My career goals is to work with animals in the future. Lifelong learning is critical for this goal as it is important to keep up with current news and research with agricultural practices regarding livestock or how wars can threaten wildlife species. It is important to be updated so I can be a professional in my field. I will likely apply for a graduate program in marine biology and maybe pursue a PhD program in the area as well. This is because I want to be more educated and informed on the smaller niches of the area.
There are many strategies I used in the past to locate and evaluate the quality of sources of technical and professional knowledge. One strategy is to peruse the source for the sources they used. If there is a bibliography with a list of books, journals, or articles credited to reputable professionals in the topic, I can say that this source can be of high quality. If the source seems unprofessional and a little fishy in its credibility, then the source should not be considered to be of high quality. One example of how I integrated and applied new knowledge to my academic life is the use of excel. I never used excel in my personal life. I would only utilize the computer program for graphs and plots in my classes. But after using it for several different purposes, for example finding growth rate in bioengineering, I realized I could use excel for calculating finances for work.