This is the course site for students enrolled in English 299, who are earning course credits for current internships. To enroll, you must have an internship opportunity in place.
For course credit, you will complete informal reflections on your internship work every other week, using the blog function on this site. In addition, you must submit a final project. This may be a written essay, including at least two sources related to the field you’ve been working in. It may also be a portfolio of work completed during the internship, with a prefatory essay contextualizing the work— again, using at least two related sources. See the Requirements page for more details.
Professor Lee Norton is the English Internship Coordinator. Students enrolled in English 299 will work with him to determine the genre and parameters for the final projects.
The dates to post your reflections for the Fall 2024 Semester are (all Fridays):
September 13
Your first assignment is to write a 300-500 word post describing your first impressions of your internship: what will you be doing, what are your goals while interning, what you’re most excited about, and whether you have any concerns.
September 27
Next, write a 300-500 word post describing in detail the most interesting thing you’ve done so far in your internship. What exactly made it so interesting? Did you face any particular challenges while completing this task or project? What did you learn?
October 11
For this 300-500 word post, describe an aspiration for your internship. What is something you aim to learn from your internship or something you’ll hope to gain from doing this work?
October 25
Now that you’re well into the routine of your internship, describe a typical day’s work (or week’s work, if your hours are spread out / irregular). How does the feel of doing the work compare to your sense of what the work would be like? What has it taught you about your relationship to the work you would like to pursue in the future? (300-500 words, as usual)
November 8
For this post, discuss something that has been frustrating or a challenge. Have you faced any obstacles or been disappointed in a component of your internship? Are there tasks or times wherein expectation and reality haven’t aligned? Explain why and how you understand the issue.
November 22
prompt to come
December 13: Semester Projects due
A 2-3 page essay OR a portfolio of your collected posts with a 2-page prefatory essay–both including at least two sources related to the field. With either option, your essay should describe what you learned from the internship and reflect on the field you’ve been working in.
