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Research Challenge: Career Research

Quest 1: Topic & Keywords

Quest 1: Identify your topic, narrow down your topic to keywords, and list synonyms and related terms you can use to find articles, books, websites, and more.

Finding a topic is the first step in research.  When conducting research on a field or career, it is important to identify the most important aspects of the career, such as what they do, work environment, pay, job outlook, and educational requirements.

Keywords are significant words or terms that are used in searching library research databases and Internet search engines for information related to a topic. Compiling a set of relevant keywords or phrases is vital to successful searching because they are the key to locating relevant sources on your topic.

Quest 2: Finding Articles

Quest 2: Find TWO articles using Leeward Library research databases & evaluate using the CRAAP Test

Research databases contain articles from magazines, scholarly/academic journals, and trade journals.

To find articles about your career, search our research databases that relate to Career & Jobs:

If you are looking for local newspaper articles, try using ProQuest News & Newspapers. Be sure to include Hawaii as one of your search terms.

  • ProQuest US West Newstream Full-text articles includes the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Honolulu Advertiser, and Honolulu Star-Bulletin

Quest 3: Finding Books & eBooks

Quest 3: Find and evaluate a book or ebook using Primo

Pro tip: When searching career titles, try alternate versions and synonyms. For example:

  • nurse OR nurses OR nursing
  • CNA OR Certified Nursing Assistant

Consider adding one or more of these keywords when conducting career research:

  • outlook OR growth rate OR prospects
  • education or licenses OR certifications OR registrations
  • skills OR qualities

Primo

Search for books and other materials in the library collection, as well as articles, e‑books, and videos from the library's research databases.

Or go directly to Primo Search for more options.

Quest 4: Finding (good) Websites

Quest 4: Find a (good) website using the following links & evaluate using the CRAAP Test

Start with the Occupational Outlook Handbook to help you learn about your occupation. Find career information about duties, education and training, pay, and outlook for hundreds of occupations.

Quest 5: Annotated Bibliography

Quest 5: Create an annotated bibliography of your sources

List all of your article, book, and website citations in alphabetical order.

An annotated bibliography has two main components:

  1. A flawless list of citations
  2. A meaningful summary of each source that answers the following:
    • what this source is about?
    • why this source was selected?
    • how you will use this source in your assignment?

Reference the library's Citing Sources LibGuide, MLA, 9th Edition or Citing Sources LibGuide, APA, 7th Edition for help with formatting.