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PREP - San Antonio Prefreshman Engineering Program: Library Exercise

Resources to support students in the San Antonio Prefreshman Engineering Program (PREP).

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Exercise (Beginning)

Open your email program and start a new email message. There are several parts to this exercise.

Part 1. Type the following information in the body of the email message:

  • Your Name
  • Your PREP Group Number
  • Today's Date

Part 2. Choose a Major

Go to What Can I Do with this Major?

1. Choose a major. Which major did you choose from the list?

2. What are some areas in which graduates with this major might work? 

3. What are some types of employers for this major?  Just list a few examples. 

Part 3. Exploring government information about careers

  • Go to Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH). This site describes the nature of each occupation's work, number of people employed in the US, training and other qualifications, job outlook, earnings, and sources of additional information.
  • In the left column, select an occupation group, or type a career you wish to explore in the "Search Handbook" box in the upper right corner. 

1. Which occupation did you select or what did you type?

2. What did you learn from the Handbook that you didn’t know before?

Go to the box in the next column Exercise (End) 

Exercise (End)

Part 4. Periodical articles about career trends and industry outlook

  • Go to the Vocational and Career Collection database.
  • Check the Full Text box under Limit Your Results
  • Type the profession or career you are researching in the first search box
  • In the box below type one of the following words: career, salary, outlook, wages, employment, occupations
  • Click on Search.

1. What search words did you type?

Look through several articles. Be sure to read abstracts or article summaries (hover over the magnifying glass icon), rather than simply looking at the article title.

  • Select an article
  • Click on the article title to bring up the article record
  • Click on the 5th icon on the right navigation column (it has a golden sheet and reads "Cite")

2. Copy the APA citation and paste it in the email message.

3. Scroll down the "Citation Format" list and copy the MLA citation and paste it in the email message.

4. Close the citation window. On the left side of the article record, click on the "HTML Full Text," "PDF Full Text," or "Linked Full Text" icon. Skim through the complete article. List one new item of information or advice you learned from this article.

Part 5. In your message, type your first and last name and "Library Exercise" in the subject line and send this message to prepstmarys@gmail.com

Optional: If you have time, search and explore another database listed under the Articles tab.

(Note: If you are off-campus, you can access this and other databases through the SAPL icon San Antonio Public Library web site.)