As human beings, stories and narratives are central to how we make sense of, experience, and create reality (Bruner, 2006). As social workers, students, and people in the world, I believe that each of you has stories to tell – experiences that mattered not only to you but have universal value to other social workers, students, and people in the world.
As you consider a topic of focus for this assignment, remember that the author of scholarly personal narratives should keep three key questions in mind as they write:
What relevance does my story have for readers?
What are the takeaways that will benefit my readers’ personal and professional lives?
How can I make my story resonate in some way with all the varied, unique stories that my readers will bring to my text?
Keep in mind that the personal story is not the focal point in scholarly narratives, but the larger, universal meanings implicit in the stories are central. Therefore, you will need to make sure to thematize and universalize your story to the broader audience. For example, if you are writing about an experience that happened in your role as a clinical supervisor, what can other clinical supervisors take away from your story? How can you use this event or experience in your professional life to demonstrate and illuminate larger ideas/concepts/constructs that connect human beings everywhere, and social workers, clinicians, and supervisors in particular?
As you connect your story to a broader audience, you will need to incorporate outside sources (peer-reviewed articles, etc.) to situate and contextualize the central issue.
Some things to keep in mind when writing your narrative:
Focus on a single event or experience that best illustrates the central issue that of focus
Don’t be long-winded in your retelling of the story; write concisely and densely (i.e., no fluff)
You are strongly encouraged to find a model paper to give you a sense of how to best organize/ structure your paper. There is no “one way” to write a scholarly narrative. Consider visiting the archives of Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, a peer-reviewed journal that publishes scholarly personal narratives. https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/issue/archive (Links to an external site.)
Aim to keep your narratives to no more than 3,500 words (not including abstract and references).
NOTE: PLEASE FOLLOW THE RUBRIC! Also, my story is focused on Failing the licensure test 3 times and it is the LCSW licensure test. The feeling of pain and thinking that I might have picked the wrong field and the feeling of failure as a social worker. I have struggled to have confidence and hope in myself and the fear of failing again. As it says to reach to border audience I want this to be reached to all levels of social work and even broader the feeling of failure to everyone. Please let me know if you have any questions and you can make up information if it sounds more compelling to the story. Thank you so much! Also, please use the link in the instructions to help write this paper! THank you so much!
