Career-Related Research and Problem Solving

Conducting career-related research and applying those findings to your current work context can be a transformational experience. It allows us to think critically about our position in the workplace, examine industry trends and successfully manage career transitions. This assignment requires you to delve into a specific problem or challenge currently facing professionals in your field by using your liberal arts education as an interdisciplinary framework for analysis. You will conduct thorough research to understand the scope and impact of this problem, analyze its underlying causes, and propose practical, well-supported solutions. This assignment will strengthen your Communication, Critical Thinking and Technology skills (NACE, 2024Links to an external site.),

This assignment requires that you do the following:

A. In every field, there are issues and challenges that prevent stakeholders (practitioners, employees/service providers and clients/end-users) from achieving 100% success. These are called Problems of Practice. For this assignment, you will explore a problem of practice for your chosen field of interest (your current career or anticipated career). First, you will select a relevant and significant problem within your chosen career field. Clearly define the problem and its context and discuss its impact on the field. It is important that you use 2-3 peer reviewed articles to substantiate your problem. Essentially, what do other practitioners, experts and scholars say about your problem of practice?

Here are a few examples of problems of practice: IMPACT OF COVID19 ON SEND THROUGH FIFTH GRADE READING AND MATH SKILLS

Your responses in this section should address the following questions:

What is your problem of practice and how is this defined?
Why did you select this problem of practice?
Why is this problem significant in your field? What is its impact on your field? It is important to use your interdisciplinary, liberal arts background to identify a broad range of issues (eg. economical, social, historical etc) that have or can surface from your problem of practice.
What does the research say about your problem of practice?
Why is it important to solve this problem?
B. Based on your research and analysis, develop one or more feasible solutions to the identified problem. Clearly articulate your proposed solutions, explaining how they address the root causes of the problem. Provide evidence-based support for the effectiveness of your solutions, drawing on existing research or proposing potential methods for evaluation. You should use 2-3 peer reviewed articles to support your solutions.

Here are a few examples of our previous problems of practice with possible solutions:

Problem of Practice

Possible Solution

The impact of COVID 19 on 8th grade reading skills

Structured approaches to academic support including free after school reading workshops and parent support groups

The attrition rates of health administrators at poorly funded hospitals

Continuing education incentives for administrators

The lack of financial support for entrepreneurs in the cosmetic industry

Seminars for entrepreneurs on accessing small business state funds

The under-representation of Executive level Black and Brown women in the nonprofit, social work sector

Executive mentoring and other professional development for Black and Brown women

Your responses in this section should address the following questions:

What is your proposed solution/s to your problem of practice?
How have other researchers/practitioners implemented your proposed solutions or elements of your solution?
What are the steps to building this solution?
What existing resources are available to build your solution and how might you scale (or expand) your proposed solution? Please include your unique skills and strengths that you have identified in Module 3 (in your padlet) that will support your implementation of this solution.
Consider any limitations that your solution might have and propose recommendations that might offset these. Limitations may include any external or internal constraints that serve as a barrier to your solution.

Your responses in this section should address the following questions:

What are some limitations to your proposed solution?
What are some internal/external constraints to your solution?
PAPER GUIDELINES
This paper is due on Friday, August 8th. It is worth 30% of your grade.

You should demonstrate that you can gather information on a particular subject, narrow it down to a particular focus, synthesize the information and make some scholarly, astute interpretations about the topic. A significant part of the paper should be your interpretation of the information and how your knowledge about the subject has been enriched. Please do not simply regurgitate the information you found.

An outline for this paper should include the following as well as subheadings to organize your writing:

Title Page (does not count in page count)
Introduction
Problem of Practice (2-3 peer reviewed articles to substantiate your problem)
Proposed Solutions to Problem (2-3 peer reviewed articles to support your solution or solutions)
Conclusion
References (does not count in page count)
Page Limit and Format Requirements

This paper should be 5-6 pages in length, specifically on content. Title page and reference page do not count in the page limit. Paper should be typed and double-spaced in a 12-point font (Times New Roman) with 1-inch margins. This paper should include a bibliography/reference page and should be in APA or MLA format depending on your concentration (APA for Education Studies and MLA for Humanities).

Research Sources - Review of Literature

Your paper will not be substantive unless you have substantive sources. Find 4-6 VARIED and CURRENT SOURCES including professional journal articles and professional publications. It is important to find sources that you can understand, and also challenge you intellectually.

• Sources should be timely and relevant. Best guidance for this is to find sources from the past 5-9 years (2016-2025).

• Organize your sources by sorting and classifying article/publication findings in a meaningful way, always considering your topic and areas of inquiry. Compare, contrast and connect the articles you have selected.