I'm supposed to research a career I'm interested in. How do I do that?
Answer
There are a variety of sources to use when searching for information about a career.
Occupational Outlook Handbook
The Occupational Outlook Handbook by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics is the best source to use when searching for career information. You can browse careers by occupation groups or search for a specific career. The Occupational Outlook Handbook displays education requirements, pay, number of jobs, job outlook, and work environment for almost all careers.
California Occupational Guides
While the Occupational Outlook Handbook focuses on careers for the United States in general, the California Occupational Guides give you similar information, but specifically for careers in the state of California.
Other Library Sources
The library has many books on various careers, both in print and online. Try using One Search to search for your career. You can type in the name of your career plus the word career. For example, if you were looking for information on careers in fashion, you would type: fashion career. Here is an example of that search.
As you can see, there are lots of sources with our words fashion and career; books, articles and videos. On the left hand side of the screen, there are various filters you can use. If you only want to look for books, then under Resource Type, click on the link for books (or book chapters).
If you want articles, click on the link that says articles under Resource Type. Note - if you need journal articles or peer-reviewed articles, click on the link under Show Only that says Scholarly Articles.
Lastly, use the Publication Date filter. When searching for information about a career, you want information that is current. Under Publication Filter, change the from date to a more recent year and click refine. For example if you only wanted information from the last 10 years, type in 2014 in the from field.
Still need help finding information on your career? Use the chat option to the right to begin a chat session with a librarian who can assist you further.