- To link academic learning of public administration,
policy processes and other aspects of public
life with practical work experience in a public
(or private) agency. Interns are to complete
tasks assigned by the agency and to learn
about day-to-day administrative organization,
procedures, and problems.
- To give students a chance to consider careers
in public service or other areas of public
life.
Qualifications of Student
- Completion of the core field requirements
for the political science major (PLSC 250,
PLSC 261, and PLSC 271 or PLSC 291)
- Completion of at least one advanced course
in the field of study to which the internship
most closely relates
- Acceptability to the agency.
Registration
Initial contact with the Intern
Coordinator should usually be one quarter in
advance of registration if the student is interested
in a local internship. In the case of state
and federal agencies, longer lead times are
necessary, and contact with the Intern Coordinator
should be at least two quarters in advance of
registration.
Contact the Intern Coordinator
for permission to register for PLSC 444 (3-15
credits). Credit may be divided over two quarters
where the internship placement requires a commitment
of more than 10 weeks. No more than 10 credits
of internship and independent study, combined, may be counted toward the major.
Placement Information
After the intern has been with
the agency for about a week, a placement information
summary is submitted to the Intern Coordinator.
This contains the following information:
-
Description of expected assignments or duties
-
Duration and working hours of the internship
-
Office address and phone number of the intern
-
Name, title, address and phone number of the
intern's supervisor.
Submit your placement information summary using
the on-line form on the department website
HERE. You will receive a confirmation response
after submitting the form on the web. Print
a copy of the confirmation page to include in
your internship portfolio at the end of the
quarter.
Reflection Papers
Interns will write three short
papers reflecting on aspects of the internship
experience. The first two statements address
questions posed below. The final reflective
statement will be based on a question or idea
developed by the intern. Details of the assignment
include:
- Reflective responses should be one to three
pages in length.
- They are due during the third, sixth, and
final week of the internship.
- Submit reflection papers #1 and #2 as an
e-mail or e-mail attachment to sara.weir@wwu.edu .
- Type PLSC 444 Reflection in the
subject line of the e-mail
- Print a copy of your e-mail and the attachment
to include in your internship portfolio.
- Reflection # 1 – “What surprises you
most about the internship experience? How
is it different than you expected based on
what you have read or learned in the classroom?”
(Due Week 3)
- Reflection #2 – “What is the most challenging
aspect, positive or negative, of your internship
placement?” (Due Week 6)
- Reflection #3 – You create the question
or idea for the final reflective response.
(Due with final portfolio)
Internship Project/Paper
Depending upon the nature of
the intern's assignment with the agency, a project
report or paper is submitted at the end of the
quarter. Project reports are submitted in those
cases where the intern has been responsible
for the preparation of an agency report, a copy
of which can be submitted to the instructor
as evidence of the intern's report preparation
skills. In those cases where the intern's assignments
do not lend themselves to the submission of
a substantial project report, a paper is required.
Length and scope of the paper is determined by
the number of credits and in consultation with
the Intern Coordinator.
Papers are prepared in the
format prescribed on Appendix 1 of this
handout and in strict accord with the policy
concerning plagiarism presented in
Appendix
2.
The approach, topic, format, and length of
the internship project report or paper is to
be discussed with the Intern Coordinator no
later than the fifth week of the quarter.
Internship Evaluation
Supervisor's Evaluation of the Intern’s Performance
An evaluation of the intern's
performance is prepared by the intern's supervisor
and is either submitted on-line
HERE, mailed directly to the Intern Coordinator,
or is given to the intern by the supervisor
for inclusion in the internship portfolio.
An evaluation form for the supervisor is attached
as the last page of this document
(Appendix
4).
Intern's Evaluation of the
Internship Experience
A brief evaluation of the internship experience
is to be prepared by the intern and included
as part of the internship portfolio in order
to assist the instructor in considering whether
the agency is appropriate for future placement
of interns. This evaluation is treated as confidential
by both the student and the instructor.
Internship Portfolio
An internship portfolio is
due on the first day of finals week, unless
another time is agreed to by the intern and
the Intern Coordinator. The portfolio is an
opportunity for you to bring together and show-case
your internship experience. Although you may
have submitted some of the required elements
on-line earlier in the quarter, you are required
to include copies of the following.
- Placement information.
- Three reflection papers.
- Project report or paper.
- Intern's evaluation of the internship experience.
- Samples of letters or other work produced
during the internship.
- Other correspondence or articles the intern
decides to include (optional).
- Name and address of the person writing
the final intern evaluation.
The internship portfolio is
to be bound in one notebook or contained in
one large envelope with the student's name and
WWU ID number, the Intern Coordinator's name,
the course prefix and number, and the academic
quarter and year in which the student is registered
for the internship indicated clearly on the
cover or the outside.
Please confer with the Intern Coordinator if
you need to use an alternative format for the
internship portfolio.
Part of the course grade will depend upon
your careful adherence to the instructions contained
in this document. The final grade will
be based upon the academic requirements described
above and the agency supervisor's evaluation
(on an approximately 50-50 basis).
Five credits for approximately 15 hours per
week service with the agency, and 10 credits
for approximately 30 hours per week.
- Frequent absence or lack of contact with
the internship supervisor.
- Lack of feedback relative to the quality
of the intern's performance.
- Hostility from other employees who receive
less attention from the supervisor or who
do not understand the intern's responsibilities.
- Appearance---some agencies may have an
unwritten dress code.
If these or other problems
develop, interns are to discuss the problem
with their supervisor. If this does not result
in correction of the problem, the Intern Coordinator
should be contacted for further discussion of
the matter.
Appendix 1
THE PROJECT REPORT OR PAPER
Coversheet
Include title, your name, WWU
ID number, course number and title, term, and
date.
Table of Contents
The paper should be divided
into chapters, sections, or parts in order to
assist the reader in following the discussion
or argument. The titles of the parts should
be included in the table of contents with their
page numbers. The bibliography page and the
notes page, if any, should also be shown in
the table of contents.
Documentation
The project report or paper
must include citations and a bibliography.
No specific form or style of documentation is
required as long as it is consistent and conventional.
If you have questions about documentation, check
a manual of style or other guides to documentation.
Be sure to cite internet sources as well as
conventionally published works.
Appendix
2
PLAGIARISM
Unfortunately, it is necessary
to warn students about the academic crime of
plagiarism, the copying and use of someone else's
ideas or expression of ideas as your own. Plagiarism
is listed and defined more fully in Appendix
D, ACADEMIC DISHONESTY POLICY AND PROCEDURE,
of the current WWU Bulletin. The penalties
for academic dishonesty, including plagiarism,
are also described.
To avoid plagiarism or the
appearance of plagiarism, the following rules
are to be strictly observed.
- When you use two or more words, but less
than two lines, from someone else's writing,
enclose those words in quotation marks and
use an identifying footnote or endnote in
accordance with accepted style.
- If the quotation is longer than two lines,
do not use quotation marks but indent the
quoted material five spaces from the left
margin and single space it, again using an
appropriate footnote or endnote.
- Plagiarism applies to internet sources
as well as traditionally published works.
- Merely changing occasional words or punctuation
in order to make the material different from
the source does not avoid plagiarism. Paraphrasing
is permissible, but the source must be fully
identified in an appropriate footnote or endnote.
Please let the instructor know
before completion of a given assignment if you
have questions concerning plagiarism and the
techniques for giving appropriate credit to
your sources.
Appendix 3
Administrative
Internship Time Line
| 2
quarters prior to registration |
Initial
contact with the Intern Coordinator for
state or federal agency internships |
| 1
quarter prior to registration |
Initial
contact with the Intern Coordinator for
local internships |
| Registration |
Contact
the Intern Coordinator for permission
to register |
| 2nd
week of internship |
Submit
work proposal (on-line) |
| 3rd
week of internship |
Submit
reflection paper #1 |
| No
later than 5th week of internship |
Discuss
term paper with Intern Coordinator |
| 6th
week of internship |
Submit
reflection paper #2 |
| First
day of finals week |
Submit
internship portfolio
Supervisor’s evaluation
of intern’s performance is due
|
