This document outlines the requirements for an essay assignment focused on careers in lifespan development, requiring students to select a career, developmental period, topic, and theory. Students will explain how their knowledge of lifespan development informs their chosen profession and apply at least one major developmental theory. The essay must include research from the textbook, a professional association, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, adhering to specified formatting guidelines.

1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. • 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

5. • 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. use Activity Theory,
Socioemotional Selectivity Theory, or Selective Optimization
with Compensation
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm
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

9. 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

10. 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%20Han
dout.pdf
An essay outline guide is available here:
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/Essay%20Outline.pdf
An APA Style Guide is available here:

11. 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
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/Thesis%20Statement%20Han
dout.pdf
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/Essay%20Outline.pdf
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/APA%20Style%20Guide.pdf
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.

12. 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,

13. 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

14. 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
http://www.occc.edu/writingcenter/echo.html
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

15. 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

16. “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/)

17. 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,
https://www.apa.org/
https://www.aota.org/
https://www.apta.org/

18. 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.

19. 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

20. OCCC library website, using the EBSCO Host database.
You can find a video tutorial here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Fxwtifafc
If the career is in psychology, you will find a video tutorial for
searching PsycArticles
here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UuIL9sS-Kw
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:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73o5KGFsIU4
You can always seek assistance from a librarian, including live
chat through the library website.
https://libguides.occc.edu/home
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/home.htm

21. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6Fxwtifafc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UuIL9sS-Kw
https://libguides.occc.edu/research/articles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73o5KGFsIU4
https://libguides.occc.edu/homeCareers in Lifespan
Development Essay AssignmentEssential
Elements************************Essay
Instructions*************************SourcesMain
SourceSecond Required SourceThird Required SourceAdditional
Sources (optional)
Project 1: Chapter 4
Draft 10 points and Final 20 points
This project must be typed and you may work in groups for this
project (a maximum of three people).
Answer the questions with complete sentences and use all the
appropriate terms given in the notes or in
the book. Include any graphs and state what software,
calculator, or any other website you are using to
do your calculation and graphs. The link for the data is in
StatCrunch, but you can export it to an Excel file
if you want. To do this, once you open the link, click on Data,
Export, and then click on Export again to
download the Excel file.
A draft of the project will be due on Monday 05/16/22 by 11:59
pm and the complete project is due on
Tuesday 05/17/21 by 11:59 pm. For the draft, at least, you must
show that you are able to do the scatter
plot and compute the linear regression line.

22. A national restaurant chain is composed of 6500 restaurants,
each of which is located in close proximity
to an interstate highway. The restaurant's business strategy is to
serve its core customer base: people
traveling on the interstate highway system who are looking for a
quality dining experience. Customers
generally enjoy the restaurant chain's menu, atmosphere, and
consistency from restaurant to restaurant.
The company's leadership, located at corporate headquarters, is
very interested in the relationship
between the cost of a gallon of gasoline and the company's
revenue. Specifically, the company is
concerned that if gasoline prices rise in the near future, the
company's revenue will decline dramatically.
The company's research department recently collected data for
analysis in order to support leadership's
upcoming discussion of whether the company should expand
and diversify to locations away from an
interstate highway. Annual revenue figures from a random
sample of 150 restaurants were collected. The
research division also collected and calculated the average
annual cost of gasoline at these 150
restaurants by randomly selecting three gasoline stations near
each restaurant. Historical data was then
used to calculate the average annual cost of gasoline. The
Restaurant Number, Geographic Region,
Annual Revenue, Average Cost of Gasoline, Miles from the
Interstate, Square Footage and Annual
Increase in Revenue were collected for these 150 restaurants.
StatCrunch Data Set:
https://www.statcrunch.com/app/?dataurl=http%3A%2F%2Fww
w.statcrunch.com%2Fbooks%2FCQL%2F
dataset%2FCracker_Barrel.txt&dlim=tab&ft=true

23. Corporate headquarters wants to create a simple linear
regression model to predict a restaurant's annual
revenue using the average cost of gasoline.
1. First, create a scatterplot using Average Cost of Gasoline as
the independent variable and
Annual Revenue as the dependent variable. Does it appear to
have a linear association?
2. After performing a visual analysis of the scatterplot, if
appropriate, construct a simple linear
regression model using the average cost of gasoline to predict a
restaurant's annual revenue.
3. Using your simple linear regression model, what is the value
for the slope for this regression
model? Interpret the slope in this context.
4. Corporate headquarters is interested in forecasting a
restaurant's annual revenue based upon the
average cost of a gallon of gasoline. Using your simple linear
regression model, what is the
predicted Annual Revenue of a restaurant when the Average
Cost of Gasoline is
$3.00?
5. Based upon your simple linear regression, should the
restaurant chain be concerned if the price
of gasoline jumps to $4.00 per gallon? Explain.
https://www.statcrunch.com/app/?dataurl=http%3A%2F%2Fww

24. w.statcrunch.com%2Fbooks%2FCQL%2Fdataset%2FCracker_Ba
rrel.txt&dlim=tab&ft=true
https://www.statcrunch.com/app/?dataurl=http%3A%2F%2Fww
w.statcrunch.com%2Fbooks%2FCQL%2Fdataset%2FCracker_Ba
rrel.txt&dlim=tab&ft=true