Bryant ENGL202 Course Project Latest 2019 November

ENGL202 Research & Writing

Course Project

Career Development Research Paper

Portfolio Project Directions and Rubric  

Completing this Assessment will help you to meet the following:

Course Outcomes

•             Develop and support a thesis statement through a written academic essay that contains an introduction, multiple body paragraphs, and a conclusion. 

•             Locate and evaluate sources and incorporate them into a written career development research paper with paraphrases and quotations, while using APA format to avoid plagiarism.

•             Revise and proofread their own writing to correct stylistic, structural, grammatical, and mechanical errors.

Requirements and Formatting

Your Portfolio Project must be formatted as follows:

•             APA formatting

a.            Title and References page

b.            Times New Roman or Arial 12-point font

c.             1-inch margins

d.            Page numbers in top right corner

•             APA Citations

a.            Include information, as well as in-text citations and an entry on the References page, from a minimum of four scholarly and professional sources.

b.            For APA information refer to the Bryant & Stratton College APA Style Guide located in the Student Resource button.

Deliverable Descriptions

Week 1

The Career Development Research Proposal

You are asked to prepare a short piece of writing indicating the two career paths you have chosen to research for your Career Development Research Paper and indicating what types of research strategies you will use to complete the assignment.  You have the option to research two potential entry level positions you may obtain upon completion of your degree, or you can research career ladder opportunities you may be interested in. 

Directions

You will compose a proposal in the form of a career-appropriate letter.  Please include the following headings in business letter format:

•             Introduction:  Discuss the two career paths you have chosen to focus on and whether they are entry level positions or career ladder positions.  Please include how you chose these two options from the wide variety available to you, and why you chose the focus you did.

•             Statement of Focus:  Identify the criteria you will use as a basis to compare the two positions in the final essay.  Some of the examples discussed in class include:

o             Salary trends

o             Potential for growth

o             Educational requirements

o             Lifelong learning opportunities

o             Job duties

•             Methods:  Define the primary and secondary sources you will seek out when gathering information on this topic.  While sources such as Occupation Outlook Handbook are a good place to get started and can be used, you need to find references that go further in depth on the job descriptions you are interested in.  Where might you start finding these?

•             Limitations:  What obstacles do you anticipate facing while researching your topic?

•             Conclusion:  Based on the comparison of the two careers you will present, what do you think will help you choose one position over the other as a future career choice?  Which of the criteria are the most important to you at this initial phase of research?

Week 2

Assignment Research Questions

This week’s lecture built on skills learned in prior English courses about the importance of good research questions to inform the research process. For this activity, you are to do the following:

1)            Create at least one, but no more than two, research question that will inform you generally about your chosen career. 

2)            Create at least one, but no more than two, research questions that will inform you about one of your future career paths that will be addressed in your Career Development Research Paper. 

3)            Create at least one, but no more than two, research questions that will inform you about a second future career paths that will be addressed in your Career Development Research Paper. 

 

Week 5

The Reflective Annotated Bibliography

This reflective bibliography asks you to individually summarize and critically reflect on the research pertaining to your topic. After the task is completed, you should discover your source materials are accessible and organized and ready to be incorporated into your Career Development Research Paper.

Format:

Focusing on the topic for your Career Development Research Paper, locate FOUR separate research sources. You will need to use the Virtual Library for the research.  To construct the reflective bibliography, read and annotated [to make notes and to critically evaluate] each source; then follow the below listed steps and guidelines for each article.

•             Correctly reference each article in APA format.

•             Write a brief summary (5 to 8 sentences) of the article.  This part should include what elements of your career choice the article discussed, such aspects as the responsibilities, growth trends, lifelong learning opportunities, etc. 

•             Critically evaluate the source (3 to 5 sentences).  This part should address such aspects as author credibility; gaps, inconsistencies or flaws; repetition of information; and whether or not you feel this will be a source you will incorporate in your final piece of writing.

•             Each annotated bibliography should be numbered and double spaced in entirety.

The Research

As you begin to interpret, annotated, and draw conclusions about each source, use the following questions to guide you.

1.  Look for specific information the writers may be presenting.  How do they affect your view of the career?

2.  Describe and discuss the method(s) you see each writer employing.  What method(s) do you see used in each of the articles?  Is there a consistency of methods across the articles, or do the methods vary widely?   Why would that be?  Which method works best for you as a reader?  Be specific.

3.  Do you notice any trend(s) or pattern(s) in the articles?  To what degree do the articles match, connect with or give evidence of any trend or pattern you are finding?

4.  What gap(s), if any, do you find in the material each of the articles presents?  Is there a question you have about the field that you cannot find?

Week 6

Rough Draft of the Career Development Research Paper

Topic

Where will my college degree lead me?  You are now on a path to answer this question.  Throughout your education, you have been exposed to various elements of your future career field. Your task is to write a comparative persuasive essay exploring the choices available to you when answering this question.As stated in your proposal, you will analyze either two career options you can enter upon completion of your degree at Bryant & Stratton College, or you can evaluate two career “ladder” options.

You will research two potential job titles of interest to you within your field as identified in your proposal and provide a research-based explanation as to why one of these career opportunities is the best option for you.

Assignment Requirements

•             Define two distinct career paths available to you upon degree completion.  Using the research, you completed for your Reflective Annotated Bibliography, interpret what components are the most important to you and the most appropriate to your skill set.

•             The essay must contain a strong thesis statement indicating the two career paths you will be discussing as well as points of comparison between the two.  Included in this will be an indication of your preferred career choice.  The essay will provide support for this statement.

•             Information to include in the comparison may contain:

o             The responsibilities, tasks, growth trends, salaries, lifelong learning opportunities, and other relevant aspects the two careers in your field of interest?

o             The areas from the listing above that draw you to this career field and are most important to you. Why is this?

o             The content knowledge expertise required for success in your field of interest.

•             A minimum of four sources and a maximum of six must be included in this piece of writing.  These sources will be chosen from your reflective bibliography.

•             The essay will be approximately five pages following APA format learned throughout the term.

•             APA (American Psychological Association) Citation methodology is also required for in-text citations and the reference page.

Week 7

Final Submission of the Career Development Research Paper

Take the feedback from week 6 and make corrections for your final submission.

Once complete upload your project to your ePortfolio under the Institutional Outcome in Blackboard.

Week 7.5

Oral Presentation

You will prepare and deliver a presentation of a minimum of 5 minutes and a maximum of 10 minutes on the findings of your Career D Research paper. To record your presentation, you should create a PowerPoint with a voice-over. 

Specific directions on how to create a PowerPoint with voiceover can be found in the Student Resources button on the navigation panel.

•             The PowerPoint should contain a minimum of eight (8) slides including an introduction slide and a conclusion.

•             Please include:

o             A brief description of the two careers options you chose to research.

o             An explanation of the points you used to provide the comparison.  For example, job duties, growth trends and opportunities, salary, etc.

o             An analysis of the learning acquired through the phases of this project leading you to identify one career choices as the one you will pursue.  Why did you choose one over the other?  Will you be qualified for this position when you graduate from Bryant & Stratton College, or will there be additional steps you need to take?

You should use your research from Career Development Research Paper for this project; you also must use Microsoft PowerPoint to complete this assignment.

Bryant & Stratton College Workplace Capabilities

Tolerance            Communication                Attitude

Interpersonal Skills          Perseverance    Enthusiasm

Problem Solving               Persuasion          Productivity

Dependability    Informational Literacy    Technological Literacy

                Financial Literacy             

For this reflection discuss one Workplace Capability as listed above:

a)            Explain your reasoning for choosing these Workplace Capabilities. Analyze the importance of these Workplace Capabilities to your future career.

b)            In your own words reflect on how this project meets the Institutional outcomes as stated on the first page.

Upload and submit your final reflection in Blackboard.

Reflection Grading Criteria

Oral Presentation:

•             Student’s voice should be clear and easy to understand

•             Student should vary his/her tone of voice and use pauses effectively to place emphasis on important points

•             Student should provide additional insight to PowerPoint slides in his/her own words. Student should not read verbatim from the slides.

•             Student should avoid non-words (“Um,” “Uh,” “You Know”) and practice using professional language