Internship Assignments

Email journals

You will complete eight email journals over the duration of your internship. Each journal entry should be a half-page or more explanation of what you did, learned and observed during the most recent one- or two-week period of your internship.

It’s important your journal entries not only describe what you did over the last week (or two), but more importantly, explain what you observed or learned.

It should answer the questions:

• What did you notice that worked well or didn’t work well?
• What did you notice about human behavior (supervisor-employee relationship, company-client relationship), consumer behavior (what customers prefer) or business processes?

Requirements

• Send your journals in the body of the email, not as an attachment
• Your subject line should read, “Journal #__– first and last name” (Example subject line: Journal #1 – Matt Smith)
• Each entry should be a 1/2 page long and single-spaced. At the top of the email, type these subheads and responses to each:
  • Name:
  • Company name:
  • Supervisor’s name and their email address:
  • Dates you worked and number of hours:
  • Running total of hours so far:

When is it due?

Your first journal entry is due one week after the start of your internship. The last journal entry is due on the Monday of the last week of your internship.

Choose a day of the week – usually Monday – and send the remaining journal entries every week or two weeks on that day for a minimum of eight journal entries.

Each journal entry should cover the same time period of your previous journal entry.

Tips for success

• The length of your internship determines whether or not you submit bi-weekly or weekly email journals.
  • Longer internships will require you to submit journals every two weeks.
  • Shorter internships will require weekly journals.
• Spread your email journals over the period of time of your internship. Do not write more than one journal per week and do not front load or back load your journal entries. We want you to reflect on your learning over time.
• The best way to organize your email journal is to use two subheads: “What I Did” and “What I Learned”
• Important: If you have a question for Dr. Rothschild, send a separate email with the subject line, “Question”.

Lessons Learned paper

The Lessons Learned paper will be based on your email journals and other experiences you had during the internship.

Imagine that a potential employer is interviewing you and they asked you the question, “What did you gain from your experience at this internship?”

The paper should be 5-to-7 pages of content (not including title page and table of contents) and include the following:

• Title page (using our title page creator)
• Table of contents
• Introduction: Where did you work? What did you do?
• Knowledge, skills and attitudes learned
• Pros and cons of internship
• Recommendations to the company to create a better internship experience
• Page numbers starting after the table of contents
• Double-spaced, 10-to-12 point standard font.

Email the completed copy as an attachment with the subject line: “Lessons Learned – [your name]”

When is it due?

Submit the Lessons Learn paper on the Monday of the last week of your internship by midnight. Send as an attachment via email. You do NOT need to submit a hard copy of this assignment.

Research project

For your project, you will solve an organizational problem for your internship provider.

First, you should ask your supervisor about problems that need resolving.

Examples of problems could be that a company needs an internship orientation manual, a customer survey report or a proposal for how to improve sales.

Once you identify the problem, you should investigate other companies who have solved the problem, as well as credible research to derive an approach for solving the problem.

You should then use that research to solve the problem.

Your project should be 10-to-13 pages of content (not including title page and table of contents), plus a sources cited page, and “deliverable” in the appendix.

Structure

• Title page (using our title page creator)
• Table of contents
• Part 1: Identify the problem
• Part 2: What is the ideal situation?
• Part 3: Solution process
• Part 4: Sources used (at least seven credible sources are required)
• Part 5: Appendix (includes a deliverable – the solution you came up with)

Guidelines

• Page numbers at bottom center
• In-text citations (use APA style in-text citations)
• Double spaced, 10-to-12 point font standard font

In all cases, there will be a “deliverable” found in the appendix

If you cannot implement the solution due to time constraints or other reasons, you may give a detailed recommendation on what the company needs to do to solve the problem. In that case, the solution comes in the form of a proposal for your internship provider to implement later if they so choose.

When you are ready for a sample of a best practice internship research project, send an email to Dr. Rothschild with the subject line "Sample Internship Research Project."

When is it due?

By midnight no later than two Mondays prior to the end of your internship. Early submissions are welcome.

Submit a PDF version of your internship research project to the "Upload Folder" in your internship Blackboard course.

Supervisor Appraisal Form

The last week of your internship, meet with your supervisor and complete the supervisor appraisal form. Scan as a PDF, and submit this form in the "Upload Folder" in your internship Blackboard course.

When is it due?

Submit the Supervisor Appraisal Form in the "Upload Folder" no later than the Wednesday of the last week of your internship.