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

Internship Contract for the Professional Writing & Editing Program1

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

Department of English

West Virginia University

The purpose of this document is to establish clear parameters, procedures, and outcomes for your 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 3 credit hours in the PWE Program at West Virginia University.

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 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:
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):

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: