you will be researching how you’re the job field (lawyer) you hope to join after graduation has been impacted by the events of the past 5 years. You may focus on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing social unrest that our country hasn’t seen since Reconstruction, the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories like QANON, or any other major social event or shift that you know of, has had on your field. There are three main rhetorical moves you will need to make.
1: Provide a baseline. What was this job like in more stable social and economic times, i.e., Mid-2018? However, you may want to look further back to 2015 or before, depending on the industry you’re looking at. Some, such as Criminal Justice or Agriculture, were experiencing the kind of turmoil we all experienced in 2020 for the past 5 years or so. You may refer to assignment 1 for some background.
2: What events in the past five years directly impacted your job field? How so? Did something specific impact your industry in an exceptional way? Was your job field one of the few that was largely unscathed? In essence, what that happened since 2018 changed how your field does things and why.
3: What is the outlook for your job field? Is it one that looks to be recovering? Has it completely vanished, like some, or is it stronger than ever, like others? While you may have a vague sense of what people in your field are saying, here you will have to provide extensive documentation as to why you are making the conclusions you are.