Information Services Careers Background Information occupies an invaluable place in our lives. Information is the tool by which we learn, make decisions, and answer questions or concerns that we face every day at work, at school, and in our personal lives. A junior high school student may seek information on the history of ancient Greece […]

Insurance Careers Background The insurance industry provides protection for its customers against financial loss from various hazards. This protection is offered in the form of insurance policies. The industry is a massive, highly complex one that has grown out of an ancient and very simple principle: The more people who share a financial risk, the […]

Internet Careers Background Perhaps you’re a casual user of the Internet, occasionally surfing the Web and exchanging email. Perhaps you’ve published your own Web page and spend several hours a day online reading the latest news, checking stock quotes, buying groceries, doing research for a paper, or playing computer games. Regardless of your experience with […]

Law Careers Background You probably know someone who drives as if there were no speed limits or stop signs. They just zoom down the road, oblivious of others. What if there really were no traffic laws like stopping at stop signs or driving slower on a curvy road? We would live in a much more […]

Post Office Careers Background The postal service touches the lives of virtually everyone in the nation. Letter and package carriers visit the homes and offices of millions of Americans, clerks and postmasters wait on customers at their local post offices, and thousands of postal employees work behind the scenes to process and deliver 212 billion […]

Literary Arts Careers Background From the earliest times, people have wanted to communicate with other people, and one of the best means of communication is language. Before the invention of writing, people could only transmit information orally. After writing was invented, which may have occurred in Sumer in approximately 4000 BC, writers could communicate with […]

Machining and Machinery Careers Background The machining and machinery industry manufactures metal parts that are used to make machines, tools, and other machine parts. In other words, the industry creates metal machines that make other machines. The machining and machinery industry also produces parts for such items as engines, tools, and other machinery. It is, […]

Manufacturing Careers Background From ancient Greek clay pots to Roman bronze weapons and building materials, humans have demonstrated the need to produce goods. By the Renaissance, Europeans were manufacturing gunpowder, clothing, and other goods for trade with people in faraway lands and across the oceans. They built factories where goods were produced by hand with […]

Mathematics and Physics Careers Background Mathematics and physics are closely related natural sciences. Mathematics is the science and study of numbers and how they relate with each other. Physics is the study of the basic elements and laws of the universe. The earliest mathematical records date to the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians of 3000 BC, […]

Metallurgy Careers Background The first crude metal objects, knives for hunting and tools for farming, evolved during the Stone Age. Forged metal (heated, then hammered into shape) was used to make simple blades and hoes. Historical records indicate that metal casting (melting, and then pouring into a shaped mold) was being done around 4000 BC. […]