Internship Contract for the Professional Writing & Editing Program1

Internship Contract for Organizations, Interns, and the Professional Writing & Editing Program

Department of English

West VirginiaUniversity

The purpose of this document is to establish clear parameters, procedures, and outcomes for your M.A. in Professional Writing & Editing (PWE) Internship. This document is a tool to be used by you, your internship organization, and the PWE Internship Coordinator (Brian Ballentine) to establish the details of your internship. This agreement must be signed by all three parties in order for your internship to be worth the appropriate number of credit hours in the MA in PWE Program at West VirginiaUniversity.

Responsibilities

Sponsoring organization’s responsibilities:

To ensure that both the intern and the sponsoring organization benefit as much as possible from the internship experience, the sponsoring organization must:

  • Assign work that is relevant and useful to both the sponsoring organization and to the intern’s professional development;
  • Assign work requiring skills the intern has developed in the MA in PWE program (e.g. writing, editing, research, etc.);
  • Train and guide the intern through his or her designated tasks (and/or assigning a mentor to the intern);
  • Serve as a resource regarding career information and other aspects of professional development; and
  • File formal evaluations of the intern’s professionalism and work ethic at three regular intervals during the semester (evaluation forms will be provided by the PWE Internship Coordinator).

Student’s responsibilities:

As an intern, the student will be expected to:

  • Inform the internship sponsor of the criteria for the MA in PWE internship;
  • Arrive at the internship at the designated time and location, prepared for work;
  • Contact his or her supervisor in advance regarding any absence and completing the duties of the absent period at a time convenient to both the sponsor and the intern;
  • Execute assigned tasks to the best of his or her ability; and
  • Seek help from the supervisor should the intern have any questions regarding an assigned task.

Agreement

Please provide the appropriate contact information for the internship:

Name:
Student number: / 700-
Name of the sponsoring organization:
Address and telephone number of sponsoring organization:
Name, title, and contact information for intern’s supervisor and project manager (if different):
Dates of internship:

Please provide the following information regarding the plan of work for the internship.

A good internship agreement will require dialogue between the student, the organization, and the Professional Writing & Editing internship coordinator to develop adequate answers to the following prompts.

Describe the project(s) or work tasks that the intern will be assigned during the internship and anticipated deliverable dates:

List and describe the products the student will produce during the internship:

List and describe the learning goals for the internship (these can include both student and organization learning goals):

List the criteria that will be used to assess the internship (note: these criteria should cover the quality of the work produced, address the day-to-day performance of the student within the organization, and refer to the learning goals):

Describe how and when work, progress, and performance will be assessed and communicated during the internship (when feedback will be provided and how it will be delivered—e.g., in a meeting, in writing, both):

Deadlines

Sponsoring organization’s responsibilities:

Week of March 2 - 6, 20xx:

Provide a progress report at the mid-point of the internship

Week of April 27 - May 1, 20xx:

Provide a final evaluation of the intern’s work

Student’s responsibilities:

January 23, 20xx:

…

February 6, 20xx:

…

February 20, 20xx:

…

March 6, 20xx:

…

March 20, 20xx:

…

March 27, 20xx:

…

April 1, 20xx:

…

April 17, 20xx:

…

May 1, 20xx:

Final version of portfolio due. A final grade will be given later in the month.

NOTE: These dates are tentative. It is the goal of the intern and the sponsoring organization that the work will be completed ahead of schedule. It has been agreed, however, that all completed and final work be submitted no later than May 1, 20xx.

Signatures

Name of supervisor or project manager (please type or print):
Signature of supervisor or project manager:
Date:
Name of intern (please type or print):
Signature of intern:
Date:
Signature of Professional Writing & Editing Internship Coordinator:
Date: