Research and evaluate a current trend or issue in your projected profession.  (If you are undecided, use “college student” as your profession.)

What does this trend or issues tell you about the state of your profession? What contributions need to be made to the field to improve it? Who is affected by this? How does this determine your job outlook? Do you know anyone in the profession already? What made you pick this major? What have you learned about your major thus far?

Example of a trend: A few years ago, in the field of English it was a trend to specialize in Rhetoric/Comp. Many people declared it as a specialty, which caused the job market to change. As a result, there were too many Ph.D.s graduating with this specialty and not enough jobs; therefore, many recent Ph.D. graduates were finding themselves teaching part time, which offered little pay, no benefits, and having to work at several colleges/universities just to make ends meet.

Example of an issue: The field of social work has a high burn-out rate. Why is that? What makes/causes people burn out? Are there any solutions (both short-term and long-term)? What have professionals who are working in the field tried to do to avoid burnout? How do college courses address this issue when preparing future social workers?

Make sure that you can clearly distinguish between a trend and an issue. Your introduction to your paper should establish this point, so your reader knows exactly what you are going to address in the body of your paper. While you could use a dictionary to define the words trend and/or issue, it will not count as one of your sources; however, you must include it on your works cited page.

Research Requirements:

You must use at least five outside sources. These five sources must consist of:

• Two sources. These can be web sites, on-line databases, CD-ROMs, etc., but can also be interviews with a professional colleague, pamphlets, press releases, etc. They may also be books, journal articles, newspaper articles, magazine articles, or any other print source.
• At least three peer-reviewed sources.  “Peer-reviewed” means written and vetted by scholars and professionals, usually in the field to which the journal is dedicated.  These will probably coincide with your print sources.  Many databases allow you to limit your search to peer-reviewed sources.  Each source must be cited at least one time in your paper. I will be looking for that. I will also look closely at your Works Cited page to make sure you followed MLA and properly cited your sources.
• Since I will be looking at your sources (both in–text documentation and your Works Cited page), I expect to see your in-text documentation match what’s on your Works Cited page. If they don’t match, then you risk receiving a low grade for this assignment, which can cause you to fail the assignment. If you list a source on your Works Cited page, then you should have it cited somewhere in your paper. If you cite a source in your paper, then you should have an entry for it on your Works Cited page. To emphasize: I will be checking for this.

Papers that do not fulfill the research requirements will be penalized severely and may result in a failing grade for the assignment and/or the class.
Do you need a customized paper? Place an order with us!