This chapter identifies the four tools of effective academic writing. It creates concept maps to support theory development and research criteria for literature reviews. It also addresses multicultural context in academic writing including employing bias-free writing and describes the purpose and structure of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.) as a tool for successful academic writing. The chapter explores the connection between writing and thinking by way of an approach for researching and writing a literature review, which includes creating concept maps to support the theoretical foundation of a literature review and addressing multicultural issues in academic writing. It begins with the multicultural and social justice–competency as a framework. Cultural considerations in writing are expansive and can include the mechanics of language through to the context by which information is framed and communicated to an audience.

The phenomenological approach to qualitative research is rooted in philosophy and amplified in social justice and creativity. The general purpose of phenomenology is to seek the essence of its subject, and that may take the form of meaning making with a social justice context. Phenomenologist are interested in what lies at the heart of the matter. Phenomenology differs from other qualitative traditions in its unique quest for meaning making through essentialism. While all qualitative inquiry is an attempt to preserve a unique perspective, phenomenologists highlight the uniqueness as a community value, allowing the reader to engage in transference of a common purpose. This chapter helps to identify the paradigmatic hierarchy and understand how to increase rigor of phenomenological research. It describes the five types of phenomenological research and recognizes multicultural issues associated with phenomenological research.

The social justice counselor (SJC) is essentially a new breed of contemporary counselor who no longer works with blinders on regarding a narrowed vision of counseling that focuses on treating a client’s symptoms while ignoring any external contributing factors of client distress. This chapter describes social justice counseling, its emphasis, why it is needed, and why all counseling disciplines should stay abreast of the topic, its counseling strategies, and the premise as to why social justice needs to be considered in counseling. Social psychologists and sociologists have long studied the psychological ramifications of inequality regarding the reciprocal effect of individuals’ interactions with their environment. The chapter explores the economic, health, and psychosocial ramifications of inequality and oppression to provide counselors with insights regarding the worldview and daily lives of the poor and oppressed in American society.

This chapter emphasizes two different approaches to mixed methods research. The transformative mixed methods approach creates new social justice–oriented research by employing qualitative and quantitative methods within a single phase, sequential phases, or concurrently. The multiphase mixed methods tradition is specifically designed for large-scale investigations that employ separate and equally emphasized qualitative and quantitative methodological frameworks. The order of data collection and analysis can either be sequential or concurrent, and each phase builds on the previous thread culminating in a fuller understanding of the overall project objectives. The chapter comprehends the philosophical integration of transformative and multiphase research design. It recognizes how to maximize the rigor of transformative and multiphase design. The chapter defines the data analysis process for transformative and multiphase designs and explains how mixed methods traditions can enhance multicultural competency.