Name:______Hour:______

College and Career Research Project

For this assignment, you will complete a career assessment/interest inventory using okcis.intocareers.org, research potential careers and programs, write a narrative essay, and construct a poster with your research findings. The goal of this assignment is to explore any potential opportunities you may have after high school. When it comes to college and careers, it’s never too early to start the selection process.

Career Assessment: Ms. Greenwood, the career counselor, will introduce students to the OKCIS website and teach students how to properly use the resources available to them.

College Research: Once you have completed the assessment(s), you will begin looking at colleges/universities/programs that offer your particular career path. Initially, you need to identify two locations that offer your chosen career. For each school, you will research the following:

●Admission requirements to the college or program

●If a college or university, the admission requirements for the specific college you will attend (ex: Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education at OU)

●Number of credits/courses required to earn the degree or certificate

●Number of students who complete the program who get jobs immediately upon graduation

●Overall cost of tuition, room & board, etc.

●Financial aid opportunities (merit and academic based scholarships)

●Whether or how much you will have to work while earning this degree or certificate

●Requirement of any unpaid internships or observation hours that will make it difficult or impossible to work while you complete the program

●Proximity to home, significant other, friends, etc

●Extracurricular opportunities

●Volunteer opportunities

●Public or private?

Research Notes: You will need to write down all of the resources, websites, and information you accessed during your research process. If you need help creating your works cited/works consulted page, you may go to for assistance.

Career Essay: You will write (and type!) a five paragraph, narrative essay. This essay will be worth 100 points.

Paragraph One - Introduction to your research project and career choice, and include a thesis statement.

Paragraph Two - This paragraph should discuss what career you selected and what that career entails.

Paragraph Three - This paragraph should discuss why you selected your career.

Paragraph Four - This paragraph should discuss what information you found regarding your career, what training/education you will need to achieve that career, and where you will receive this training/education.

Paragraph Five –In your conclusion paragraph, explain to your audience new/interesting things about the career you chose, and how your life will be affected by the career. Also discuss how you will better the lives in your community.

The Poster- You will present your findings to the class using a poster board presentation. Make sure that your poster is neat, legible, and visually interesting. You can purchase a poster board in the media center, dollar tree, etc.

Research Project Assignment Checklist

______Career Assessment Completed (20 points)

______Research Notes (30 points)

______Essay (100 points)

______Works Cited (50 points)

______Poster (100 points)

______Presentation (25 bonus points)

Career Research Project

Career Interest Inventory
Research Notes
Works Cited
Essay / Thesis (10)
P. 1 (16)
P. 2 (16)
P. 3 (16)
P. 4 (16)
P. 5 (16)
Double Spaced (5)
Typed (5)

Career Research – Poster

Career/Occupation (10)
Degree/Program/Training (10)
Admission Requirements (10)
Public or Private? (5)
Cost (10)
Number of credits/hours (10)
Financial Aid Opps (10)
Proximity to Home (10)
Extracurriculars (10)
Volunteer Opportunities (10)
Typed (5)
TOTAL:

Career Essay Rubric

MLA Formatting (10)
Typed (5)
Thesis (10)
Five Paragraphs (15)
Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage (20)
Explanation of Research Process (20)
Ideas and Development (20)
TOTAL