ENGL 494 Internship

General Guidelines

  • Use your internship to explore your career ambitions—this helps you establish contacts, receive a possible job placement offer at internship site, and decide if a specific career is suitable for you.
  • The internship experience must enhance your verbal and written communications skills and provide opportunities for critical thinking skills. Internships that involve mostly clerical work are not good choices.
  • You can pursue one three-credit internship or multiple one- or two-credit internships over more than one semester.
  • You should complete your internship at some point during your last three semesters. 

 

EXAMPLES OF INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES

  • Social media editor for McQuillen Creative Group
  • Writer for Aberdeen Magazine
  • Sportswriter for NSU Wolves
  • Writing or copy editing for the Aberdeen American News
  • Reporter or copy editor for The Exponent
  • Tutoring with the NSU Tutoring Center
  • Teaching assistant for composition or literature course (must meet specific qualifications – see faculty advisor) 

 

PROCEDURES

  • At the end of your sophomore year or beginning of your junior year, you should meet with your faculty advisor to discuss and settle on a suitable internship experience.
  • You initiate contact with an on-site supervisor at the internship location (the person who will work most closely with you at the internship site).
  • You and the on-site supervisor work together to complete an Internship Contract (available from your faculty advisor) that outlines all expected internship duties.
  • You bring this contract to your faculty advisor who will then fill out the registration form (Application for a Special Project/Directed Research/Readings/Independent Study), and your faculty advisor will send the form plus the contract to the Chair of the Department of English, Communication, and Global Languages. At this point, you will automatically be registered for the internship.
  • At least once at the beginning, once in the middle of the internship, and once near the end (more often if the need appears), your faculty advisor will communicate with your on-site supervisor to check in on your performance at the internship. A written evaluation by the on-site supervisor may be requested.
  • At the end of the internship, you will complete an Internship Evaluation AND an internship reflection paper (guidelines for both are available from your faculty advisor).
  • The faculty advisor assigns a letter grade at the end of the semester—based on reports from the on-site supervisor, your attentiveness to communicating with your faculty advisor, the quality of your work at/for the internship, completion of the internship evaluation, and completion of the internship reflection paper. 

 

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR THE INTERNSHIP

  • You will complete 35 hours of work for each credit hour of ENGL 494. This work includes everything related to the internship: training, meetings, and expected internship site duties and requirements.
  • Regular communication (in-person or by email/phone) between you and your faculty advisor.
  • An internship journal, with the frequency of the entries to be provided by your faculty advisor.
  • The reflective paper (five printed double-spaced pages). With this paper, you are encouraged to think through the internship experience honestly and reflect upon how it has affected your career ambitions.
  • The reflective paper (perhaps with the journal) is filed in your department portfolio.
  • Completion of the internship evaluation. 

 

FACULTY ADVISORS