During this module you will research various current issues and$/$or trends within the career field related to your concentration$/$focused area of study and write an essay covering your final chosen topic. If your concentration is Interdisciplinary Studies, you are welcome to choose a topic of interest in your preferred career field, rather than a paper on an Interdisciplinary Studies degree. You may want to use the information you gained from your Career Research$/$Interview assignment in the previous module to assist you with developing a topic of interest. Your essay is due in the second week of Module Four, so you will need to work diligently to determine a topic and present it to your instructor $($in week one of Module Four$)$ in order to receive approval to move forward with your essay.

The requirements for your essay are as follows:

Your essay should follow basic APA writing guidelines and will likely be three to four pages in length, maybe more but definitely not less.

Your essay sections will be as follows:

Title Page $($does not count toward your total page count$)$

Introduction $-$ a paragraph or two introducing your concentration$/$focus area of study and your chosen topic $($issue or trend$),$ how they relate to each other, and stating the research question.

Literature review $-$ using, at a minimum, three authoritative sources discussing your topic

From peer$-$reviewed journal articles, books, reputable online sources, conference proceedings, dissertations$)$

Conclusion $-$ providing a summary of the literature review, expanding on any solutions you found to the problem or recommendations posed regarding the trend, and discussing further research that should be conducted or information that should be considered.

Reference page $($does not count toward your total page count$)$

Your essay should clearly address the following questions:

What is the topic you are researching and why is it important? $($Introduction$)$

What implications does the issue or trend have on your area of study? $($Intro and$/$or Lit Review$)$

Does the literature pose a conclusive review of the topic or are there implications left to explore? $($Lit Review and$/$or Conclusion$)$

Consider submitting it to your ePortfolio Partners for critiquing before submitting your final essay to the course instructor.

There are $2$ parts to this assignment $($actual due dates are located within the course schedule$)$:

Submit your Essay Topic to the Journal Entry link above $($in week one of Module Four$)$

Submit your completed Essay to the Assignment link here $($due in week two of Module Four$)$