How to Write a Career Research Paper – Looking Realistically at Your Future


High school students all take “career exploration” coursework. It is either a part of another course of a course itself. In the course of that career exploration, they are usually asked to identify a career of interest and then to write a career research paper which delves into all of the details of that field. This is no longer just an exercise for high school students, however. As colleges are becoming more aware of the need for students to make wise career choices (since they are spending so much money on their educations), the requirement of a career research paper is also becoming a more popular assignment, as students declare their majors. The assignment may come in an early course in that major field, so that students are aware of all of the possibilities once they graduate and enter the work force.

When You Must Write a Career Research Paper

If you should be assigned a research paper on a career, you will need to understand two things:

  1. Your process will be no different than writing a research paper on any other topic. You will need to identify your topic and craft a thesis statement. Often, however, this thesis statement cannot be created until your research is completed and you have a better idea of what you really believe about a specific career and the choices you may have.
  2. There are very critical sub-topics that you must cover, and these will be outlined below.

The Sub-Topics for a Career Research Paper

Any research that you conduct relative to careers must include the following:

  1. What are the educational requirements in this career field? Are their opportunities for those with a two-year degree and a four-year degree? Are there opportunities for those who choose a vocational-technical program as opposed to an academic program of a college?
  2. What are the current positions in this career field – how many are actually employed in positions based upon education and skill training? What are current salaries of those in this field?
  3. What are the future prospects for this field? There are certain fields which have the potential to “explode” in the future – robotics, micro-medicine, artificial intelligence, certain fields of education, green energy, health care, leisure, etc. What are the prospects for employment and salary in your career choice?
  4. What stable companies and corporations will be supporting career positions in the field that you have chosen? Or will there be opportunities for entrepreneurship?

Sources of Information

As you conduct your research, you need to understand that an important part of knowing how to write a career research paper involves finding the right resource materials. These do not include such sources as Wikipedia or schools that are advertising for students. Instead, you need to go to objective sources – the Department of Labor and respected journals such as Forbes Magazine and the Huffington Post. These resources are online and will provide objective data that you can use to support you ultimate thesis statement. The really important other benefit from this research will be to give you the information you need to determine whether your career choice is going to satisfy your true passions and, as well, offer a means to make a decent living in the future.

Writing a career research paper will not “look” any different than writing a research paper on any other topic. The benefit of this assignment, however, is that you will come away with some really practical knowledge that may impact how you spend your education dollars.