edtechdev/chatbotfiles · Datasets at Hugging Face

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whether through simple reflection or formal analysis, is important to find your place. But consider the
importance and reality of change and your openness to it. Regardless of your major, you will embark on a job
and a career that will change many times over the course of your life. You’ll likely change responsibilities, roles,
companies, and even industries. Even if you join a company one week after graduation and stay with it until
you retire, the job and the company won’t remain the same. The world moves far too quickly for that, which is
a good thing. All of those changes are opportunities to improve yourself and get closer to the “why” of your
work: your purpose.
Your purpose is the answer to all types of questions that people may ask you. “Do you like your job?” “How did
you get into that?” “Is it worth it?” But more importantly, your purpose is the answer to all types of questions
that you should ask yourself. If you keep asking yourself those questions and give yourself time to answer,
you’ll have the best understanding of not only what you want to do, but why.
You may find out that no single job or career is going to fulfill your purpose. If your foremost goal—your

Access for free at openstax.org

12.3 • Where Can You Go from Here?

ideal—is being a good parent, your job might simply be the financial means to help accomplish that. If you
want to eradicate poverty, you may do that through a job plus volunteer work plus a management position at
a foundation.
Don’t think, however, that you can’t fulfill your purpose within your career. It may take a few tries and restarts,
but you can make a widespread impact in a number of ways. Furthermore, if you’re having trouble entering a
career-oriented purpose through the “front door,” your skills and abilities might get you in through the side
door. For example, if your purpose is to help eradicate racial and socioeconomic differences in America, you
can work toward that in dozens of ways. At first it may seem that being a social worker, political activist, civil
rights lawyer, or educator is the primary entryway—the front door. But what if none of these work out for you?
What if you don’t fit any of these molds, but you’re the best salesperson most people have ever met? Every
sales job you’ve taken, you’ve blown past your goal and earned top awards and bonuses. You’ve come so far
that giving up your career would be financially devastating. So how can you use your skills and experience
toward your purpose? Well, you could volunteer to use your sales skills to raise money or convince lawmakers
to change things. Or you could get a job where you’re selling products or services that help people in the exact
situations you are trying to improve. You could sell low-cost telecommunication systems to towns and school
systems so that residents have better access to the Internet, helping them learn and stay connected. You could
sell building safety systems to keep people secure. You could sell educational technology, financial services, or
even low-cost solar paneling to improve the lives and independence of people in impoverished areas. Your
work would be similar to what you’ve done your whole life, but you would feel personally fulfilled and
connected to a purpose.
In psychology, advertising, education, and other disciplines, researchers and professionals use a concept
called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In essence, it’s a progression that starts with satisfying our most basic,
physical needs (food, shelter) and moves through our more social and societal needs (cooperation, belonging)
to our highest needs—feeling fulfilled and complete. (This brief description oversimplifies a rather detailed
theory.)
Given this base introduction, consider how Maslow’s theory applies to your future. At the bottom, your most
basic needs are fulfilled by a job. It pays the bills, keeps you secure, and puts food on your table. At the next
level is your career. Your career is more consistent; you invest more in it and probably are more heavily
rewarded. In your career, you’ll likely build up relationships over time, both professional and personal, creating
a sense of community and belonging. Some people will come to associate you with your career, and you may
feel partly defined by it. But it likely won’t fulfill you all on its own.
At the highest level, the level that allows you to become more fulfilled and complete, is your purpose. That’s
the piece you strive for, the piece that helps you navigate your path. It’s what you may see yourself still moving
toward in a later part of your life. It’s what you most want or even need to accomplish.

395

396

12 • Planning for Your Future

Figure 12.13 This adapted version of Maslow’s hierarchy aligns different aspect of your pathway with the different levels and type of
needs we have as humans.

Just as you’ll likely have more than one job and even more than one career, you will have more than one
purpose. You will even have them at the same time. You can be 100 percent driven to be the best possible
therapist and 100 percent driven to be the best possible older sibling, all while being 100 percent driven to
continually deepen your knowledge of yoga. Your time and your focus will be split between them, but they will
still each fulfill you. As you get older and gain experiences, both positive and negative, your priorities may
change. But you’ll be successful as long as you adhere to the principles we’ve discussed and the qualities,
values, and abilities you’ve identified in yourself. College offers you the opportunity to keep asking yourself the
best, most challenging questions, all while you have many people dedicated to helping you find the answers.
Those answers may surprise you, but the important thing is to keep asking and keep learning.

Access for free at openstax.org

A • Conducting and Presenting Research

A

397

Conducting and Presenting Research

Turning Information into Knowledge
Estimated completion time: 35 minutes.
Questions to consider:
• What is the difference between information and knowledge?
• What is information literacy?
• What are the steps to a good research study?

What Is the Difference between Information and Knowledge?
Life is a series of problems needing solutions. We need to find information that matters and then discover why
it matters. Curiosity, then, is a response to an environment of exploration, manifesting in wanting to know
“why” or “how.” How do you make sense of the world? How does information translate to knowledge?
Connecting ideas, thinking critically, acting responsibly, and communicating effectively are all essential to
lifelong learning and active engagement in today’s world. You need to become proficient, ethical users and
producers of information in a globally connected world. It is important to be able to reason, manage
resources, work productively with others, acquire and evaluate information effectively, organize information,
interpret and communicate the information, and work with an ever-evolving variety of technologies. In other
words, you need to become information-savvy consumers and producers. You need to be able to adapt to,
understand, evaluate, and make use of technology so you can be citizens that shape our society, rather than
being its pawns. What you learn is often what you will want to communicate to others.

whether through simple reflection or formal analysis, is important to find your place. But consider the

importance and reality of change and your openness to it. Regardless of your major, you will embark on a job

and a career that will change many times over the course of your life. You’ll likely change responsibilities, roles,

companies, and even industries. Even if you join a company one week after graduation and stay with it until

you retire, the job and the company won’t remain the same. The world moves far too quickly for that, which is

a good thing. All of those changes are opportunities to improve yourself and get closer to the “why” of your

work: your purpose.

Your purpose is the answer to all types of questions that people may ask you. “Do you like your job?” “How did

you get into that?” “Is it worth it?” But more importantly, your purpose is the answer to all types of questions

that you should ask yourself. If you keep asking yourself those questions and give yourself time to answer,

you’ll have the best understanding of not only what you want to do, but why.

You may find out that no single job or career is going to fulfill your purpose. If your foremost goal—your

Access for free at openstax.org

12.3 • Where Can You Go from Here?

ideal—is being a good parent, your job might simply be the financial means to help accomplish that. If you

want to eradicate poverty, you may do that through a job plus volunteer work plus a management position at

a foundation.

Don’t think, however, that you can’t fulfill your purpose within your career. It may take a few tries and restarts,

but you can make a widespread impact in a number of ways. Furthermore, if you’re having trouble entering a

career-oriented purpose through the “front door,” your skills and abilities might get you in through the side

door. For example, if your purpose is to help eradicate racial and socioeconomic differences in America, you

can work toward that in dozens of ways. At first it may seem that being a social worker, political activist, civil

rights lawyer, or educator is the primary entryway—the front door. But what if none of these work out for you?

What if you don’t fit any of these molds, but you’re the best salesperson most people have ever met? Every

sales job you’ve taken, you’ve blown past your goal and earned top awards and bonuses. You’ve come so far

that giving up your career would be financially devastating. So how can you use your skills and experience

toward your purpose? Well, you could volunteer to use your sales skills to raise money or convince lawmakers

to change things. Or you could get a job where you’re selling products or services that help people in the exact

situations you are trying to improve. You could sell low-cost telecommunication systems to towns and school

systems so that residents have better access to the Internet, helping them learn and stay connected. You could

sell building safety systems to keep people secure. You could sell educational technology, financial services, or

even low-cost solar paneling to improve the lives and independence of people in impoverished areas. Your

work would be similar to what you’ve done your whole life, but you would feel personally fulfilled and

connected to a purpose.

In psychology, advertising, education, and other disciplines, researchers and professionals use a concept

called Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In essence, it’s a progression that starts with satisfying our most basic,

physical needs (food, shelter) and moves through our more social and societal needs (cooperation, belonging)

to our highest needs—feeling fulfilled and complete. (This brief description oversimplifies a rather detailed

theory.)

Given this base introduction, consider how Maslow’s theory applies to your future. At the bottom, your most

basic needs are fulfilled by a job. It pays the bills, keeps you secure, and puts food on your table. At the next

level is your career. Your career is more consistent; you invest more in it and probably are more heavily

rewarded. In your career, you’ll likely build up relationships over time, both professional and personal, creating

a sense of community and belonging. Some people will come to associate you with your career, and you may

feel partly defined by it. But it likely won’t fulfill you all on its own.

At the highest level, the level that allows you to become more fulfilled and complete, is your purpose. That’s

the piece you strive for, the piece that helps you navigate your path. It’s what you may see yourself still moving

toward in a later part of your life. It’s what you most want or even need to accomplish.

395

396

12 • Planning for Your Future

Figure 12.13 This adapted version of Maslow’s hierarchy aligns different aspect of your pathway with the different levels and type of

needs we have as humans.

Just as you’ll likely have more than one job and even more than one career, you will have more than one

purpose. You will even have them at the same time. You can be 100 percent driven to be the best possible

therapist and 100 percent driven to be the best possible older sibling, all while being 100 percent driven to

continually deepen your knowledge of yoga. Your time and your focus will be split between them, but they will

still each fulfill you. As you get older and gain experiences, both positive and negative, your priorities may

change. But you’ll be successful as long as you adhere to the principles we’ve discussed and the qualities,

values, and abilities you’ve identified in yourself. College offers you the opportunity to keep asking yourself the

best, most challenging questions, all while you have many people dedicated to helping you find the answers.

Those answers may surprise you, but the important thing is to keep asking and keep learning.

Access for free at openstax.org

A • Conducting and Presenting Research

A

397

Conducting and Presenting Research

Turning Information into Knowledge

Estimated completion time: 35 minutes.

Questions to consider:

• What is the difference between information and knowledge?

• What is information literacy?

• What are the steps to a good research study?

What Is the Difference between Information and Knowledge?

Life is a series of problems needing solutions. We need to find information that matters and then discover why

it matters. Curiosity, then, is a response to an environment of exploration, manifesting in wanting to know

“why” or “how.” How do you make sense of the world? How does information translate to knowledge?

Connecting ideas, thinking critically, acting responsibly, and communicating effectively are all essential to

lifelong learning and active engagement in today’s world. You need to become proficient, ethical users and

producers of information in a globally connected world. It is important to be able to reason, manage

resources, work productively with others, acquire and evaluate information effectively, organize information,

interpret and communicate the information, and work with an ever-evolving variety of technologies. In other

words, you need to become information-savvy consumers and producers. You need to be able to adapt to,

understand, evaluate, and make use of technology so you can be citizens that shape our society, rather than

being its pawns. What you learn is often what you will want to communicate to others.