How to Start a Career Research Paper

Career research papers are a thorough way to learn about an unfamiliar career which you may be considering. The purpose of a career research paper is to access your personality, research careers fitting to your personality and present a well documented report on a specific career covered by that research. It may be your ideal career or it may be a career you have not considered before.

Choose a career based on personal interest or personal aptitude factors. A common starting place is to take a personality assessment quiz, like the Myers-Briggs, to outline some of your general personality traits and derive suggested careers for those traits. Personal reflection also works.

Gather a short list of questions to ask yourself to help you decide on the best career. Are you good with people? Perhaps a career in sales, teaching or non-profit public services. Or do you prefer working alone with data? Perhaps a career in laboratory research. Do you have strong writing skills? Perhaps a career as a writer or editor.

Take notes on your interests and strengths, then link those characteristics to different jobs and careers. In many classroom environments, teachers assign subjects to students for a career research paper, making the decision for them. In this way, the student can cut directly to the research process.

Conduct internet, career center and library research to acquire basic facts and figures about your career choice. Campus career counselors and librarians are reliable resources and will point you in the right direction.

Start with simple questions. How old is the career? Doctors have been around longer than computer programmers or welders. What are the responsibilities of the career? Some careers are a lot more demanding than others, either physically or intellectually.

Formulate more detailed questions about the career to answer during additional research. Does the career require a degree or other advanced certification? If so, what kind and how much? A mechanical engineer will need more schooling than a salesman. What is the average pay grade for the career? Is there room for advancement?

Formulate even more specific, personal interview questions that will generate information beyond what is available at a library or career center.

Gear your questions toward finding out things like how long they've been working in the field, how they like the work, how many hours per week the career requires and what the day-to-day life in that career is like.

Locate someone who works in your chosen career field, make an appointment and conduct an interview. If you are going to record the interview, get express permission to record from the person you are interviewing. Recorded interviews will be more useful for qualitative information about the quality of the career, the demands it makes on a personal life and the career's prospects for the future.

Collate your data and turn it into a coherent research paper. This article is designed to get you started. Like any research paper.

Be sure to include paragraphs that describe the career, explain what it takes to enter it, report the pay range and other relevant statistics. Also include at least one paragraph based on your interview, reporting the actual experiences and perspectives of someone working in the field.

Conclude by touching on the highlights of the previous paragraphs and giving the paper closure. Some analysis of the information you gathered and how well the career fits you will also work in the conclusion.