Academic Internships: Earning English Credit
Contact: Jan Hill, English Department Internship Coordinator
Ex. 3440 hilljc@stolaf.edu RL-405
For a student to earn English credit interning for a publisher, newspaper, magazine, TV or radio station, or other language-related business or organization, the internship must involve substantial writing, reading, research, and/or editing. At a publishing house, for example, interns might read book manuscripts and write publishing recommendations; at a magazine or newspaper, students might be assigned to reporting, writing, and/or editing work. At nonprofit organizations, students might do research and write reports, memos, newsletters and blogs.
We usually assign a Level II (English 294) for a first internship, and reserve Level III, Eng. 394, for a possible second. Theoretically, a Level III also involves more, and more challenging, work (not onsite work, but the work submitted to the on-campus internship supervisor for the English credit).
A student who wants to earn academic credit in the English department should proceed as follows:
- Secure an internship for the following Interim, spring, or summer (CEL can help here)
- Ask a faculty member to act as the on-campus supervisor
- With the supervisor, fill out the required forms for academic credit (available at Registrar and through CEL)
- Visit with the English department chair to request final approval
Students can get help with finding internships in the Center for Experiential Learning office in the CEL Modular Building. Sandy Malecha is the CEL assistant director for Internships--Ex. 3268, email cel@stolaf.edu.
As an example of work required for an Eng. 294 credit, the on-campus supervisor might ask that the student keep a journal of activities and reflections at the workplace and write a final integrative essay in which the student reflects on the internship experience. A supervisor might also ask the student to do some supplementary reading related to the internship, come in mid-semester and at semester's end to talk about the internship, and perhaps submit a portfolio of any writing or editing done for the internship.
HOWEVER--The student and the faculty supervisor will usually work out the requirement details together when the student fills out the academic internship forms. The means of evaluation is somewhat open, and usually the student and faculty supervisor will brainstorm ideas and come up with something acceptable to both.
For a detailed policy on internships, see “Internships” in the St. Olaf College Catalog under Special Registrations:
http://www.stolaf.edu/catalog/academicregs/specialreg.html
The above site also outlines the requirements for independent studies and independent research projects.
All internships are graded P/N.
