college career research paper

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Crafting an Informative Career Research Paper

Table of Contents

Introduction

A career research paper is an extensive examination of a profession you aim to pursue. Unlike typical papers, this type of essay requires you to delve into your personality and conduct thorough research to determine your compatibility with your chosen career. In this article, we will guide you through the process of writing a career research paper and provide valuable tips for creating your career outline.

Career Research Paper Template

A career research paper typically consists of three main sections:

1. Introduction

The introduction acts as a spotlight on your interests and personality, laying the foundation for the rest of your paper.

The body section highlights essential information about the profession you have identified. It covers the responsibilities associated with the role, the educational requirements for entering the field, the average salary, and the employment outlook.

3. Conclusion

The conclusion wraps up your findings and presents your overall assessment. For example, you can discuss whether or not the career choice is suitable for you based on your research.

A well-crafted career research paper should:

• Thoroughly research your career goals
• Describe your interests accurately
• Focus on a single career path
• Analyze various aspects of the chosen profession
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of pursuing the career

How to Write a Career Research Paper

To create an exceptional research paper, follow these steps:

1. Select a Career

The first step is to choose a career that genuinely appeals to you. This initial selection will provide the motivation you need to carefully analyze the profession and make informed conclusions.

2. Research

Engage with professionals in your desired field and explore various sources to gather information on education requirements, salary expectations, responsibilities, and employment prospects. Speaking to individuals in the industry can provide you with insights into the day-to-day operations, enabling you to assess how compatible the career is with your personality.

3. Prewriting

After collecting the necessary data, it’s recommended that you create an outline to organize your thoughts and data. This outline will help you assess the completeness of your paper and identify areas that require further thought and analysis.

4. Drafting and Revision

Using your outline as a guide, draft your research paper, ensuring to address any grammatical and structural issues. Seek feedback from peers and experts during the revision phase, as they can offer valuable insights and identify areas for improvement that you may have overlooked.

How to Start a Career Research Paper

Starting a research paper can be challenging, especially if you’re unsure how to begin. Here are some approaches you can take:

Choose a career that deeply resonates with you and investigate what it takes to build a successful path in that field. You can start by describing the specific aspects of the job that particularly attract you and explaining why these aspects hold significance for you.

2. Analyze Your Personality Traits

Another approach is to highlight your personality traits and later utilize them to evaluate the suitability of a career for your needs. Focus only on the traits relevant to the chosen profession.

3. Highlight Your Strengths and Weaknesses

To start your career research paper, emphasize your strengths and weaknesses. This approach sets the stage for discussing how these attributes manifest in your career choice and serves as a criterion for determining the relevance of a particular profession. It’s advisable to only include traits that will significantly impact your performance in the field under investigation.

Tips for Writing a Career Path Research Paper

Consider these valuable tips while crafting your career research paper:

Opt for a career that genuinely captivates your interest, even if it’s not a popular choice. This allows for in-depth research and enables you to present a compelling argument for or against a specific profession.

Seek guidance from experts in the field to gain a clear understanding of the daily tasks involved in the profession and to conduct a thorough analysis of its pros and cons.

Utilize online personality tests to gain insights into the traits that make you suitable or unsuitable for a particular career.

Remember, a career research paper requires both expertise and trustworthiness. Conduct diligent research, analyze your findings critically, and present your insights coherently. Good luck with your writing journey!

How To Write A Research Paper

Step-By-Step Tutorial With Examples + FREE Template

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Expert Reviewer: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | March 2024

For many students, crafting a strong research paper from scratch can feel like a daunting task – and rightly so! In this post, we’ll unpack what a research paper is, what it needs to do , and how to write one – in three easy steps. 🙂 

Overview: Writing A Research Paper

What (exactly) is a research paper.

• How to write a research paper
• Stage 1 : Topic & literature search
• Stage 2 : Structure & outline
• Stage 3 : Iterative writing
• Key takeaways

Let’s start by asking the most important question, “ What is a research paper? ”.

Simply put, a research paper is a scholarly written work where the writer (that’s you!) answers a specific question (this is called a research question ) through evidence-based arguments . Evidence-based is the keyword here. In other words, a research paper is different from an essay or other writing assignments that draw from the writer’s personal opinions or experiences. With a research paper, it’s all about building your arguments based on evidence (we’ll talk more about that evidence a little later).

Now, it’s worth noting that there are many different types of research papers , including analytical papers (the type I just described), argumentative papers, and interpretative papers. Here, we’ll focus on analytical papers , as these are some of the most common – but if you’re keen to learn about other types of research papers, be sure to check out the rest of the blog .

With that basic foundation laid, let’s get down to business and look at how to write a research paper .

Overview: The 3-Stage Process

While there are, of course, many potential approaches you can take to write a research paper, there are typically three stages to the writing process. So, in this tutorial, we’ll present a straightforward three-step process that we use when working with students at Grad Coach.

These three steps are:

• Finding a research topic and reviewing the existing literature
• Developing a provisional structure and outline for your paper, and
• Writing up your initial draft and then refining it iteratively

Let’s dig into each of these.

Need a helping hand?

Step 1: Find a topic and review the literature

As we mentioned earlier, in a research paper, you, as the researcher, will try to answer a question . More specifically, that’s called a research question , and it sets the direction of your entire paper. What’s important to understand though is that you’ll need to answer that research question with the help of high-quality sources – for example, journal articles, government reports, case studies, and so on. We’ll circle back to this in a minute.

The first stage of the research process is deciding on what your research question will be and then reviewing the existing literature (in other words, past studies and papers) to see what they say about that specific research question. In some cases, your professor may provide you with a predetermined research question (or set of questions). However, in many cases, you’ll need to find your own research question within a certain topic area.

Finding a strong research question hinges on identifying a meaningful research gap – in other words, an area that’s lacking in existing research. There’s a lot to unpack here, so if you wanna learn more, check out the plain-language explainer video below.

Once you’ve figured out which question (or questions) you’ll attempt to answer in your research paper, you’ll need to do a deep dive into the existing literature – this is called a “ literature search ”. Again, there are many ways to go about this, but your most likely starting point will be Google Scholar .

If you’re new to Google Scholar, think of it as Google for the academic world. You can start by simply entering a few different keywords that are relevant to your research question and it will then present a host of articles for you to review. What you want to pay close attention to here is the number of citations for each paper – the more citations a paper has, the more credible it is (generally speaking – there are some exceptions, of course).

Ideally, what you’re looking for are well-cited papers that are highly relevant to your topic. That said, keep in mind that citations are a cumulative metric , so older papers will often have more citations than newer papers – just because they’ve been around for longer. So, don’t fixate on this metric in isolation – relevance and recency are also very important.

Beyond Google Scholar, you’ll also definitely want to check out academic databases and aggregators such as Science Direct, PubMed, JStor and so on. These will often overlap with the results that you find in Google Scholar, but they can also reveal some hidden gems – so, be sure to check them out.

Once you’ve worked your way through all the literature, you’ll want to catalogue all this information in some sort of spreadsheet so that you can easily recall who said what, when and within what context. If you’d like, we’ve got a free literature spreadsheet that helps you do exactly that.

Step 2: Develop a structure and outline

With your research question pinned down and your literature digested and catalogued, it’s time to move on to planning your actual research paper .

It might sound obvious, but it’s really important to have some sort of rough outline in place before you start writing your paper. So often, we see students eagerly rushing into the writing phase, only to land up with a disjointed research paper that rambles on in multiple

Now, the secret here is to not get caught up in the fine details . Realistically, all you need at this stage is a bullet-point list that describes (in broad strokes) what you’ll discuss and in what order. It’s also useful to remember that you’re not glued to this outline – in all likelihood, you’ll chop and change some sections once you start writing, and that’s perfectly okay. What’s important is that you have some sort of roadmap in place from the start.

At this stage you might be wondering, “ But how should I structure my research paper? ”. Well, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution here, but in general, a research paper will consist of a few relatively standardised components:

• Introduction
• Literature review
• Methodology

Let’s take a look at each of these.

First up is the introduction section . As the name suggests, the purpose of the introduction is to set the scene for your research paper. There are usually (at least) four ingredients that go into this section – these are the background to the topic, the research problem and resultant research question , and the justification or rationale. If you’re interested, the video below unpacks the introduction section in more detail. 

The next section of your research paper will typically be your literature review . Remember all that literature you worked through earlier? Well, this is where you’ll present your interpretation of all that content . You’ll do this by writing about recent trends, developments, and arguments within the literature – but more specifically, those that are relevant to your research question . The literature review can oftentimes seem a little daunting, even to seasoned researchers, so be sure to check out our extensive collection of literature review content here .

With the introduction and lit review out of the way, the next section of your paper is the research methodology . In a nutshell, the methodology section should describe to your reader what you did (beyond just reviewing the existing literature) to answer your research question. For example, what data did you collect, how did you collect that data, how did you analyse that data and so on? For each choice, you’ll also need to justify why you chose to do it that way, and what the strengths and weaknesses of your approach were.

Now, it’s worth mentioning that for some research papers, this aspect of the project may be a lot simpler . For example, you may only need to draw on secondary sources (in other words, existing data sets). In some cases, you may just be asked to draw your conclusions from the literature search itself (in other words, there may be no data analysis at all). But, if you are required to collect and analyse data, you’ll need to pay a lot of attention to the methodology section. The video below provides an example of what the methodology section might look like.

By this stage of your paper, you will have explained what your research question is, what the existing literature has to say about that question, and how you analysed additional data to try to answer your question. So, the natural next step is to present your analysis of that data . This section is usually called the “results” or “analysis” section and this is where you’ll showcase your findings.

Depending on your school’s requirements, you may need to present and interpret the data in one section – or you might split the presentation and the interpretation into two sections. In the latter case, your “results” section will just describe the data, and the “discussion” is where you’ll interpret that data and explicitly link your analysis back to your research question. If you’re not sure which approach to take, check in with your professor or take a look at past papers to see what the norms are for your programme.

Alright – once you’ve presented and discussed your results, it’s time to wrap it up . This usually takes the form of the “ conclusion ” section. In the conclusion, you’ll need to highlight the key takeaways from your study and close the loop by explicitly answering your research question. Again, the exact requirements here will vary depending on your programme (and you may not even need a conclusion section at all) – so be sure to check with your professor if you’re unsure.

Step 3: Write and refine

Finally, it’s time to get writing. All too often though, students hit a brick wall right about here… So, how do you avoid this happening to you?

Well, there’s a lot to be said when it comes to writing a research paper (or any sort of academic piece), but we’ll share three practical tips to help you get started.

First and foremost , it’s essential to approach your writing as an iterative process. In other words, you need to start with a really messy first draft and then polish it over multiple rounds of editing. Don’t waste your time trying to write a perfect research paper in one go. Instead, take the pressure off yourself by adopting an iterative approach.

Secondly , it’s important to always lean towards critical writing , rather than descriptive writing. What does this mean? Well, at the simplest level, descriptive writing focuses on the “ what ”, while critical writing digs into the “ so what ” – in other words, the implications . If you’re not familiar with these two types of writing, don’t worry! You can find a plain-language explanation here.

Last but not least, you’ll need to get your referencing right. Specifically, you’ll need to provide credible, correctly formatted citations for the statements you make. We see students making referencing mistakes all the time and it costs them dearly. The good news is that you can easily avoid this by using a simple reference manager . If you don’t have one, check out our video about Mendeley, an easy (and free) reference management tool that you can start using today.

Recap: Key Takeaways

We’ve covered a lot of ground here. To recap, the three steps to writing a high-quality research paper are:

• To choose a research question and review the literature
• To plan your paper structure and draft an outline
• To take an iterative approach to writing, focusing on critical writing and strong referencing

Remember, this is just a b ig-picture overview of the research paper development process and there’s a lot more nuance to unpack. So, be sure to grab a copy of our free research paper template to learn more about how to write a research paper.

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ENG 101 - Informative Career Research (Buzzard)

• 7. Write Your Paper

Write Your Paper/Project

Getting started.

• Writing Fundamentals from Writer's Reference Center This has links to articles on writing any document, paraphrasing, quotations, writing a thesis statement, outline, body paragraphs, conclusion, and writing about themes, characters, form, symbols, etc.
• Choosing a Research Topic and Creating a Thesis This guide from the SCC Library provides students information on how to choose a research topic for an assignment including what makes a good research topic, concept mapping, background research, and narrowing a topic and most importantly information about creating a thesis.
• Choosing a Topic (Tutorial) This SCC Library tutorial will walk you through how to choose an appropriate topic for a research assignment and help you turn your research topic into a thesis statement.

MLA Formatting for Papers

If you're using APA Format for your paper - see our APA Guide

• Creating and Formatting MLA Paper This guide from SCC Library provides you instructions in MS Word for formatting a paper correctly including proper font and header.
• Formatting Your Works Cited Page-MLA This guide from SCC Library provides you instructions in MS Word for formatting works cited page correctly including proper font and hanging in-dent.
• Sample Paper in MLA Format Don't forget to format your paper in MLA format. This sample paper will show you how to format your paper.
• Sample MLA Paper with Block Quote Sample MLA paper that includes how do a block quote.

Incorporating Sources into a Research Project & Avoiding Plagiarism

• Organizing Your Research This guide from the SCC Library provides information on creating research note cards, source tables, and research outlines to help organize your sources so that you can incorporate them into your paper.
• Incorporating Sources into a Research Project This guide from the SCC Library provides resources on how to properly include sources in a research project without plagiarism, whether through good note-taking, following the research process, or using direct quotations, paraphrasing, or summarizing, etc.
• How to Paraphrase: Avoid Plagiarism in Research Papers with Paraphrases & Quotations (3 min. video) This video explains how to paraphrase information correctly to avoid plagiarism.
• English Composition I: The Writer's Circle, Lesson 9, Part 4, Integrating Research (Video) This video talk about citing sources to avoid plagiarizing. (1 min)

Additional Resources

• Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) This site contains resources for writing, research, grammar, mechanics, and style guides (MLA & APA).

The Learning Center (TLC)

• Free live online tutoring and writing help, available 24/7 -  TutorMe  (accessed through D2L).
• Visit the TLC in-person at Giles or other campuses. Visit the  TLC Portal Page (SCC Log in Required)  for hours and English and Computer tutor availability.
• Email your paper/project to them at  [email protected] . They offer a 48 hour turn-around on papers (excluding weekends and holidays), and ask that you send a copy of the assignment as well. The paper needs to be Microsoft Word format (don't share a copy of your OneDrive/cloud account), and please include your due date and SCC college ID number in the email.

Visit the The Learning Center located in the P. Dan Hull Building, rooms E2, E5, E6.  See TLC Portal Page (SCC log in required) for additional locations. Contact The Learning Center for more information .

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ENG 111 - Writing and Inquiry: Career Essay Assignment

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Sample Career Paper

• APA 7Career Paper Sample Dec2020
• For Help with APA Citations This page contains lots of information about citing in APA format.

Occupational Outlook Handbook - generally considered a Library Resource

Occupational Outlook Handbook

Sample Reference for Reference Page, APA Style

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Statistics. (2018, July 2). Librarians. Occupational Outlook Handbook . http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/librarians.htm

Intext citation, APA Style

(U.S. Department of Labor, 2018)

O*Net, generally considered a Library Resource

• O*Net The O*NET program is the nation's primary source of occupational information. The database also provides the basis for our Career Exploration Tools, a set of valuable assessment instruments for workers and students looking to find or change careers.

Here is an example of a reference and in-text citation for the O*Net

U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. (2019, February 26). Librarians. O*NET OnLine . https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/25-4021.00

In-text is:

(U.S. Department of Labor, 2019)

Ferguson's Career Guidance Center, Library Resource - Career interviews

_______________________________________________________

Example of how to cite an interview video from Ferguson's in APA style:

Cambridge Educational. (2018). Animal trainer-career Q&A: Professional advice and insight. Ferguson's Career Guidance. https://fcg-infobase-com.proxy154.nclive.org/video/151048

_________________________________________________________

Example of how to cite an article in Ferguson's in APA style:

Oncological nurses. (n.d.).  Ferguson's Career Guidance Center.  Retrieved November 16, 2023 from  https://fcg.infobase.com/recordurl/1302021?aid=99147

In-text (Oncological nurses, n.d.)

Using eLibrary Careers to find Issues and Articles

Career Paper ENG111 Assignment Document

• Career Essay Assignment Word Doc of the Standard English 111 Career Essay. If your teacher has made changes, it may not be in this document. Use what is on your Blackboard assignment page.

Salem Careers

Link to apa page.

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Films on Demand, Library Resource - Career Interviews

Click here to go directly to the Films on Demand Career Q&A Video Series. 

Cfnc.org plan for a career, web resource.

• College Foundation of NC - Plan for a Career Learn about Yourself, Learn about Careers, and find out information about hot jobs in North Carolina with this source.

CareerOneStop

• CareerOneStop Site sponsored by the US Department of Labor to help people explore and find jobs.

Credo Reference - Library Resource

Finding Information about Your Company - Library Resource

Nccareers - web resource.

• NCCareers NCcareers.org aims to be North Carolina’s central online resource for students, parents, educators, job seekers and career counselors looking for high quality job and career information.

Proquest Career and Tech Center

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Benefits of Work-Related Experiences and Their Impact on Career Competencies for STEM Students

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• Published: 06 May 2024

Cite this article

• Karen L. Webber   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2353-5043 1 ,
• Amy E. Stich   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1260-5088 1 ,
• Matthew Grandstaff 1 &
• Collin Case   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5086-1528 1  

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An important part of STEM education is students’ acquisition of knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for career success, all of which emerge from a combination of classroom and co-curricular activities. Work-related experiential activities (WREAs) offer the opportunity for students to engage in experiential activities before degree completion, and these experiences provide students with an important way to refine their skills that facilitate career success. Generally, prior research confirms the benefits of work-related experiential activities in students’ transition to the workforce, but more evidence is needed to examine the contribution of WREA participation in the development of career competencies. This paper focuses on engineering and computer science students’ perceptions of skills related to career competence that were enhanced during WREA participation. Sixty-three percent of the students surveyed in spring 2021 and spring 2022 at five institutions in one U.S. state said they completed one or more WREAs during their baccalaureate studies. With only a few significant differences by students’ gender, race/ethnicity, or financial aid status, student responses indicated high value in developing skills related to career competence, and in particular, professionalism and communication. Student perceptions are detailed, and implications for STEM research and education are discussed.

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Factors Influencing Student STEM Learning: Self-Efficacy and Outcome Expectancy, 21st Century Skills, and Career Awareness

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Webber, K.L., Stich, A.E., Grandstaff, M. et al. Benefits of Work-Related Experiences and Their Impact on Career Competencies for STEM Students. Journal for STEM Educ Res (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41979-024-00123-2

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Career Research Paper Topics

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES ON CAREERS

1. Career 2. Career construction theory 3. Circumscription and compromise 4. Cognitive information processing in career counseling 5. Erikson’s theory of development 6. History of career studies 7. Holland’s theory of vocational choice 8. Metaphors for careers 9. Minnesota Theory of Work Adjustment 10. Occupational choice 11. Person-environment fit (P-E fit) 12. Positive organizational scholarship 13. Reinforcement theory 14. Social cognitive career theory 15. Social constructionism 16. Social learning theory of career development 17. Super’s career development theory 18. Vocational psychology

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Get 10% off with 24start discount code, the social context of careers, the contemporary workplace.

19. Antisocial work behaviors 20. Boundaryless career 21. Churning of jobs 22. Contingent employment 23. Customized careers 24. Downsizing 25. Employability 26. Ethics and careers 27. Job security 28. Knowledge work 29. Outsourcing and offshoring 30. Protean career 31. Psychological contract 32. Spirituality and careers 33. Team-based work 34. Technology and careers 35. Workforce 2020

Cultural and International Perspectives

36. Culture and careers 37. Expatriate experience 38. Globalization and careers 39. International careers 40. Multinational organization 41. Virtual expatriates

Ethnicity, Gender, and Diversity

42. Affirmative action 43. Age discrimination 44. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) 45. Biculturalism 46. Civil Rights Act of 1964 47. Civil Rights Act of 1991 48. Comparable worth 49. Disability 50. Disabilities among college students 51. Diversity in organizations 52. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 53. Equal Pay Act 54. Gender and careers 55. Glass ceiling 56. Inequality 57. Lockstep career progression 58. Multicultural organization 59. Racial discrimination 60. Religious discrimination 61. Reverse discrimination 62. Sex discrimination 63. Sexual harassment 64. Sexual orientation and careers 65. Stereotyping of workers 66. Tokenism 67. Unbiased hiring systems

The Organizational Environment

68. Industrial Revolution 69. Leadership Development 70. Learning organization 71. Nepotism 72. Organizational justice 73. Organizational politics 74. Procedural justice 75. Toxic leadership

Social Class and Background

76. Blue-collar workers 77. Family background and careers 78. Low-income workers and careers 79. Single parents and careers 80. Socioeconomic status 81. White-collar work

The Work-Life Interface

82. Burnout 83. Careers and health 84. Child care practices 85. Crossover effect 86. Elder care practices 87. Emotional labor 88. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 89. Family-responsive workplace practices 90. Flexible work arrangements 91. Job sharing 92. Part-time employment 93. Stress at work 94. Telecommuting 95. Two-career relationships 96. Unemployment 97. Wellness and fitness programs 98. Work-family balance 99. Work-family conflict 100. Work-family enrichment 101. Work/life litigation 102. Workaholism 103. Workplace romance

THE EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF CAREERS

104. Anticipatory socialization 105. Assimilation and mutual acceptance 106. Bridge employment 107. Career change 108. Career indecision 109. Career interruptions 110. Career maturity 111. Career plateau 112. Career transition 113. College student career development 114. Continuing professional education 115. Crystallization of vocational self-concept 116. Derailment 117. Early career stage 118. Early retirement 119. Fast-track career 120. Identity 121. Job loss 122. Late career stage 123. Leadership development 124. Lifelong learning 125. Lockstep career progression 126. Mentoring 127. Middle career stage 128. Midlife crisis 129. Obsolescence of knowledge and skills 130. Organizational socialization 131. Phased retirement 132. Pygmalion effect 133. Retirement 134. Reverse mentoring 135. Role models 136. School-to-work transition 137. Self-concept 138. Underemployment 139. Unemployment 140. Welfare-to-work programs

DECISION MAKING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT

141. Aspirations in career decisions 142. Career appraisal 143. Career decision-making styles 144. Career exploration 145. Career goal 146. Career indecision 147. Career investments 148. Career strategy 149. Environment awareness 150. Human capital 151. Impression management 152. Individual career management 153. Occupational choice 154. Occupational prestige 155. Occupational stereotypes 156. Organizational entry 157. Organizational image 158. Self-awareness 159. Self-efficacy 160. Self-esteem 161. Self-leadership 162. Self-monitoring 163. Social capital 164. Specialty choice 165. Turnover

VARIATIONS IN CAREER PATTERNS AND CAREER SUCCESS

166. Boundaryless career 167. Career anchors 168. Career as a calling 169. Career mobility 170. Career motivation 171. Career salience 172. Career satisfaction 173. Career success 174. Copreneurship 175. Entrepreneurship 176. Job involvement 177. Job satisfaction 178. Lockstep career progression 179. Morale 180. Motivation and career development 181. Needs 182. Occupational commitment 183. Occupational professionalism 184. Organizational citizenship behavior 185. Organizational commitment 186. Protean career 187. Work ethic 188. Work values 189. Workaholism

CAREER DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES

190. Academic advising 191. Apprenticeships 192. Assessment centers 193. Career centers 194. Career coaching 195. Career counseling 196. Career counseling competencies 197. Career education 198. Career intervention outcomes 199. Career-planning workshops 200. Child care practices 201. Compensation 202. Computer-based career support systems 203. Continuing professional education 204. Cooperative education 205. Cross-training 206. Elder care practices 207. Employee assistance programs 208. Employee participation in organizational decision making 209. Empowerment 210. Executive coaching 211. Family-responsive workplace practices 212. Flexible work arrangements 213. Human resource information systems (HRIS) 214. Human resource planning 215. Human resource support systems 216. Internships 217. Job challenge 218. Job design 219. Job-posting programs 220. Job rotation 221. Job sharing 222. Leadership development 223. Mentoring 224. Merit-based pay 225. On-the-job training 226. Organizational career management 227. Orientation 228. Outplacement 229. Part-time employment 230. Pay compression 231. Pay-for-performance reward systems 232. Performance appraisal and feedback 233. Pygmalion effect 234. Quality of work life (QWL) 235. Redeployment 236. Retention programs 237. Retraining 238. Reverse mentoring 239. Sabbaticals 240. Strategic human resource management 241. Succession planning 242. Telecommuting 243. Three-hundred-sixty-degree (360°) evaluation 244. Training and development 245. Tuition reimbursement 246. Vocational education 247. Wellness and fitness programs

LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY MANDATES

248. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) 249. Civil Rights Act of 1964 250. Civil Rights Act of 1991 251. Collective bargaining 252. Domestic partner benefits 253. Employment contracts 254. Employment-at-will doctrine 255. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) 256. Equal Pay Act 257. Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) 258. Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) 259. Hostile working environment 260. National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) 261. Sweatshop labor 262. Work/life litigation 263. Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1992 (WARN) 264. Wrongful dismissal

ASSESSMENT AREAS AND TECHNIQUES

265. Abilities 266. Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values 267. Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) 268. Assessment centers 269. Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test 270. Big Five factors of personality 271. Business simulations 272. Butcher Treatment Planning Inventory (BPTI) 273. California Psychological Inventory 274. Campbell Interest and Skill Survey 275. Career anchors 276. Career decision-making styles 277. Career Decision Scale (CDS) 278. Career Development Inventory 279. Career maturity 280. Career Thoughts Inventory 281. Cognitive Differentiation Grid 282. Differential aptitude testing 283. Emotional intelligence 284. FIRO-B 285. General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) 286. Hall Occupational Orientation Inventory 287. Intelligence, schooling, and occupational success 288. Interests 289. Kuder Career Assessments 290. Learning styles 291. Leisure interests 292. Life Style Inventory 293. Life-Career Rainbow 294. Lifestyle preferences 295. Locus of control 296. Machiavellianism 297. Minnesota Clerical Test 298. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) 299. Multiple intelligences 300. Myers-Briggs Type Indicator 301. Needs 302. Occupational card sorts 303. Occupational classification systems 304. Personal Globe Inventory 305. Personality and careers 306. Proactivity 307. Rokeach Values Survey 308. Self-Directed Search (SDS) 309. Sixteen Personality Questionnaire (16PF) 310. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale 311. Strong Interest Inventory 312. Thematic apperception tests (TAT) 313. Tolerance for ambiguity 314. Type A behavior pattern 315. Values 316. Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) 317. Wechsler Intelligence Scales 318. Wonderlic Personnel Test 319. Work values 320. Work Values Inventory

JOB SEARCH AND ORGANIZATIONAL RECRUITING

321. Electronic employment screening 322. Employment advertising 323. Exit interview 324. Handwriting analysis in hiring 325. Informational interview 326. Integrity testing 327. Internal labor markets 328. Internet career assessment 329. Internet recruitment 330. Job fairs 331. Job interviews 332. Job search 333. Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) 334. Networking 335. Occupational Information Network (O*NET) 336. Occupational Outlook Handbook 337. Organizational entry 338. Organizational image 339. Organizational staffing 340. Personnel selection 341. Realistic recruitment 342. Recruitment 343. References for employment 344. Resume 345. Unbiased hiring systems

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

346. American Counseling Association 347. American Psychological Association 348. Center for Creative Leadership 349. National Career Development Association

Our goal was to make this collection the premier reference tool for students, scholars, practitioners, and others interested in gaining knowledge or conducting research on career-related research paper topics. We have kept the topical essays concise, easy to read, and jargon free, while ensuring that the content reflects the most current thinking and research on the particular topic. We have provided essays that are directly related to the field of career development and have expressly avoided tangential topics or biographical profiles that add pages but do not improve the content. Browse our career research site.

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There will come a time in most students' careers when they are assigned a research paper. Such an assignment often creates a great deal of unneeded anxiety in the student, which may result in procrastination and a feeling of confusion and inadequacy. This anxiety frequently stems from the fact that many students are unfamiliar and inexperienced with this genre of writing. Never fear—inexperience and unfamiliarity are situations you can change through practice! Writing a research paper is an essential aspect of academics and should not be avoided on account of one's anxiety. In fact, the process of writing a research paper can be one of the more rewarding experiences one may encounter in academics. What is more, many students will continue to do research throughout their careers, which is one of the reasons this topic is so important.

Becoming an experienced researcher and writer in any field or discipline takes a great deal of practice. There are few individuals for whom this process comes naturally. Remember, even the most seasoned academic veterans have had to learn how to write a research paper at some point in their career. Therefore, with diligence, organization, practice, a willingness to learn (and to make mistakes!), and, perhaps most important of all, patience, students will find that they can achieve great things through their research and writing.

The pages in this section cover the following topic areas related to the process of writing a research paper:

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