Jabari Basha COMPLETING A VISUAL RESUME WITH MEDIA AND SPECIAL EFFECTS

Research Paper Assignment

The goals of this assignment are to help you:

· become more knowledgeable about the career opportunities in Information Technology.

· further develop your critical thinking skills.

· become more adept at synthesizing information and developing informed views.

· to utilize web-based resources to research your chosen career paths and to document in-text sources and utilize an annotated bibliography.

· compose a well organized, clear, concise, research paper to gain knowledge on the career options in IT.

· demonstrate the ability to determine the nature and extent of the information needed.

· demonstrate the ability to identify and evaluate information for credibility, currency, reliability, validity, accuracy, usefulness, relevance, and biases. (Using the CRAAP model)

· demonstrate the use of formatting for research papers using the APA style guide.

· demonstrate the ability to distinguish between assumption and fact.

· demonstrate the ability to incorporate information literacy skills into one's own knowledge base and work.

Background Information

The are many career paths available in the Information Technology industry. It is important as you work through your college education to have an idea of a potential career path you might be interested in exploring.

This is a fun and informative project that uses your research skills. You will research and explore two potential Career paths, in Information Technology, that interest you.

Research Paper Instructions

Getting Started

· Select two Career paths in Information Technology which interest you. You may want to complete an internet search to locate a list of IT career paths to choose from.

· You are to research each of the two IT career paths you selected to identify the one which you are most interested in.

· For each of the career paths you will research and share your findings for each based on the career questions below:

Career Questions

· What is the Job title of the first IT Career you are researching?

· What the Career is (Job Description)

This includes a description of the career itself, skills or tasks that one performs in this career, and any additional information that you feel is relevant to this area.

· Education/Training Requirements

· What level of schooling is necessary?

· Are there any special tests, exams, or certifications required?

· Required Skills

· What skills does the career require?

· Salary

· What is the annual salary or hourly rate?

· Does education make a difference in salary?

· Job Benefits & Job Drawbacks

· What are the benefits of this career?

· What are some things that may not be so great about the career?

· Opportunities for Advancement

· What are the chances for advancement in this field?

· Would advancement require additional training?

· Would advancement require additional duties? Explain.

· Is there a need for continuing education to hold this position? Explain

· Description of “A typical day in the life of a person in this career choice”

· Use your best search techniques to find sufficient information about each of the career paths.

· The paper must be written using APA style and include a minimum of 3 external web-based sources.

Write the Research Paper

After selecting the two Information Technology career paths you will be evaluating, write a 3-4 page paper which includes the following sections:

1. Title Page

Follow APA guidelines

2. Introduction Identify the two career paths you selected and provide an overview of the process you used to determine the IT career paths to select from and what sparked your interest in the ones you selected.

3. Career Path 1 (use the name of the career path here) In this section include the results of your research based on the Career Questions listed in the Getting Started section of the assignment, summarize the aspects of this career path which you found appealing, and summarize the aspects of this career path which you did found less appealing.

4. Career Path 2 (use the name of the career path here) In this section include the results of your research based on the Career Questions listed in the Getting Started section of the assignment, summarize the aspects of this career path which you found appealing, and summarize the aspects of this career path which you did found less appealing.

5. Conclusion Compare and contrast both Career paths you researched and write a summary of which one you are most interested in and why.

6. Annotated Bibliography Include at least three web-based resources.