Each sheet has a running head in the upper Left corner, and a page number in the upper Right corner. The title page contains the information, which is similar to the illustrated title page on page 5 of the handout, “wk5_narrative_essay_format.” I repeat the essay’s title at the top of page two, which follows the title page.
The margins are 1 inch, all lines are double-spaced, including the space between sections. The font is Times Roman (the instructor accepts Arial font, too). The font size is 12. The essay, including the title page and the page with References, is 5 – 6 pages long.
Headings -- I use boldface, centered, primary section headings in order to organize and focus my paragraphs. The essay includes a short Introduction and Conclusion. I use boldface, secondary section headings, along the Left margin to identify further the topic of the paragraphs.
1st section of the essay has a primary heading, such as -- Two Specializations.
I explain why I am interested in 2 possible career specializations by discussing topics like the following ones -- Why do I choose these two specializations rather than other possibilities? How did I become interested in the two possible jobs? Why does it matter which specialization I select? Why are professionals in my preferred careers important for society?
2nd section of the essay has a primary heading, such as -- Two Important Competencies
I provide my own reasons for selecting two workplace competencies as most important for the two jobs in which I am most interested.
I summarize also the ideas of authors of two articles from trade magazines or peer-reviewed journals in regard to the exercise of two workplace competencies. (Most articles will not describe the exercise of a competency in exactly your preferred specializations or workplace.) I explain the possible relevance of what the authors say about the competencies to a workplace for which I am training.
I quote no more than 1 sentence per source. I paraphrase remaining content to be taken from an author. In both cases I credit the author.
I use in-text citations in proper APA format at the places in the essay at which I use information from my two sources.
I provide an alphabetical list of at least two References in APA style. The references cite two articles (not book reviews) about the competencies.
I saved my essay in compatibility mode inside the COMM150 folder on my S-drive with a file-name like “Narrative Essay.” I saved the file also to portable storage, if I intend to work on it at home.
An extra point is awarded the essay for the proper citation and Reference of each scholarly article (an article in which you see a list of References at its end). The relevance of the peer-reviewed article about my competencies and career must be explained in order to receive the extra credit.
If I used SmarThinking for extra credit, I attached my original draft and the feedback from SmarThinking to my final draft.
What is a way to find scholarly articles quickly on my subject?
When you open a database and enter your search terms, look for the window, “Limit your results.” Then mark the checkboxes for “Reference” and for “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.” Also check the box for full text. See the following image of a search screen in Academic Search Premier --
• “Limit your results” by checking the box for “Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals,” after you enter your search string to begin a search in a database.
• Check also the box for “References Available.”
• Check the box for Full Text in order to retrieve only entire articles.
• Look for the presence of Works-Cited or References at the end of an article that you retrieve with your search string.
When you check the box for “Scholarly (peer-reviewed) Journals,” after you type your keywords, most of the articles you retrieve will end with a Works-Cited or list of References. Occasionally you retrieve a book review or editorial opinion from a peer-reviewed journal. A review or editorial is not a scholarly article. In order to limit your results more strictly to scholarly articles, also check the box for “References Available.”
Activity 2: How to Determine the Type of Periodical,Which You Retrieve in a Database Record
Find EBSCOhost’s collection of databases through the following steps:
• Go to the Student Success Page of Bryant & Stratton College
• Click on “Go to the Virtual Library,” and find the tab for “Login.”
• Click on the Login-tab and enter the username and password shared by all students at the College. The instructor provides the username and password in class. Also you may contact the instructor in order to secure them.
• Select the tab for “Research Databases.” Choose EBSCOhost from the drop-down menu.
• Click on the single link for EBSCOhost.
• Select a database, such as: “Vocational and Career Collection”
• Inside the search box type a keyword for a workplace competency, such as one of the following words or phrases. Use quotation marks around the phrases (eg. “working in teams”) in order to keep the words together --
Taking Responsibility / Working in Teams / Persisting / Sense of Quality / Life-long Learning /
Adapting to Change / Problem Solving / Information Processing / Systems Thinking
• You retrieve a list of articles. The titles are listed immediately after the number of the article. Click the title of an article.
• You retrieve a database record for the article.
• Look for the field name, “Source.” The underlined, blue words immediately following “Source,” are the name of the periodical (not the title of the article).
• Click on the hyperlinked name of the periodical. You retrieve a record about the nature of the periodical in which your article is published.
• Look for the field name, “Publication type.”
o If the type is an “academic journal,” then your periodical contains mostly peer-reviewed or refereed articles.
o If the publication type is “trade publication,” then your periodical contains mostly trade articles.
o If the publication type is simply “periodical,” then your periodical contains mostly general interest or popular articles.
Use only scholarly articles (= peer-reviewed and refereed articles) in academic journals and trade articles from trade magazines for your research. If you want the extra credit for using a scholarly article, limit your search from the outset by checking the box for “References available” and the box for Scholarly (peer-reviewed) Journals.”
Open an electronic version of the current handout in order to use the hyperlinks in the box on this page. You may remember from an activity on an earlier handout that you can find the electronic handouts in either of two places --
oFrom the campus network:
Click the “My Computer” icon and find the COMM150 folder among the course-folders on the data-file drive. After opening the COMM150 folder, click on the folder with the current week, Week 2. Look for the file with the name, “wk2_table_careers,” and open the file for the current handout.
oFrom the course Web page:
Click the desktop shortcut, which you may have created earlier for the COMM150 Web page. Go to the drop-down box for “Activities & Assignments.” Drop-down the files until you find the current handout, “wk2_table_careers.” Click the small Go-button.
When you have opened an electronic version of the current handout, go to the current page 3 and view the following links to several Web sites. Visit the sites by clicking on the hyperlinked addresses. The state’s Job Bank will identify current and local jobs in your career area. O*net Online and the Occupational Outlook Handbook identify specializations in your area, the requisite skills, and other job characteristics.
Each site will have a different method of searching with a keyword for a job –
·* The most authoritative and widely used site is the Occupational Outlook Handbook. Here is how to start your search in the OOH –
· Drop-down the Search-menu and select “Occupational Outlook Handbook” rather than search “All BLS.gov.” Top of Form
·Then type a keyword for a job in the next box after “for:”
·
In Virginia Career View, click on “Career Search” on the Left below the large photo of students.
* In CareerOneStop you will be more successful by using the Menu Search. For example: If you click on “Healthcare Support,” you
will see an occupational profile for Medical Assistants.
* In the JobBank site enter a keyword for your job search and specify the state.
In the search boxes try synonyms. These are alternative words with a similar meaning. Here are some examples of synonyms or related terms --
“Health” may be substituted for “Medical Assistance”; “Legal Assistance” may replace “Paralegal”; “Personnel Management” and “Human Services” are alternatives for “Human Resources”; and “Computers” may be used instead of “Information Technology.”
Step 3:
Input data (information) into your table about Web sites in your career area –
Type the name of at least two Web sites, which you visit, into the left column of your table. Do not copy merely the Web address (URL) in the column for “Name of Web Site.” Type the names of at least three jobs for which you find descriptions in the right column of your table, opposite the name of the Web site on which the jobs are described. View the sample table on page 2.
With practice you can develop efficiency with the technique of copy-and-paste from a window for a Web site into another window with your document in Word. You may need practice also in using the minimize-button to send a window or document to the tray at the bottom of the screen, while you keep open another window in which you are working.
If you have some difficulty with copy-and-paste, try these steps by dragging over text from Right to Left –
§Place your cursor just after the last letter of the phrase, which you want to copy. Then hold down the Left button of
the mouse as you drag forward slowly over the first letter of the phrase to be copied.
§Right click on your mouse at the end of dragging and highlighting the text you intend to use. Select Copy from the
pop-out menu.
§Open your Word document from the bottom tray of your window.
§Place your cursor in the appropriate cell of your table, and right-click the mouse.
§Select Paste from the pop-out menu.
§When you see a little clipboard appear over the just-pasted text, click the icon for a clipboard. Select the option for
“Keep text only” so that the pasted text acquires the format, which you are using in your document.
1. READ and do all of the handout activities you haven't done yet.
2. You will notice that they walk you through how to set up your paper using AP guidelines, and how to lay out your paper's organization.
3. Stuck on using the Virtual Library? The activities also walk you through how to research using the correct databases for your two sources. (Activity 2: Find Two Database Articles will really help.)4. Finally, the hand outs show you the correct citation APA format to use.
5. Don't forget- your paper must answer the big questions: Why do I want these two careers? What made me decide on them? Why will my two workplace competencise help me/be useful to mec in these careeers? What in the author's description of the competencies make me think that they will be useful/helpful?
6. Conclusions: Wrap up your essay. Give your opinion. Summarize. Tell how you feel. Make a prediction. They DO NOT REPEAT everything you just wrote.
