INTERNSHIP GUIDELINES
One of the most rewarding experiences of college life is the opportunity to intern. Governmental internships are an invaluable resource for students of political science, and because of their ample supply there is no excuse for missing out. Internships, a form of experimental learning, are predicated on three components:
Knowledge: concepts, facts, information, prior experience
Activity: involvement in ongoing events.
Reflection: studied thought applied to understanding, assessing or analyzing one's experience.
There are positive and rewarding lessons inherent in governmental internships. Interning is a relatively low cost vantage point from which to preview a general class of careers and some specific occupations, as most internships provide for a career setting similar to many potential jobs. Interns find that their experience reduces career start up costs, provides guidance for future educational choices and may provide entry to a permanent job in the area since many government offices use internships as a low-risk recruiting and evaluation process.
From an educational standpoint, internships help bridge the gap between political science theory and objective reality. This is not meant to say that the practical aspects of the internship experience will negate or render theory irrelevant. Indeed, the complex political reality encountered should be recognized as complementary to the study of theory rather than in conflict with it. The more one views the internship as an educational experience
designed to augment academic work, the more enjoyable it will become. Therefore, all costs incurred must be seen as an educational investment, as with any course taken within the conventional campus setting.
HOW/WHERE TO GET GOOD INTERNSHIPS?
One of the most advisable methods of landing an internship is to work through an organized program, for several reasons. First, most such programs arrange for housing themselves or provide guidance and support in the process. Second, many programs develop and sponsor special academic seminars designed to integrate theory with experience, or allow the intern to take courses in one of the area schools. Third, most organized programs take advantage of the political personnel in the area for speaker series. Finally, the presence of an academic director to help coordinate the program and offer communication between the interns and their sponsoring institutions.
1. Georgia Internships: The Department of Political Science has in place two established internship outlets at the state level: the GEORGIA LEGISLATIVE INTERNSHIP Atlanta) and host of law firms in the Bibb County area with the expressed interest of recruiting majors as interns. Brochures detailing dates, procedures and financial aspects are available from the department. Prospective interns should inquire early, as the application process may take time, requiring recommendation letters, resumes, personal goal statements, etc. Because applications are submitted by the department on behalf of the student, any applicant MUST work with the department to qualify for these internships.
2. Washington Internships: The largest number of internships anywhere is found in the nation's capital. Students may intern in a wide array of places including Congress, the offices of individual representatives or Senators, the White House, any of the Federal Bureaucratic agencies, Congressional committees and sub-committees, private interest groups, lobbyists, newspapers, television stations, international organizations, foreign embassies, museums, libraries and academic or research centers. The department is in possession of several brochures from Washington based internship organizing programs which can be contacted to help place the student. Some of these organizations are: The Institute for Experimental Learning, The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, Georgetown University Institutes of Comparative Political and Economic Systems, Political Journalism and Business and Government Affairs. If you are interested in initiating contact with any of these organizations you MUST work through a faculty member in the department. It should be noted that some of these internships are pay-based, others are strictly voluntary requiring a sum of money similar to what would be paid in a regular academic quarter.
3. International Internships: In addition to the state and national internships, the department also has on file a listing of internships in the international arena. The list of international hosts is too extensive to list, but here is a
sample of some of the exciting places to intern: the United Nations, international organizations, multi-national corporations, embassies, newspapers, banks, special interest groups, and research institutes. It is important to note that most such programs are very competitive because of the limited number of positions available. This is why any student who is able to land one of these internships will be highly regarded as a prospective employee by employers in the field. In short, competitive they may be, but they are definitely worth the effort.
ELIGIBILITY FOR ACADEMIC CREDIT AT MERCER
Students are advised to keep the following conditions in mind when pursuing an internship:
1 . Most students pursue internships for academic credit. The department of political science policy can grant up to 6 credit hours for full time (term long, minimum of 20 hours per week) internships, although internship hours do not count towards the requirements for a major or minor in political science.
2. All academic credits must be pre-approved by the department, and the number of hours granted will be commensurate with the nature, duration, and demands of the internship program. All interns seeking academic credit must have their internship arrangement pre-approved by the department in order to ensure that the internship program meets the academic standards and criteria set by the department. Having been accepted (or invited) to intern with some office or politician is not sufficient enough to qualify the student for academic credit if not pre-approved by the department. The internship host should be able to demonstrate that the anticipated work responsibilities of the intern are of academic value and benefit, aimed at enhancing the quality and depth of the intern's understanding of the subject matter. Hence, it is in the interest of the student to check with the department before initiating contact with any prospective internship host for pre-approval.
3. Every intern must be directly supervised by a faculty member in the department to whom the student will be accountable. It is up to the student and supervisor to work out a set specific expectations prior to the start of the internship. During a regular academic session, two common options are used for developing an academic program worthy of credit.
Work/Study format: Under this arrangement, the student generally receives partial academic credit for work experiences. credit is granted on the basis of the work the supervisor recommends, and in some cases the submission of a journal or examples of work that was done. The more traditional academic learning expectations are relaxed in favor of more direct experience.
Internship research option: Many colleges allow students to receive a full semesters academic credit for an integrated program involving an internship and some form of original research. The research is evaluated with heavy emphasis on academic credibility and with the expectation that the student used the physical location and the access provided by the internship for good advantage.
GRADING AND EVALUATION OF INTERNS
Internship experiences do not lend themselves to traditional grading. In many cases the opportunities available for learning in an internship are out of the student's direct control. Evaluations by supervisors suffer from the lack of comparability. For these reasons, most internships are offered on a pass/fail basis. If grading is desired or necessary, grades should be based on products of the internship experience such as journals, work samples, research, rather than on the internship per se. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that if the student requests a letter grade one or more of the following assignments be somehow incorporated into the internship in order to make it worthy of academic credit.
Journals: At a minimum, all interns should be required to keep a journal of their observations and evaluations that will be read and evaluated by the academic supervisor. In the ideal situation, this review should occur a number of times during the internship so that shortcomings in the technique of recording observations and problems inherent in the internship can be corrected. The academic and educational component may be enhanced in one of several ways. For example, a student may be given a set of analytical concepts to watch for, such as power politics, roles, groupthink, communications overload, etc. The student would be required to create an operational definition, select experiences that represent this concept, describe the concept in action and assess its consequences. Another more demanding method involves the student reading several books or articles that purport to explain or describe these concepts and then compare the real world experience with the models represented in the literature.
Reality Testing: This is an exercise to help the student assess the gap between reality as observed in the internship and conventional academic wisdom. The student may be assigned a chapter from a book dealing with a subject similar to the settings of the internship. The student is asked to review this chapter and make whatever
corrections, additions and/or deletions, needed in helping to render the chapter more representative of reality.
Project Research: Many interns are expected to do substantive research or writing as part of their job. office projects may involve researching a substantive are as background for a legislative or bureaucratic decision, the collection and analysis of original data, taking over an area of correspondence, or preparing speeches or press releases. While the output expected by the job supervisor may not be appropriate for an academic piece of research per se, it could serve as the starting point of an academic paper. The goal of the resulting paper would be to evaluate the intern's ability to take an office-related job and put it in its political and organizational context.
SUMMARY OF INTERNSHIP EVALUATION PROCESS
Whether taken on Pass/Fail basis, or for a letter grade, the following practices should be observed as much as possible:
The student:
Prepares a specific "Learning Plan" in consultation with the supervisor.
Completes a mid-term self-evaluation.
Prepares a final self-evaluation and internship summary and learning portfolio.
Internship Host: When possible, a student should request that his/her internship host prepare a mid-term evaluation in which they state the type of assignments the student is charged with and the level of competence demonstrated by the student in carrying out these functions. An end-of-term final assessment report summarizing the value of the internship experience and the quality of the student's input or effort.
The supervisor:
Reviews and provides constructive criticism of the student's learning plan.
Provides a mid-term assessment of the student.
Prepares a final evaluation of the student for grading purposes and assigns appropriate grade. The internship is
evaluated on the basis of the student's performance, and the fulfillment of each of the student's personal goals as
demonstrated in the learning portfolio submitted at the end of the semester.
Summer 2006 - Morocco/Paris Study Abroad Program