WEEK9PAPER

Your Career in Psychology Worksheet

This document helps you on the path to transforming your future career vision into a reality by translating the critical competencies and requirements for your career into a step-by-step action plan. Each week, you will complete a section of the guide and draft that section of your paper to improve the clarity of your descriptions and action plan.

Remember to consider this a snapshot in time. This will be a cornerstone for your professional development and you will want to come back to your career plan regularly to make sure you make progress towards your future in the field of psychology.

Applying Critical Thinking Skills

Research: Identify Professional Competencies

Throughout the course, you have worked toward establishing a vision for your future career in psychology based on your passions, interests, and aspirations in the field. You have also covered a wide range of competencies relevant to your success as a psychology professional and graduate learner.

Workplace competencies are capabilities needed to accomplish tasks that are central to one's profession. They comprise critical skills, knowledge, and attitudes. Understanding the competencies that are critical to your success is essential for preparing yourself to become a practitioner-scholar in your specialized field. You may know that education in such competencies is fundamental to Capella's mission and philosophy. The syllabus of each course lists the competencies that learners will acquire and demonstrate in the course. At the levels of programs and specializations, these competencies are generalized as learning outcomes.

Investigate the following resources to identify the competencies needed for the specialization you are most interested in:

Review the program learning outcomes for psychology and clinical psychology listed below:

· Determine the scientific merit of the professional literature.

· Apply theoretical and research findings from the discipline of psychology to professional and academic activities.

· Apply ethical principles and standards of psychology to academic and professional activities.

· Embrace, respect, and respond to individual differences and diversity in the practice of psychology.

· Communicate psychological concepts effectively using the professional standards of the discipline.

Find the outcomes for a specialization:

· Go to the  Master's Degrees in Psychology  web page.

· Click the Explore program button for your program.

· Go to the Specializations section and select a specialization.

· Review the learning outcomes listed under What You'll Learn.

Find full learning and career outcomes for your program and specialization:

· Go to the  Master of Science in Psychology  page or the  Master of Science in Clinical Psychology  page of the Capella Learning and Career Outcomes site.

· Select a specialization to see potential employment settings and common job titles and positions.

Visit the  Psychology Jobs  website and browse job openings by category or search with keywords related to a specialization. Make note of the competencies, requirements, and qualifications that employers desire for these positions.

From these sources, develop a comprehensive list of about 10 competencies you will need for the specialization you are interested in, and enter them into the table below.

Enter the competencies and requirements for your specialization that you have gathered. We have started these lists for you with some critical competencies for everyone in psychology. Continue this work in the table.

Be sure to note the sources of your information in the References section below for use in your paper.

Use your completed work to draft the Professional Competencies section of the Your Career in Psychology Template.

Knowledge	Skills	Attitudes
· Evidence-based practices.	· Effective decision making. · Critical thinking. · Effective communication.	· Ethical integrity.

References

Put your references here.

Ethics in Psychology

Research: Identify Professional Requirements

Understanding the requirements that enable your specialized practice and scholarship is critical to planning your future career.

Outline the key requirements for achieving your future career vision in these categories:

· Capella MS in psychology requirements.

· Capella specialization requirements.

· Additional education.

· Additional training.

· Licensure, credentialing, or accreditation.

· Work experience.

Investigate sources for this information:

Find the required courses for a specialization:

· Return to  Master's Degrees in Psychology .

· Click the Explore Program button for your program.

· Go to the Specializations section and select a specialization.

· Click Courses.

· Review the sample courses and then click View All Courses.

· If applicable, visit the  Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards  to document any specific licensure or certification or other requirements for your career vision.

Explore  Professional Associations  from the Career Center. Visit the web pages of organizations related to your specialization and document any requirements they list.

Search for additional information in the Capella library and on the Internet. Refer to the  PSY5002 & PSY5005 Research Guide  for guidance.

Fill in the table below. Be sure to note the sources of your information in the References column for use in your paper.

Use your completed work to draft the Professional Requirements section of the Your Career in Psychology Template.

Category	Requirements	References
Capella MS in Psychology Requirements
Capella Specialization Requirements
Additional Education
Additional Training
Licensure, Credentialing, or Accreditation
Work Experience
Professional Associations
Ethical Codes, Policies, Laws, et cetera

Your Career in Psychology

Envisioning yourself as practitioner-scholar in psychology is a great way to integrate the important competencies of connecting the rigor of theory and the relevance of practice into the vision for your future career in your specialized field. The following activities will help you connect your vision to becoming a practitioner-scholar. It will also help you create meaningful goals to achieve your vision.

Refining Your Vision

Based on the knowledge you have gained throughout the course, revise your vision for your final assignment.

Your Revised Vision

Reflect on how your activities in the course have affected your vision.

Question	Reflection
How does your vision relate to being a practitioner-scholar? You may want to reference these resources: Capella University. (2003). Learning model quick reference and examples. McClintock, C. (2004). Scholar practitioner model. In A. DiStefano, K. E. Rudestam, & R. J. Silverman (Eds.), Encyclopedia of distributed learning (pp. 394–397). SAGE.
How would you apply your findings from your literature review to your future professional practice in psychology?
How will your work this quarter help you accomplish the functions, responsibilities, and ethics required of a professional in your specialization?
How was your vision affected by the information in your readings from your Career Paths in Psychology text and your exploration of the Career Center and other resources?

Use your completed work to draft the Application and Research Vision section of the Your Career in Psychology Template.

Creating Meaningful Goals

Once you create your vision as a psychology practitioner-scholar, it is time to translate that vision into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely long-term goals to create milestones for a plan of action. Review your narrative and formulate personally meaningful and relevant educational, career, and life goals to achieve your vision. Here are a couple of examples to get you started:

Earn my master's degree in psychology in three years.

Develop strategies to stay up to date and evaluate scholarly and professional literature and research related to key theories, authors, and best practices in technology enhanced K–12 learning over the next three years.

Accurately select, administer, score, and interpret psychological tests in the workplace in four years.

Complete the following:

Review the SMART Goals presentation for more information about creating specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals. Focus on the Long-Term Goal section at this point.

Review your vision statement and use the table below to start drafting goals to break down your vision into long-term milestones.

Specific What exactly should I be doing to help me achieve my vision?	Measurable How will I know when the goal is complete?	Attainable Is the goal reachable?	Relevant Does the goal reflect steps needed to achieve my vision?	Time-Bound Are there definite start and end dates and/or time for this goal?

As you complete your goals section, you may uncover new elements related to your vision. Be sure to go back and add any of those elements into your vision draft to ensure your goals and vision align.

Review the following information as you draft your goals:

Purpose: The purpose of your vision is to create an inspirational and realistic description for how you want to contribute to your specialized field of psychology based on your passions and interests.

Primary Audience: Because this is a personal vision statement for your future career, you are your primary audience. Envision yourself in a time where you are frustrated and want to throw in the towel. What would help you remember your purpose and inspire you to continue moving forward towards your vision?

Secondary Audience: Your vision should also be clear to other people (such as family, friends, and your instructor) so you can share it with others and receive support in achieving it.

References: Reference any supporting documents you used to create your vision.

Use your completed work to draft the Application and Research Vision section of the Your Career in Psychology Template.

Planning Your Actions

Now that you have all this knowledge of the competencies and requirements for your field you are ready to plot your course to make these aspirations a reality. This section helps you translate the requirements for your profession and the development areas you identified into specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timed steps to achieve your vision.

Complete the following:

1. Add your goals to the first column.

1. Review your work in the previous sections and draft any additional long-term goals required to achieve your future career vision.

1. Use the steps column to break down your long-term goal into smaller steps to accomplish. Here are a couple of examples:

· Complete your Capella program, additional training, and volunteer opportunities to overcome your knowledge and skill gaps.

· Create opportunities in your current position to develop additional skills through coaching or stretch assignments.

· Join Capella Community groups and professional organizations for networking with others and completing additional informational interviews.

· Stay current with the research and literature in the field by reading specific peer-reviewed journals.

· Use Smarthinking and other support resources to improve the skills required to successfully develop your writing and other competencies essential to the profession and your role as a graduate learner.

Use the support column to identify what you need to help you achieve your goal.

Long-Term Goal What should I be doing to help me achieve my vision?	Steps What specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound steps do I need to take to achieve the goal?	Support What information, resources, and people do I need to achieve my goal?

Even with the best intentions, you may run into barriers to achieve your goals. Use the table below to outline potential barriers to achieving your goals and solutions for addressing them.

Barriers What might get in my way of my goal?	Solutions How could I best address those barriers?

Understanding the benefits of achieving your vision, your confidence in completing your outlined steps, and your commitment to your plan are important to motivating yourself to achieve your career vision. Use the table below to reflect on these elements related to the steps you outlined.

Reflective Question	Reflective Response
What are the benefits of achieving your future career vision?
How confident are you about taking the steps you outlined above to achieve your vision?
How committed are you to achieving your vision?

Hopefully, these exercises have helped you clarify your vision for your future in psychology and your path to your desired career. Use the table below to reflect on what you have learned throughout this process.

Reflective Question	Reflective Response
What have you learned about yourself throughout this process?
How have your psychology interests, career vision, and professional perspective changed from this process?
What are you most excited about related to your career plan?

Use your completed work to draft the Action Plan section of the Your Career in Psychology Template.

Drafting Your Career in Psychology Assignment

Now that you have worked through preliminary exercises and drafted some sections of your paper, you are prepared to begin the remaining sections in the Your Career in Psychology Template:

1. Review your notes from your interview with a psychology professional and integrate any relevant information into your paper.

1. After completing a draft of the previously outlined sections of your paper, draft these additional sections in the assignment template:

· Title page in APA format.

· Abstract: A concise summary of every main point in the paper.

· Introduction: A concise overview of the paper's content.

· Conclusion: A concise summary of important points of the paper, explaining the benefits of achieving your future career vision and becoming a practitioner scholar in the field of psychology and the importance and relevance of your vision and goals to your personal and professional aspirations.

· References in APA format.

Note: To maximize your scoring potential, be sure that you fully address all assignment requirements and meet the criteria in the Your Career in Psychology Scoring Guide.

At this point, your paper should be 6–7 typed and double-spaced pages excluding the title page, abstract, table of contents, and reference list. If you do not meet this requirement, go back and add more detailed explanation to your paper. Use Times New Roman 12-point font.

Your paper should also include a minimum of five references with at least three of them from course readings. If you do not meet this requirement, go back to the research you found throughout the course and see how you may include some insights into your paper.

Read through your draft with a fresh perspective and revise it to improve the big picture elements:

The main ideas in your paper and how you explain them.

The order of your paragraphs and the logic behind the organization.

Your purpose for writing and the way you speak to your audience.

The focus of the sections of your paper.

The organization of your paper and the flow from section to section.

Use Smarthinking: How to Submit a Writing Sample to submit your draft for evaluation.

Be aware that the turnaround time for Smarthinking can be 24–48 hours from submission to receiving the feedback report. Plan accordingly.

Submit the assignment to SafeAssign for review of proper citations and references. It is very important that you always submit your work as a draft so you can make revisions before submitting it to the assignment link. Refer to the courseroom SafeAssign resources for guidance in accessing your feedback from SafeAssign, interpreting your report, and improving your writing and citations for your assignment.

Now that you drafted the components of your paper, revised it to improve flow, and received feedback from SafeAssign and Smarthinking, you are ready to finalize your assignment. Complete the following:

Review the feedback you received from Smarthinking and SafeAssign and revise your draft as needed.

Submit your assignment no later than Sunday, 11:59 p.m. Central time. Make sure your submission is a Word document.

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