School of Journalism and Telecommunications: Internship Assignments

School of Journalism & Telecommunications

JAT Internship Assignments

Congratulations on becoming a JAT intern! The following assignments are mandatory. Students will not receive a grade for JAT 399 until they are completed.

INITIAL MEETING: During the first week of your internship, you MUST meet with your internship supervisor.
Daily Notes/Weekly Report

Students will purchase a three-ring binder and will make notes after every day they spend working on the internship. Once a week, they will e-mail the internship director a summary of their activities for the week and what they learned.

- ISC majors email Scott Whitlow: scott@uky.edu
- JOU majors email Scoobie Ryan: Scoobie@uky.edu
- TEL majors email John Clark: jclark@uky.edu

WHEN SENDING THESE WEEKLY E-MAILS, YOU SHOULD INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE PLACE WHERE YOU ARE DOING YOUR INTERNSHIP. THIS UPDATE ONLY NEEDS TO BE A PARAGRAPH OR SO. DO NOT SEND THE UPDATES IN AN ATTACHED DOCUMENT. THEY SHOULD BE SENT IN THE BODY OF AN E-MAIL.
Students must keep their daily notes so they will be able to discuss their activities in detail with the internship director as the semester progresses. The internship director may look at the daily notes to monitor the student's internship experience, but students should not submit their notes to the internship director unless asked.

Mid-Semester Report

Halfway through the semester (when interns have completed about half their hours), students will present a detailed written report to the internship director. (This will be done in hard copy form, not by e-mail).

The mid-semester report will discuss the duties the intern has undertaken, whether the student feels he or she is learning from the activities, and whether the student is making progress toward completing the goals outlined in the internship contract.

If the student has created written work, a videotape, or some other creative material, a copy of the work should be included in the report.

One of the purposes of the mid-semester report is for the internship director to see if there are problems with the internship that can be corrected, and that would make the second half of the internship more productive. This report should include information about the student's impression of the working environment where the internship is being completed.

Students need to be candid and specific about their internship experience in this report. Although no single page limit would be appropriate under all circumstances, the mid-semester report should be 2 pages double-spaced.
End-of-Semester Report

This report, which will be due before the end of the last week of classes, will summarize the activities the student has undertaken during the internship with specific reference to what the student did, what the student learned, how the internship has affected the student's interest in a career in the field, and what it was like to work at the internship site.

Copies of any materials created by the students that were not submitted during the mid-semester report should be attached to this end-of-semester report.

The end-of semester report may repeat some information from the mid-semester report, but much of the final report should be original. The final report should be 2 pages double-spaced. It should be submitted to the internship director by hard copy and not by e-mail.

(The internship supervisor will also submit an evaluation of the student's work at the end of the semester. The evaluation form is located here and will be sent directly to the internship director. In order to provide helpful feedback, the internship director will share the information from the supervisor's report with the student).
Additional Requirements

All students must write a thank you letter to the internship supervisor. The letter can be brief, but students should say what they got out of the internship and how it will help them in their careers. Be sure to use proper business form for your letter. Here is a sample business letter to show you the right form. You must submit a copy of the thank you letter to the internship director.
Sample thank-you letter

(This is just to show you the form; you must use your own words)

222 Maple Street
Lexington, KY 40506
December 10, 2005

Ms. Mary Jones
Marketing Director
Universe Communications
1150 Main Street
Lexington, KY 40505

Dear Ms. Jones:

I wanted to thank you for the excellent internship which I completed at Universe Communications during the fall semester.

I learned some very important skills and have a good idea now what it will be like to have a career in advertising. Your employees could not have been more helpful and encouraging. I very much appreciated the time they spent working with me.

As I mentioned to you, I will be graduating in May. I plan to keep in touch and look forward to talking with you about the possibility of working at Universe when I finish school.

Thank you again.

Sincerely yours,

Susan Miller