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Project 2: Find Trends in Your Profession
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In this project, you will refresh your understanding of the research process and the steps to plan a research strategy, an important element of information literacy. Take a few minutes to watch this video "What is Information Literacy?" In this project, you'll determine what information you need, develop a search strategy to find that information, and evaluate it to determine if it fits your needs. You'll use the information wisely and ethically to build your research paper.

Turn Research Into Compelling Graduate-Level Analysis

After reviewing the many sources available to you, you will choose those that are relevant, timely, and helpful to your understanding of the issues of your industry or field of study. This should enable you to refine your search terms to find resources that will help you identify the top trends in your industry. A trend could be something well-known in the industry, a new development, or something you consider unrecognized or disputed. It is recommended that you choose the industry or subject area of your graduate program, so that your research will prepare you for your program of study.

Your research will provide evidence for your conclusions about the trends you choose, and your initial choices may change as you read more deeply. Review resources in periodicals, journals, newspapers, industry blogs, and other websites to choose the best references to inform your choice of trends. Use industry-specific keywords and take notes on your reading because you will be building on this research for the next phase in which you will choose an issue of interest (it could be within one of the three top trends or it could be new) and conduct deeper research.

In the scenario, your research paper is intended to prepare the search committee members to interview candidates by informing them about the emerging, contemporary trends and issues in your field or industry. If your committee is well-prepared to interview candidates rigorously, your organization will be poised to choose the best person for the job. Good luck!

Tip: As you find resources that you expect to use in your project, you should capture the information for the reference citations, which will go on your References page. You can begin building your References page in the project template. If you are rusty on formatting reference citations, use the APA 7 citation examples to get the order of things right.

This project will prepare you for more complex research projects. You will refine your ability to find and evaluate information. Using appropriate citing skills, you will produce a paper that demonstrates well-reasoned, well-supported analysis. There are four steps that will lead you through this project. Begin by watching the video above, which introduces the fictional scenario that provides the framework for this project. Then continue to Step 1 to start your research.

Your work will be evaluated using the competencies listed below.

• 1.1: Organize document or presentation clearly in a manner that promotes understanding and meets the requirements of the assignment.
• 1.2: Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole document or presentation.
• 1.3: Provide sufficient, correctly cited support that substantiates the writer's ideas.
• 1.4: Tailor communications to the audience.
• 1.5: Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and audience.
• 1.6: Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
• 2.1: Identify and clearly explain the issue, question, or problem under critical consideration.
• 2.2: Locate and access sufficient information to investigate the issue or problem.
• 2.3: Evaluate the information in a logical and organized manner to determine its value and relevance to the problem.
• 2.4: Consider and analyze information in context to the issue or problem.
• 2.5: Develop well-reasoned ideas, conclusions or decisions, checking them against relevant criteria and benchmarks.