Reading the Riots: Full Report

As promised, here is the full findings of the investigation into the London riots co-authored by The Guardian, The London School of Economics and with support from Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

As always, examine the methodology, the tone, the threads and the summary carefully before coming to any of your own conclusions.

Panorama: The Truth About Adoption

This took me by surprise last night but there was a programme on BBC1 following 6 children awaiting adoption.

It focusses on the length of time the process takes and the recent increase in children being removed from their birth families - a legacy of the baby P case.

According to BBC's i-Player the programme will be available for a year (?) and just to make it absolutely clear you can reference it without having a copy saved.

For the sake of further clarity, this is what the format would look like in your reference list:

• Title of Programme (in italics) 
• Year of transmission (in round brackets)
• Name of channel
• Date of transmission (day/month)

The in text reference would just need to be (Panorama: The Truth About Adoption, 2011).

So now that's all clear, next stop iPlayer!

Possible changes to domestic abuse law.

I must admit I didn't know the current domestic abuse law was even under discussion, but this morning I heard a radio debate which said the government is considering whether to add 'psychological abuse' to the behaviours which count as domestic abuse.

I'm sure you've some experience of debating and hearing such issues, but the piece features an interview with a woman who was both physically and psychologically abused by her partner.

The interview is about 11 minutes in length and can be found on the Today Programme website.

Role Play resources

Occasionally I do things so you don't have to.

Let me explain. It came to my attention that we were somewhat lacking in books on how to conduct a role play. So I looked at what was available to add to stock. The answer was a frustrating 'not much' unless you fancy a career as a drama teacher. And who in their right mind wants to be a drama teacher?

So instead I turned to YouTube and here's where it got seriously weird.

Do me a favour? Don't type role-play into YouTube. It's not good.

When I'd finally recovered I tried again by typing 'role play' and added 'social work' as a safer option and it actually found something suitable. So although it's not ideal, if you want to look at some other people pretending to be clients/practitioners have a look at a couple of hundred of examples from YouTube to garner some ideas of what's expected.

Reading the Riots

Many of you have been waiting for some academic analysis of the Summer riots in the UK. I know this because you've been looking for such analysis in some of my training sessions, largely without success.

But that's soon to change as The Guardian, in conjunction with The London School of Economics (LSE) is about to publish a major report on December 14th looking into the causes of the riots called Reading the Riots. The Guardian today has a pre-report summing up of how the research was carried out and who was involved.

One more thing. Assuming this reaches your inbox in time, it might be worth watching Newsnight live tonight (Monday) on BBC2 at 10:30pm (remember that BBC iplayer is always an option too); they will also be covering the riots and broadcasting interviews with some of the young people involved.

Statistics published concerning UK based 'honour violence'

The Guardian reported this morning on a freedom of information request obtained from the Iranian and Kurdish Womens' Rights Organisation (IKWRO) concerning the reported number of 'honour violence' incidents in the UK.

The 39 police forces who were able to provide figures reported nearly 3000 incidents in 2010 alone. The Guardian, along with other support groups, have speculated that the actual number of incidents may be much higher due to an unwillingness to seek help. Whilst this seems likely, remember that conjecture doesn't usually make for a great dissertation.

I know students have come to me in the past to ask for advice on how to tackle this dreadful subject as a dissertation and have been hindered by a lack of statistical data. I hope the work that the IKRWO have carried out goes some way to readdressing this stumbling block.

A final word about referencing. Well, until the next time...

Referencing. It's a bit like cleaning the toilet or family get togethers - it's not pleasant but we have to do it now and again.

I am aware that I confused a few people recently by suggesting you could reference a TV programme (the confusion came from whether you needed to have a recording of said TV programme - and according to our Big Book of Referencing it turns out you don't), for which I apologise.

Look. Nobody likes referencing - well apart from one librarian I once met on a course who said a well constructed reference list was 'beautiful', but I suspect he needed help. I don't think anybody 'well adjusted' likes referencing. Just remember that anything can be referenced, be it an email, a tweet or a TV programme.

The bulk of your references will come from books (if you're year 1) or books and journals (if you're year 2, 3 or above), but there's nothing wrong with including other material so long as it's relevant to the overall point you're making. If you're really unsure about referencing try and secure yourself a copy of Cite Them Right which is the book I use.

But if you find yourself reading it for enjoyment only two explanations present themselves;

1) It's 3am, you've been awake for 30 hours straight and you've lost all sense of proportion
or
2) Your inner librarian is winning the battle for your soul.

I'll let you decide which scenario is more terrifying.