Internship Guidelines

About the internship

You are required to take one internship in this program. You may take a maximum of two.

Areas of opportunity for internships include but are not limited to technical writing, journalism, creative writing, web authoring, scriptwriting, and business or other professional writing.

Your internship gives you the chance to apply classroom work, gain experience, and earn credits while working in a professional setting.

From time to time, local companies request interns. Such positions will be posted on the graduate bulletin board in the English Department. At times, internships are available at UMass Dartmouth. Such opportunities will also be posted.

Before applying

Because of the importance of the internship to your program, please consult with your graduate faculty advisor while making your plans.

Interns reflect directly on the quality of our program. To ensure that sponsors get qualified interns, the graduate committee will withhold internship requests until you have demonstrated the requisite skills and professionalism through the quality of your coursework and record of attendance in this program.

Before applying for your internship, select a field site and negotiate entry by talking with the director of personnel, editor, manager, or the appropriate decision maker. Then convince this person that the internship you propose would be mutually beneficial. (Creative writers not planning to work on site must submit their work to their faculty sponsor.)

Once the organization has agreed to sponsor you, discuss your projected responsibilities with your assigned on-site supervisor and your graduate advisor. Then write your proposal. You will also need to prepare a contract form and a cover/signature sheet. Proposal guidelines and templates for the contract form and cover/signature sheet are below.

Once you begin

Once you begin your internship, you are responsible for fulfilling your contract. If you have no compelling reason for an incomplete internship, you will receive an "F." If you have problems at the site, discuss them with your advisor.

To receive credit

To receive credit for your internship, you must write a final report describing your experience. This report must be submitted no later than one week prior to the last day of classes of the semester interned. (Attach copies of the documents produced on site.) Creative writers must write a critical preface to the work done during the internship, attach a copy of the work, and submit the final report to the faculty sponsor.

If you receive a poor final report from your supervisor, you will receive no credit, and you may be denied future internships.

Preparing your proposal

Proposal format

Your proposal package will consist of three parts:

• the main document
• the contract form
• the cover/signature sheet

The format for your proposal may vary, as proposal format will depend on the work you propose to do. But the headings below should appear in the main document.

1. Proposal title
2. Proposer and area of work (technical writing, journalism, etc...)
3. Qualifications (include graduate courses taken to prepare for the internship, comparable experience, relevant undergraduate study, publications, and so on)
4. Graduate courses you will be taking while doing your internship
5. Proposal
• Description of field site/organization where internship will be done
• Background (e.g., Why have you chosen the site? What are your goals?)
• Work description (Explain the work you will do, the hours (weekly) you will spend on site, the documents expected of you (e.g., newsletters, public relations pieces, articles, reports, grants, etc...)
• Other responsibilities at the field site
6. Deadlines and due dates (e.g., If you are responsible for a major on-site project, when is it due? What other deadlines must you meet? When will you submit your internship report?)
7. Dates and/or arrangements with faculty sponsor for sharing your work with the sponsor.

Where to submit your proposal

Submit copies of the typed contract (with proposal attached) to your on-site supervisor, faculty advisor, and the Director of Graduate Programs. Secure their signatures on the cover/signature sheet and attach at the front of the document. Submit signed copies to the on-site supervisor, faculty advisor, and the director of graduate studies.

Contract form

You can download a copy of the Internship Contract Form template in one of three formats:

• Sample Internship Contract Form — Microsoft Word Version
• Sample Internship Contract Form — Rich Text Format Version (please note that this version can be opened in any word processing application)
• Sample Internship Contract Form — PDF Version (please note that this version is not editable and is to be used as a guideline only)

Cover/Signature page

You can download a copy of the Internship Signature/Cover page template in one of three formats:

• Sample Internship Signature/Cover Sheet — Microsoft Word Version
• Sample Internship Signature/Cover Sheet — Rich Text Format Version (please note that this version can be opened in any word processing application)
• Sample Internship Signature/Cover Sheet — PDF Version (please note that this version is not editable and is to be used as a guideline only)