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ENGL1010--Composition I--Dr. Scott Douglass
Assignment Guide prepared by: Tisa Houck

Topic:  Careers

Assignment:  Students will select a career of interest and search for information related to employment opportunities, salaries, education and training, and working conditions.  

I. Search the Occupational Outlook Handbook (http://www.bls.gov/oco) for information about your career choices.

1.  Read the introductory page.
2.  Search by clicking on the <Search the Handbook> box in the top right corner.
3.  Type in an occupation OR click on the letter in the alphabetical index.
4.  Select from the list if necessary.
5.  Examine the information in these categories:

    Nature of the Work | Working Conditions | Employment | Training, Other Qualifications, and Advancement |
               Job Outlook | Earnings | Related Occupations | Sources of Additional Information

II. Search CSTCC library databases.   (Passwords required from off-campus.) 
   

1.  Electronic books

• Click NetLibrary eBook Collection.
• Search by Keyword: your interest with the word career (ex. nursing career)
• Browse by Title: opportunities in, great jobs, or careers for types
• Browse by Keyword: wetfeet insider guide and/or vgm opportunities series
• Print selected pages

You may find these ebooks useful. 

• College Majors Handbook With Real Career Paths and Payoffs : The Actual Jobs, Earnings, and Trends for Graduates of 60 College Majors

• Where the Jobs Are : The Hottest Careers for the 21st Century
   
• Best Career and Education Web Sites : A Quick Guide to Online Job Search
   

• Quick Guide to Career Training in Two Years or Less

2.  Articles from magazines, newspapers, reference books, primary source documents, and biographies 

On the library's web page,

• Choose MasterFile Premier
• Search with terms such as: teach* career, medical career, or teach* and career, etc., or try the same words you used to search for books in the example above--ex. nursing and vocational guidance.
• Limit to full text to see the entire article and to peer reviewed to get results from professional journals only
• Use print command before printing or email articles to your email account
   

3.  Videos to view online (with a DSL or broadband connection)

Search Discovery Education Videos (requires separate passwords)

• Search career and health (or technology, or education, or computer, or engineering, etc.)
• Search the phrase "careers for the 21st century" to browse a list of titles
• Limit the results by "Grade 9-12" on the left side of the screen
• View with Windows Media Player or Quicktime
• Choose the Full Video or Video Segments

4.  College catalogs and other information about colleges that have degree programs for your career field

CollegeSource Online
Click the "Search" option at the top of the page for full search capability--find a college by location, degree programs, tuition costs, etc. 

U.S. News 2008 College Rankings (Judged on what colleges will do for the student.)

The Princeton Review (Information about colleges, majors, prep test tutoring, scholarships, etc.)

III. Search for books to check out.

On the library's web page,

Click  the tab.
Type in your topic in one or two words (don't use and).
Select <Main Library> for books to check out; or leave limit to <None> to include ebooks. 
Click <Search>.
Check Location and Status  to see if the book may be checked out or is online.

For career information try these searches:

        (your major) and vocational guidance; ex. accounting vocational guidance; in SUBJECT
        Opportunities in as title with limit as None
        Careers--search in keyword--limit to last 5 years

You may find ebooks from netLibrary such as this one. 

V. Cite your sources correctly by using these documents:

MLA Citation Examples (Electronic Databases).

MLA Citation Examples (WWW Sites).

Tisa Houck
last updated 9/07