1
CAREER PAPER
COLLEGE AND CAREER PLANNING
Many of you have entered college knowing the profession for which you wish to
receive academic and professional training. This exercise is designed to help you
gain more information about the career of your choice. For those of you who are
still undecided this will give you the chance to explore one of the fields of your
interest.
Step 1:
Identify career goals (health care, law enforcement, business,
education, etc.)
Step 2:
We will spend a class day in the lab looking up information for your
paper from either the Occupational Outlook Handbook or
Ferguson’s Career Builder. You will print a hard copy at this time.
Include all pages in the print out.
You may also go to the library or Internet and gather other
information concerning your career. If you go to the Library
Homepage and click on Databases, then the tab Databases by
Subject. Click on the link to Careers which will take you to a number
of database resources to guide you to more information.
Also, you may go to the Library Homepage and click on Students
then click Libguides. Choose EDUC1300 and you will be guided to
other career resources. However, you will be required to use the
Occupational Outlook Handbook or Ferguson’s Career Builder as
your major resource for the Factual Information section. Some
information that you will look for from this resource will be, for
example:
- starting and median salary
- educational requirements
- personality requirements
- professional duties
- any other facts about this career that you find important or
interesting
Step 3:
An important part of your paper is the interview. Identify an
individual in the field of your interest. Call up a hospital, a school, or
any employment location at which you might find an individual
who would agree to be interviewed. Be innovative.
Step 4:
Interview this individual. Prepare ten to twenty questions for your
interview. I will be happy to help you with a set of basic questions
2
to use in your interview, but you will also want to include specific
questions that you are interested in. A week or so before your
interview you can mail, fax, or E-mail your questions to the person
you will interview so that he/she can give you better information.
You will be required to turn in notes from the interview with your
paper. I recommend that you take a recording device so that you
may listen to the interview later as you write your paper. Be
prepared to ask questions that are not on your list. These responses
can sometimes be more valuable than the responses to the original
questions. Be alert for these opportunities.
Interviewing someone is preferred for this paper. However, If you
cannot find someone to interview, you may substitute research
relating to the field you have chosen. You may research a topic like
one of the following:

discuss a recent discovery or innovation in this field

contributions of a leader in this field to his or her
work

the future and growth of this field and its importance
to the economy.
You will need facts and figures that you find in research.
If you choose the topic option instead of the interview, you will
need to use at least two sources. Those sources will need to be
presented at the end of your paper in a Works Cited page.
Step 5:
If you choose the interview option, you will summarize the contents
of the interview and write a paper of1000 words according to the
following specifications.
3
How to write your paper:
a) Start this section with the subheading Career. Name the
profession of your interest at the beginning of your paper. State
how you became interested in this profession. By
This, I mean to tell the process that led you to this profession.
Next, describe why you are interested in this profession. Talk
about the things in the profession that attract you or suit you in
some way. (This is worth 15 points of your paper.)
b) Begin this section with the subheading, Factual Information.
Write a number of paragraphs giving the factual information
you have discovered from the Occupational Outlook Handbook,
ONET, Ferguson’s and any other resources you used. Use your
own words. Use complete sentences. DO NOT COPY AND
PASTE. DO NOT PLAGIARIZE. (This is worth 1/3 of the grade of
your paper. That is approximately 30 points.)
c) Begin this section with the subheading, Interview. If you did an
interview, summarize the interview information. Start by giving
the name of the person interviewed, his/her title, profession,
place of employment and number of years in the field.
Summarize what was said in the interview. Tell about
what was said in your interview instead of saying the exact
words that were used. Do not use direct quotations. It must be
written in paragraph form. (This is worth 1/3 of your grade for
your paper. That is approximately 30 points.)
DO NOT WRITE THIS:
Me: “Ms. Jones, do you like your job?”
Mrs. Jones: “Yes, I love my job!”
Me: “Would you go into this profession again if you had the
opportunity?”
Mrs. Jones: “Yes, I would. It doesn’t pay much, but I can’t
imagine doing anything else.”
ALSO NOT THIS:
I asked Mrs. Jones, “Mrs. Jones, do you like your job?” She
replied, “Yes, I love it! I asked, “Would you do it again?” She said,
“Yes, it doesn’t pay much, but I can’t imagine doing anything
else.”
4
NOT THIS EITHER:
I asked Mrs. Jones do you like your job. She replied yes I love it. I
asked would you do it again and she said yes, it doesn’t pay
much but I can’t imagine doing anything else.
DO WRITE THIS:
When I asked Mrs. Jones if she liked her job, she said that she
really loved it. She also told me that it didn’t pay much, but she
couldn’t imagine doing anything else. I was also wondering
how much I might make starting out in that position. She told
me that I would probably start out making about $40,000 a
year.
If you choose to do research on the job you have chosen
instead of an interview, you will summarize that information
here rather than presenting your interview. You will need to
use in-text citations according to MLA style for your researched
information and you will need a Works Cited page. You will
also need to use the heading, Topic instead of Interview.
d) For the conclusion, give your personal (negative, positive, or
mixed) reactions to the person you interviewed/position/career.
Use the subheading, Conclusion.
e) Explain your academic and career plans based on your response
to the interview. For example, if you received a negative
impression of the career what is your plan of action to explore
another career and field of study? Or if your impression was
positive, what steps are you going to take to pursue this career.
BE SPECIFIC!
f) Concluding statement. End your paper with your final thoughts.
Don’t just stop writing. (These last three sections [d, e, and f]
will count for 15 points of your paper. These three sections
along with your introduction [d, e, f and a] will be 1/3 of your
paper.)
5
Specifications:

Your paper will need a title. You may use your career as a title or
make one up. The title needs to appear on the cover page and on the first
page of your paper.

To find a guide for MLA citations, Works Cited page and paper
format, go to the link on the library homepage.

Your paper will have a cover page, be typed (12 pt. font) and double
spaced. Please turn in your original paper; no copies will be accepted. Do
not e-mail it to me. There is an example of the cover page that you should
use on the Learning Web.

When you turn in your paper, you will also turn in your interview
questions and the answers (the notes you took). I don’t care how messy
and sloppy they are. Please do not rewrite them. Don’t turn in a recording
of the interview.

You must also turn in the factual information that you printed from the
Occupational Outlook Handbook or Ferguson’s Career Builder.

Each of these requirements will cost you 10 points for each one missing.

You may turn in your work in a folder if you like, but it is not required.
Please do not turn in a ring binder. If you do not use a folder, please staple
or clip your work. I do not carry a stapler or paper clips.

If you are missing a part of your paper, for example, the interview, turn in
the rest of the paper. Better to get partial points than no points. Just make
sure the rest of the paper is done well.

Please follow the format for MLA style for your entire paper.

Grammar and spelling are really important. Never turn in a paper to
anyone without checking or having them checked. You will lose points
over it.
NO LATE PAPERS ACCEPTED—NO EXCEPTIONS.
6
CHECKLIST – Use this to make sure you have all the necessary parts of your paper
before turning it in.
________ MLA Style
________ COVER SHEET
________ TYPED
________ 12 PT. FONT
________ DOUBLE-SPACED
________ CHECK GRAMMAR AND SPELLING
________ INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (originals) or Works Cited
page if you researched a topic instead of the
interview
________ PRINTOUT FROM OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK
HANDBOOK or FERGUSON’S CAREER BUILDER
________EITHER IN A FOLDER, PAPER CLIPPED, OR
STAPLED