By Rachel Coleman

 Definition of career area and its rational. A brief account of its history or evolution as a profession.

 How is this career area related to history or how does it make use of history? Is the material with which it works in itself historical? Does it utilize historical information for perspectives on contemporary problems? How does the position utilize skills which are typically associated with the study of history?

 Cite several organizations (including in your endnotes their postal, Internet, addresses) where one can find more information regarding career opportunities, or for literature, professional guidelines, etc. Contact one or two of these for such material and briefly discuss how useful you found the information they provided.

 Cite several periodicals, newsletters, or newspapers which provide articles about the career field, its activities, the training required, positions available, problems confronting practitioners, new areas of activity, etc. Note that a scholarly journal like the American Archivist and a newsletter like the Society of American Archivists’ Newsletter serve very different purposes; a periodical like Preservation News provides yet another. Ideally you will find a variety of serial publications relating to your selected career field. Note: this may require doing research off-campus at other libraries and relevant sites (e.g., IUPUI’s library in Indianapolis).

 Cite interviews or correspondence exchanges you have conducted with a minimum of two working professionals or visits you have made to conferences, workshops, organization offices, related to your selected career field. Field trips as part of this course or personal conversations with any of our guest presenters may count for one of these. Such contacts or visits provide a unparalleled opportunity for asking questions about the career field and discovering its many technical aspects, while laying the groundwork of your own career network. However, you should wait to conduct these interviews or additional site visits until you have completed your own thorough research on the career field.

 Outline the training that is required and/or desired for entry into your career. What technical knowledge (of specialized equipment, language, procedures, laws) should a candidate be familiar with? Identify the skills (writing, research, quantitative, analytical, scientific) are needed for the work? Are any specific sub-fields of history particularly important?

 Articulate the problems and issues pertaining to your career area that are of concern or interest to historians as historians (e.g., objectivity, authenticity, elitism vs. popular appeal, relationship to current trends in academic history, public access, lack of financial support, lack of public awareness or appreciation). Define the ways a person holding this job must confront and address multicultural (i.e., gender, racial/ethnic, class, age, disability) issues.

 Identify some key working documents in your career area where these are most appropriate; e.g., for records management, historic preservation – either laws and regulations or forms which are used on the job. Or for fields such as corporate history, policy analysis, public relations, editing, documentary media development, and technical writing, give samples of written work showing research, analysis, and style of presentation.

 Assess the current career opportunities in this area. Distinguish between prospects in the public and private sectors. Characterize the potential for job security and advancement within the field as well as to related but external fields. [A key resources for this item is the U.S. G.P.O. publication Occupational Outlook Handbook, available on-line at <

Requirements:  Selected appropriate public history job category  Formal job description: types of skills needed; required education and training; types of agencies that employ such people  Definition of career area and its rationale; its history or evolution as a profession  How is the career area related to or use history: historical materials, historical information on contemporary problems, historical skills?  Identified and cited professional organization(s) serving career field  Identified and described professional journal(s) serving career field  Minimum of two oral or written interviews with working professionals or visits / field trips to career site  Current professional concerns pertinent to career field; how must practitioners address multicultural issues?  Identified and discussed key working documents for field  Current career opportunities in both public and private sectors; potential for job security and advancement within and outside field  Minimum (and maximum) of ten pages in length (not including endnotes, bibliography, or appendices)  Required style format used

A Couple of Tips:  Don’t forget to look at the Career Center Website for helpful links.  Don’t forget to use The Occupational Outlook Handbook, OR AT LEAST MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU LOOKED.  Prospects for the field – you may have to turn to anecdotal evidence depending on the field, but use that as a last resort.  MAKE SURE TO COVER EVERY PART OF THE PAPER’S REQUIREMENTS.