When considering possible career paths that incorporate writing, some obvious options are being an author or editor. But really, there are Tons of options out there.
If you’re interested in pursuing a career that incorporates writing AND research, here are some potential roles to consider:
1. Journalist
Journalists often write articles or scripts that report news stories. But in order to deliver well-rounded pieces, they have to do a fair bit of research, which can entail conducting interviews, analyzing data, finding additional sources and doing outside learning about the subjects they cover.
2. Research Analyst
Whether you’re working in market research analysis, operations research analysis or economic research analysis, research is a given. But, chances are that these roles will require you to write your findings and analyses in weekly, monthly or annual reports too.
3. Literary agent
Literary agents act on behalf of an author to secure a publishing deal and communicate with those involved in publishing and promoting the author’s work. It’s important for literary agents to understand what kind of works different imprints look for and changing trends in publishing, which requires research. And, for unestablished literary agents, the work usually requires more researching to find unsigned writers than sifting through an endless query inbox.
4. Copywriter
A copywriter writes advertising materials for promoting and selling goods and services. As part of the role, copywriters research the goods/services to find the best selling points to highlight, the companies they’re working to find the most complementary tones and language to use for them and the competition.
5. Technical writer
A technical writer translates complex information into written texts like instruction manuals, user manuals and journal articles. Some technical writers also create social media posts, web pages and press releases. In order to write these types of documents, technical writers must often research to be well-versed with the subject matter they’re describing.
6. Attorney
Attorneys (or law clerks which assist attorneys and judges) do extensive legal research for their cases and write letters and professional documents. These may include correspondence, motions, briefs and other documents.
7. Publicist
Publicists write press releases and media alerts to generate more awareness for their clients and their latest achievements and releases. Publicists also create and maintain media lists and media coverage and need to stay up-to-date with their activity and competition, which all requires research.
8. Content marketer
Content marketing is a branch of marketing which, instead of involving explicitly pitching a product or service, relies on generating materials like written blogs and social media posts to create an interest in a company’s product or service. The research comes in understanding which approaches yield the best results and adapting to changing trends.
9. Author
If you’ve ever wondered how your favorite author developed the murderer of a thriller that well, no, they’re not drawing on personal experience… In most cases, at least. What’s more likely is that they spent hours researching to write it well. In order to depict different professions, lifestyles, cultures, settings, etc., well, it’s often standard for authors to research what they haven’t experienced firsthand.
10. Broad research
No matter what kind of research you’re interested in doing, whether it be scientific, academic or some other focus, it’ll probably require writing a report or article that will present and explain your findings. These works also often have the potential to be published traditionally or in a peer-reviewed journal.