To do:
Provide an APA Reference for each of 4 career-related Internet sources. Under each Reference write an annotation with an evaluation of the source identified in the Reference. See the next handout for an explanation of annotated References.
An annotation is a single paragraph of several sentences under a Reference. The annotation
summarizes briefly the content of the source, which you have identified in your Reference. Use
at least two of the following criteria to evaluate each of your four Internet sources in the
annotations:
(1) Accuracy (2) Authoritativeness (3) Objectivity (4) Coverage (5) Currency
Recommendations for choosing Web sites as sources:
Use at least two of the career sites for which links are provided in this handout, such as the Occupational Outlook Handbook, and O*net Online. Use Web sites published by professional associations or other organizations for the remaining two References.
Tips on Writing and the Use of Content from Sources --
• The text of your essay should use complete descriptive sentences, such as those in the sample essay in your textbook.
• A paragraph should have several sentences in which each sentence is relatively short.
• Each sentence should have a subject, verb, and object. The verb in a sentence should agree with the subject of the sentence.
• Make use of a grammar and spell checker in Microsoft Office Word. Ask someone to proof-read your rough draft, and read it aloud to yourself.
• Avoid long lists. Select only 2 - 3 of the items you regard as most important.
• If you use a phrase or sentence from a source, those words must be quoted.
• Limit your quotations -- quote no more than one sentence from a Web site, and cite the source.
• Do not copy-and-paste multiple sentences from the Web sites you visit. Use an idea or fact from an Internet source by putting the statements in your own words through paraphrasing. The source must be cited, even when you paraphrase it.
• When drawing from the same source multiple times in a paragraph, cite it once at the end of the paragraph.
• Plagiarism –
o The use of the facts, statistics, and ideas from a source without proper acknowledgement in a citation is penalized substantially in the essay.
o The use of the exact phrase or sentence from a source without quotation marks is also penalized substantially.
• Find and cite additional career-relevant sources on the Internet, such as sources, which are published by professional organizations in your area. Use the search strategies and engines we have described in class.
• Use SmarThinking Assistance for extra credit, you must meet the conditions for the separate, extra credit project on SmarThinking Assistance.
Activity 1 of 1: Find Web Sites with Characteristics of Specializations of Interest
You are looking for descriptions of your most preferred career specialization upon graduation from the College. Your Internet sources will have facts from some of the following categories: Duties, skills, working conditions, related jobs, wages, employment outlook, possibilities for advancement, and continuing education.
The first two sites, below, contain actual job announcements. Some of the descriptions of available positions include duties, skills, prerequisite training or experience, and a wage or salary. You can use the requirements posted in a job announcement in your discussion of the extra training and experience that you will need in order to advance into positions of greater responsibility in your career area. The other sources, below, are general career Web sites. Visit also some of the Internet resources listed for your career area in the Virtual Library.
Open the digital version of the current handout from the G-drive for data-files in the campus network or from the course Web page. Connect to some of the following sites through the hyperlinks to get the facts and data for your essay. Print relevant pages.
The following sites occasionally contain substantial job descriptions. However these sites require a longer search for an adequate job description. The general career sites on the next page are easier sites from which to acquire data about your preferred specialization:
Job Postings
• Name of Web site: “Jobs in Virginia: Job Bank USA” URL of site: http://jobs.jobbankusa.com/jobsearch/VA/V/jobs.asp
• Name of Web site: “Monster Jobs” URL of site: http://www.monster.com/
General Career Sites
(“O*Net Online” and the “Occupational Outlook Handbook” are the best of these sites):
• Name of Web site: “Welcome to O*net Online” URL of page: http://online.onetcenter.org/
• Name of Web site: “Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH)” URL of site: http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm
(Do you notice the search box at the top of the site? The search-box identifies “All BLS.gov.” Drop-down the menu, and select the option for Occupational Outlook Handbook so that you can search chapters
inside the OOH.)
• Name of Web site: “Career Voyages” URL of site: http://www.careervoyages.gov/
• Name of Web site: “Virginia Career View” URL of site: http://www.vaview.vt.edu/
• Name of Web site:: “Vocational Information Center” URL of site: http://www.khake.com/
• Name of Web site: “America’s Career InfoNet” URL of site: http://www.acinet.org/acinet/
• Name of Web site: “Career Advice” URL of site: http://content.monster.com/advice/
Web sites of Professional Associations in Your Career Area
• To find some of these sites, click on the tab for “Program Resources” after you enter the Virtual Library. Select the option for your major at the College. Then select the menu item for “Professional Associations. You can find more sites of professional associations in your career. Use the search skills you’ve developed in class. Try the clusters retrieved by meta-search engines in order to focus quickly your search.
Additional Internet Resources for Human Resources:
- Name of Web site: “About: Human Resources” URL of site: http://humanresources.about.com/
• Name of Web site: “Society for Human Resource Management” URL of site: http://www.shrm.org/
• Name of Web site: “H-R Guide.com” URL of site: http://www.hr-guide.com/
• Name of Web site: “ASTD (American Society for Training & Development)” URL of site: http://www.ast.org/
• Name of Web site: “HR Village” URL of site: http://www.hrvillage.com/
Guidelines to follow in selecting your four Internet sources:
• The Descriptive Essay should use four different sites with entirely different domain names in their Web addresses.
• Each of the listed Web sites counts as one source, even though each of the sites has multiple chapters and reports for related specializations.
• Two sources for your essay should come from those listed, above. You will need two additional sites with different domains, which you can find on your own. Try different search engines, such as Ask.com, a meta-search engine, and the “Wonder Wheel” in the search options of Google.
-Print out those Web pages on the career sites, which you are likely to use in your Descriptive Essay.
