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Teaching the Career Exploration Project

Faculty Guide

Time to start writing your paper. You are also expected to give proper credit to the information created by others. We do this through in-text citations and a works cited at the end of your paper. Don't worry! This page gives you most of the citations for your works cited.

Make sure that you are writing your paper in MLA Style. That means:

  • Times New Roman font
  • Size 12
  • Double spaced
  • For more formatting help, check out the visual guide below.

Paper Outline Ideas

Your paper should have multiple paragraphs that are organized by ideas.

  1. Introduction and thesis statement
  2. Background information about the career
    1. Specifications and responsibilities
    2. Work conditions
    3. Benefits and drawbacks
    4. Expected salary
  3. Why did you choose this career
    1. How does it fit with your learning style and personality
    2. Why are you interested in this career?
    3. What are your strengths that will contribute to your success in this field?
    4. What potential weaknesses might hold you back?
  4. Next Steps
    1. What are the required degrees, certifications, and/or experience for this career?
    2. What are your plans to ear these credentials?
    3. What are your plans to gain experience?
    4. What can you do now to prepare to take these steps?
  5. Conclusion
    1. Why do you think this position is a good fit for you?

Created by Tracie Kamenoff, 2014

Works Cited: Citation Examples for Commonly Sources

Below are example citation entries that are commonly used in this assignment.

Note that there are pieces of information that you will have to change:

  • Change red and crossed-out content to match your researched career, publication date, and url.
  • Remove the http:/ part of the URL and make sure that it is hyperlinked so that your instructor can click and open up your source of information.
  • Works Cited list is in alphabetical order by author.
  • Works Cited is double space with a hanging indentation.

Online Databases

United States, Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Musicians and Singers." Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 ed., 17 Dec. 2015, www.bls.gov/ooh/entertainment-and-sports/musicians-and-singers.htm. 

"Geoscientists." My Next Move. National Center for O*NET Development, www.mynextmove.org/profile/summary/19-2042.00.

Occupational Information Network (O*NET). "Summary Report for: 29-1141.00 - Registered Nurses." O*NET Online. National Center for O*NET Development, 2010, www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1141.00.

 U. S. Dept. of  Labor, Employment and Training Administration, CareerOneStop. "Occupation Profile: Financial Managers: Texas." 2016, www.careerinfonet.org/occ_rep.asp?next=occ_rep&Level=&optstatus=111111111&jobfam=11&id=1&nodeid=2&soccode=113031&menuMode=&stfips=48&x=21&y=4. 

Career Booklets

Careers in Engineering: Structural Engineer. Inst. for Career Research, 2008, Institute Research No. 297.

Personal Interview

Smith, Suzy. Personal Interview, 10 Apr. 2015.

Reports

"Personality Type Report Exclusively for Jane Do." Do What You Are.  Human eSources. 21 Nov. 2014.

"SmarterMeasure Assessment Report." SmarterMeasure. Smarter Services, LLC. 7 Oct. 2014.

Texas Workforce Commission and Texas Education Agency. Labor Market and Career Information. Texas Reality Check. 2014, www.texasrealitycheck.com/RealityCheckTotal.aspx?city_id=15. 

Website

"LSC-Kingwood Career Services." Student Services, Lone Star College, www.lonestar.edu/kingwood-career-services.

MLA Visual Guide

Watch short video tutorials by clicking on the play buttons around the page.

Flip to the Works Cited page by clicking on the star.

Help with MLA Style: Paper Formatting and Citations

LSC-Kingwood Library guide to MLA style citation and a sample paper that includes MS Word tool tips to make formatting your paper and works cited easier.

  • MLA Style Guide
    Last Updated Feb 20, 2024 1609 views this year

60 STEPS

1 The first step is to open a new document in Microsoft Word.

We are going to start my creating the header:
Click Insert

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2 Click Page Number

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3 Click Top of Page

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4 Click Plain Number 3

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5 Type your last name to the left of the page number

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6 We have to change the font.
Click Home

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7 Click the font drop down menu

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8 Click Times New Roman

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9 Click Page 1 content

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10 Doubleclick onto the main area of the page to get out of the header settings

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11 We have to set the font for the paper. Click on the font drop-down menu

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12 Click Times New Roman

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13 Type in your name, first and last and Press Enter

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14 Type your instructor's name and Press Enter

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15 Type the name of the class and Press Enter

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16 Type the date: day, abreviation of the month., and year and Press Enter

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17 Click Center Align for the title of your paper

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18 Type the title of your paper and Press Enter

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19 Change the alignment for the body of your paper:
Click Align Left

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20 Start to write you paper! 

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21 A few more formatting notes:

Highlight all the content and
Click Paragraph...

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22 In the spacing section, Click Line spacing: drop-down menu

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23 Click Double

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24 Click Don't add space between paragraphs of the same ...

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25 Click OK

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26 Highlight the body of the paper

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27 Click Paragraph...

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28 In the Indentation section, Click Special drop-down menu

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29 Click First line

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30 Click OK

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31 Click Page 1 content

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32 Type in Page 1 content and Press Backspace

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33 Press Shift+Backspace

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34 Type up your paper now that it is all properly formatted.

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35 When you are ready to create your Works Cited page, Click Insert

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35b Click

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36 Click Pages

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37 Click Page Break so that you start on a brand new page without any funny issues of where it starts.

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38 Click onto the new Page

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39 Click Home

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40 Click Center

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41 Type Works Cited as the title of this page and Press Enter

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42 Now for the sources, Click Align Left

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43 Click Paragraph...

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44 In the Indentation section, Click Special:

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45 Click Hanging

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46 Make sure that Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style is checked

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47 Click OK

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48 Click Page 2

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49 Type in the author's name: 
Last name, First name.
Punctuation is important!

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50 Type "The Title of the Article in Quotation Marks."
Make sure the period goes before the closing quotation mark.

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50b Click

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51 Click Italic 
Type in The Name of the Journal that Published the Article,
Comma
and Click Italic to turn the italics off

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51b Click

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52 Type the volume and issue number:
vol. #, no. #,
Note: Because the abbreviation is happening in the middle of this "run-on sentence" that includes all the publication information, the abbrev. will be lower case unless it is a proper name, like a month.

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53 Type the page range and a period.

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54 Type the name of the database in Italic
comma,

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54b Click

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55 Paste the permanent link or DOI 
Period.
Press Enter

Repeat for all the sources and put them in alphabetical order based on the first letters of each entry.

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56 Don't forget to SAVE
Click File Tab

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56b Click

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57 Click Save

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58 Click Browse

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59 Type in File name: and Click Save

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59b Click

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60 That's it. Ask a librarian if you need any help formatting you paper in MLA style.

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Here's an interactive tutorial for the visual learners

https://www.iorad.com/player/1651258/How-to-format-your-paper-in-MLA-Style

What is Plagiarism?

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