Careers in Lifespan Development Essay Assignment
Essential Elements
To prepare for this assignment, you will first select a career, period of development, a
developmental theory, and specific topic from the textbook.
1. In your textbook, see Chapter 1 Appendix, Careers in Lifespan Development (p. 43).
From the list of careers, identify one career of interest to you. You may ask the instructor
for permission to select a career not on the list if it requires knowledge of lifespan
development. Unless you receive permission for a different career, you must select one
from the list in the textbook.
2. Select one period of developmental (p.14) that would be encountered by a professional in
the career you selected. Some careers (i.e. geriatric physician, neonatal nurse, preschool
teacher) might be limited to one developmental period. Other careers may potentially
work with individuals across several periods of development and you will need to choose
one. Either way, you will select one of the following: infancy, early childhood,
middle/late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, late adulthood.
3. From the textbook, select a topic of interest. It should be an issue that will likely be
addressed by a person in the career you selected. A list of potential topics is provided
below but you are not limited to those listed. This list should give you a good idea of
what kinds of topics are acceptable. If you are unsure about a different topic, just ask.
4. Select at least one major theory of development. You will explain how the theory might
be used to help guide you in your work with an individual in the period of development
you chose. These may include Piaget, Erickson, or Bronfenbrenner. If your chosen period
of development is late adulthood, you might consider activity theory, socioemotional
selectivity theory, or selective optimization with compensation theory (pp. 581-583).
Potential Topics
This is not an exhaustive list. There are other topics in the textbook. If you are uncertain, ask the instructor.
• Prenatal care
• Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
• Preschool/ early childhood education
• Autism
• Child Maltreatment
• Childhood Obesity
• Special Education
• Learning Disabilities
• ADHD
• Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
(identify one specific disorder)
• Intellectual Disabilities
• Giftedness
• Childhood stress and trauma
• Peer status
• Bullying
• Baumrind’s Parenting Styles
• Gender issues
• Adolescent sexual behavior
• Teen pregnancy
• Sex education
• Substance abuse
• Juvenile delinquency
• Adolescent substance abuse
• Adolescent depression
• Sexual harassment
• Sexual assault
• Topics related to health in early adulthood
• Topics related to sexuality in adulthood
• Topic related to marriage and successful
relationships
• Topics related to health in middle adulthood
• Retirement
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Depression and suicide in late adulthood
• Topics related to health in late adulthood
• Death and dying issues (hospice, palliative
care, euthanasia)
************************Essay Instructions*************************
After selecting the four elements described above, write an essay describing how knowledge of
lifespan development will inform your work as a professional in the chosen career. Explain how
you would apply your knowledge of human development to meet the needs of an individual in
one specific period of development. The needs of the individual will be determined not only by
the period of development but also by the topic/issue you selected. Include the application of at
least one major theory of development in working with the individual. Explain how you will use
theory to guide your work with the person in the specific period of development. Do not assume
the reader has prior knowledge about the career, theory or topic.
• The first paragraph should briefly introduce the essay and end with a thesis statement.
See the thesis statements handout for more information.
• After the introductory paragraph, the first main section of the essay should describe the
career and include why a knowledge of human development is necessary for the
profession. The education/training requirements for the career should also be described.
You will want to cite the professional association website applicable to the career in this
section. See the handout on professional associations for examples. In addition, you
should reference the Bureau of Labor Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm) for
information about the career.
• In the second section, describe one period of development (e.g., infancy, early childhood,
middle/late childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, or late
adulthood). Explain why knowledge of that specific developmental period is important
for one to be effective in the career/profession. Include examples of how such knowledge
would be applied to an individual in that period of development. This may include
knowledge of cognitive, socioemotional, or biological development. At least one of the
three developmental processes must be addressed, more than one if possible.
• In the third section, describe a topic or issue that would likely present itself during the
developmental period described. You will explain how your knowledge about the issue
might affect the way you provide service to the individual as a professional in the career.
Based upon information learned about the topic and the period of development, describe
at least one thing you will do to be most effective in working with the individual
(client/patient, student, etc.) because of information learned in this course.
• In the fourth section, apply one of the major theories of development (Piaget, Erickson,
Bronfenbrenner). For late adulthood, you may instead choose to use Activity Theory,
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, or Selective Optimization with Compensation
Theory. For early adulthood, you may choose to extend Piaget’s theory to include
postformal thought.
Explain how knowledge of the theory would be applied by the professional in their work
with an individual (patient, client, student, etc.) who is in the same period of development
and who is experiencing the issue/topic previously described. If you applied one of these
theories in the second section (period of development), you will apply a different theory
in this section.
Example:
A student might select occupational therapist as a career and early childhood as the
developmental period. She might select autism as a specific topic. She could explain how
Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological theory might be applied to address a child’s needs in multiple
settings. Another student might select child welfare worker as a career and child maltreatment as
a topic. He would select any one of the developmental periods in which child maltreatment could
be experienced. If Erickson’s theory were selected as the theory and applied to the child in
middle/late childhood, the student would explain how knowledge about the Industry vs.
Inferiority stage could help to inform how she works with the child, the factors she might pay
attention to, or ways she might choose to intervene to help the child be most successful.
Organization, Structure and Mechanics:
Generate a clear, specific, and arguable thesis or main idea. Include evidence and examples to
support the topic idea. Construct a logical pattern of paragraph development. Demonstrate
consistent use of correct and appropriate spelling, grammar, and usage. The essay should be
minimum of 750 to 1000 words (three to four pages) but may be longer (up to six pages). The
minimum word count applies only to the main body of the essay. The required title page and
reference page are in addition.
The essay must be typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins, using Times New Roman 12
font. References must be cited using APA format. An APA Guide is included in links below.
APA format is not the same as MLA format. If you are accustomed to using MLA or another
format, you will need to pay attention to the differences. Follow examples in the APA Guide for
title page, reference page, and parenthetical citations. An abstract is not required.
A handout on thesis statements is available here:
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/Thesis%20Statement%20Handout.pdf
An essay outline guide is available here:
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/Essay%20Outline.pdf
An APA Style Guide is available here:
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/APA%20Style%20Guide.pdf
There are many other writing resources available through the Writing Center:
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/instructions.html
You can seek online writing tutoring here: http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/echo.html
or visit the Writing Center on campus.
Sources
Main Source
Your main source for this assignment will be your textbook and you are required to use at least
two additional sources (professional association website and Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Information about other acceptable sources is described below. First, it will be explained how
you will communicate the information you obtain from sources.
When stating information from the textbook or other sources, you will always include a
parenthetical citation to identify the source of that information. When paraphrasing (restating in
your own words) from the textbook, you will include the following at the end of the sentence:
(Santrock, 2019). When quoting (copying word for word), a page number is added (i.e. Santrock,
2019, p. 25) and the quoted material must be in “quotation marks.” Again, quoting should be
used minimally. Most citations should follow paraphrased content.
Examples:
Quote: “The field of life-span development offers an amazing breadth of careers that can
provide extremely satisfying work . . . By working in the field of life-span development,
you can help people to improve their lives, understand yourself and others better,
possibly advance the state of knowledge in the field, and have an enjoyable time while
you are doing these things” (Santrock, 2019, p. 43)
Following is information paraphrased in two different ways, based on the same content that is
quoted above. These are preferred instead of the quote.
Paraphrase 1: The study of life-span development is important for a wide range of
careers and they are especially rewarding careers that make a difference in people’s lives
(Santrock, 2019).
Paraphrase 2: Many careers require knowledge of life-span development and they can
be very fulfilling because of opportunities to make people’s lives better (Santrock, 2019).
IMPORTANT: Most of your essay should consist of paraphrased information, NOT
quoted/copied word-for-word from the source. Quotes may be used sparingly but should be no
more than 10% of content in your essay. College-level writing requires more than the ability to
construct a series of quotes. It requires you to think about what you’ve read and be able to
express it intelligently in a way that captures the essential meaning or main idea, using different
words. These are the skills of paraphrasing and summarizing. Like any skill, it improves and gets
easier with practice. There are subtle differences between paraphrasing and summarizing. Both
are acceptable for the essay. For more information, see the separate handout in Moodle, How to
Paraphrase & Summarize.
Second Required Source
In addition to your textbook, you will use at least two additional sources. The second source
must be a publication from the professional association of the career you selected (or the
website of that organization). Most professions have a professional association. Professional
associations help to maintain oversight and quality practice of the occupation. Most of these
organizations also produce publications about research and best practices related to the work of
the profession. For psychologists, it is the American Psychological Association. Physicians have
the American Medical Association. Some may be members of more than one association. For
example, a pediatrician would be a member of the American Medical Association and the
American Academy of Pediatrics. A psychiatrist would be a member of the American Medical
Association and the American Psychiatric Association. A nurse might be a member of the
American Nurses Association and the Society of Pediatric Nurses. Many occupations will have
both a main professional organization and specialty organizations. A separate handout lists many
professional associations relevant to the various careers listed in your textbook as well as some
additional careers often selected by students for this assignment. See that handout to help
identify the best organizations to research for your own essay. If you do not see an association
listed for your career, an internet search naming the career and “professional organization” or
“professional association” should help you identify it. If you have difficulty, contact the
instructor for assistance.
The website of the professional association will at least provide some additional description of
the career and often includes the educational requirements. For example, if you select
psychologist as the career, the American Psychological Association (APA) is the professional
organization. On the APA website ( https://www.apa.org/) you will see Careers across the top
and select it. Scroll down to Thinking About a Career in Psychology? Then Select: “Some of the
subfields in psychology.” Here you will find more specific descriptions for various specialties in
psychology. If you select “The job outlook,” you will find additional information.
Similar to the APA site, the website of the American Occupational Therapy Association
(https://www.aota.org/) includes a section on Education & Careers. Likewise, the American
Physical Therapy Association website (https://www.apta.org/) includes a section on careers. You
must find the appropriate association that applies to the career you select for this assignment.
You will find many other websites with information about the career but a general informational
website (unaffiliated with the professional association) is not an acceptable substitute . Make
sure it is the official website for the professional association.
Most professional associations also publish articles on various issues relevant to the practice of
the career. For an example, see the handout titled AOTA Mobility. This is a publication from the
American Occupational Therapy Association. It was located by searching the organization’s
website on the topic of mobility. If a student chose occupational therapy as a career and mobility
as a topic, this would be an appropriate source and might be used for a number of different
developmental periods since it separately addresses mobility issues for infants and children,
adolescents/young adults, and older adults. By exploring the website of applicable professional
associations, you may find useful information related to your own topic.
Note: I chose the topic of mobility for this example because it is not a prominent topic in our
textbook, except for late adulthood. Since I have used it as an example, the AOTA mobility
document may not be used as a source if you choose occupational therapy. But the AOTA
website has information on many other topics. The same process would apply, regardless of your
chosen career interest. Some professional associations will have more information than others.
Third Required Source
In the first main section (after the introductory paragraph), you will describe the career. In
addition to the textbook and professional association, you must reference the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm). Enter the career in the “Search Handbook” box.
Some of the information may overlap with information in the textbook or professional
association website. You will not repeat the information you have already identified from
another source. Instead, use the bls.gov site to identify additional information that was not
included elsewhere, or perhaps is explained in more detail. Limit to one or two areas that can be
described briefly. The bls site will cover a lot of information and you do not need to address
every section of the site, just one or two areas you think most important.
Additional Sources (optional)
Any additional sources must be scholarly sources. General informational websites are not
acceptable. Wikipedia and similar sites are not acceptable. The best scholarly sources, in addition
to those published by the relevant professional association, are articles in peer-reviewed journals.
Each of the careers listed have a number of scientific journals associated with the profession.
You can search for peer-reviewed journal articles related to your topic and career through the
OCCC library website, using the EBSCO Host database.
You can find a video tutorial here:
If the career is in psychology, you will find a video tutorial for searching PsycArticles
here:
You can find additional information about finding articles here:
https://libguides.occc.edu/research/articles
Here is a video tutorial for finding information on evidence-based practices in nursing
and allied health professions:
You can always seek assistance from a librarian, including live chat through the library website.
https://libguides.occc.edu/home
