper. The references must be in the style of the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association (6th ed.). See above for information on appropriate
types and numbers of sources.