This exercise will help you to learn more about a career of your choice. Click on the underlined text to link to resources.

Assignment: Research a career of your choice and write a 500 word double-spaced essay (approximately 2 typed pages).
Include a Works Cited page.

Look at the Discover program that is available from this hyperlink to students via the web from their residence rooms and the computer labs. This program will give an overview of your interests and aptitudes in an assortment of areas. Please get your tokens from your Freshman Seminar instructor before beginning your Interests Inventory.

Click the Get Started button in the Discover program then choose Find occupations that fit me to find out some of your interests and click Select Path. There are links to inventories that you can take to find occupations that best fit your personality. Take the Interest Inventory. There are 90 questions that will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. You will be asked to choose between dislike, indifferent, or like as an answer to each question. Click on the answer that best fits your choice. When you have completed the Interest Inventory, look at some of the suggested occupations that the program offers you. Keep these occupations in mind when you are writing your paper.

Close Discover and continue with this assignment.

For the body of your essay, include information from this resource about your career choice. You will be citing this source within your paper, so be sure to list the information that you will need for the Works Cited page. (See Step 5 for more information) For additional assistance, please ask at the Library Services Desk on first floor.

Occupational Outlook Handbook
http://www.bls.gov/oco/
"The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information, designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. Revised every two years, the Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations."

After writing an introductory paragraph telling which career you have chosen and why it interests you, answer the questions below to complete the body of your paper. Use the Occupational Outlook Handbook in Step 3 and information from the Discover program to complete your assignment. Please be sure to use complete sentences and proper punctuation, with correct spelling.

1. What are the most predominate occupations that Discover suggests would be good for you, based on your answers to the Interest Inventory? Are any of these occupations what you would have chosen for yourself? Why did you choose this field of study?
2. After choosing one of the occupations from your Discover profile, what are the typical work hours worked per day and per week for this occupation?
3. What are the numbers of jobs in the United States in this career? What is the geographic distribution of jobs in this career?
4. After reading about your career choice, what are some of the other related careers to this occupation?
5. What are the formal educational requirements--high school, post-secondary vocational or technical training, college, or graduate or professional education? What are desirable skills, aptitudes, and personal characteristics for this career?
6. What does the typical worker in your career field earn?

Include a "Works Cited" or bibliography page listing the resources that you used to complete this assignment on a separate page at the end of your paper. Use the MLA International Bibliography citation style. You will need to substitute your information to complete your own Works Cited page.

Help for using the MLA International Bibliography style can be found at Citing Sources or from the MLA International Bibliography Style Manual (808.02 A17m Library Services Desk, 1st Floor).

MLA International Bibliography example of a citation from the Discover program about Librarians:

"Librarian." Discover Windows Version. ACT, Inc., 2001. Electronic. Northwest 

     Missouri State U., MO. 1 August 2002.

(Use the name of the occupation that you found in the Discover program.)

MLA International Bibliography example of a citation from the Occupational Outlook Handbook online about Accountants and Auditors:

United States. Dept. of Labor. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook,

     2002-03 ed. 1 August 2002. <http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos001.htm>.    

(Use the URL of the website where you found your information when citing the Occupational Outlook Handbook.)

Replace 1 August 2002 in your citations with the date you accessed the information.