Guidelines for your Final Paper

Your final paper is a formal reflection on your internship experience, making important connections with the ideas, concepts, and theories you’ve encountered during your classes in the Department of Communication Studies. You should take the same care over this paper as you would for any final assignment. The primary audience for your journal and your final paper is the Internships Coordinator, but we reserve the right to share them with your on-site supervisor, too. You may of course write in the first person, and express your opinions, but your final paper must integrate critical thinking and writing. Points will be taken off for errors in grammar, structure and style. The final paper should be 7-8 pages plus references, double-spaced, 12-point type. The due date is always seven days after the last day of classes for the semester in which your internship is registered. Your journal and paper should be submitted by email as one PDF.

The following guidelines are to help you structure your final paper:

Part I: What did I do?

Describe the organization – its mission, the product(s) or service(s) on offer, organizational structure, size (staff, departments, branch offices, etc), history, funding sources, public profile, etc. Attempt to answer the following questions: What is the size or scale of the organization relative to others in the same or similar business or arts sectors? How long has it been around? How does it differentiate itself from its competitors? What is the business model in terms of tax status, ie for-profit or non-profit? If you’re quoting from official company facts and figures, cite them properly. What is the make-up of the organization? Is it an especially diverse workplace; are the employees generally young or old; are women and men well-represented in all areas; is the workplace lively and creative, or quiet and focused; does the pace of work appear to be very intense or somewhat relaxed; is the management style quite ‘flat’, ie consultative and consensus-oriented, or more hierarchical, ie ‘top-down’? How was your professional relationship with your supervisor and other staff? Describe your role(s) within the organization, and how it changed over time (if at all). Tip: re-read your journal entries before answering this question! Skip any questions that are difficult or impossible to answer due to COVID-related limitations such as working remotely. [max 3 pages]

Part II: How does this connect to my studies?

Please reflect on the larger significance of what you experienced, learned, and observed. This should be the most substantial portion of your paper. What connections can you draw between your internship and analytical issues that have come up in other classes; are there any particular theories or concepts that you find particularly useful for understanding your experiences and observations; have your practical experiences led you to reassess a particular theory? Some examples of the types of issues you might want to address: strategies for reaching diverse audiences; strengths and weaknesses of a particular communication strategy; impacts of economic conditions/financial structure/funding sources on the organization; tensions within the organization (structural, interpersonal, political, cultural). You’ve already learned a lot in the department beyond ‘the medium is the message’, so bring that knowledge into this section of your paper! Sift through some of your previous course syllabi, readings, class notes and assignments to see if you can make some productive connections between your internship and the ideas you’ve encountered in your other classes. Tip: Take particular care over this section of Part II! Even students who have a great internship experience, keep a detailed journal, and get a great evaluation from their onsite supervisor can sometimes receive a disappointing final grade because they rushed this section of their final paper. [3-4 pages] Reflect on the technical skills you acquired or shared with others; reflect on any power dynamics and cultural tensions within the organization. The goal here is not fault finding, but thinking and reflecting objectively and critically on your work experience.

Part III: Now what?

What are you taking with you from your internship? What have you learned that will be useful (or not useful) to you? How will this experience influence your future studies, work, career plans? [max 1 page] NB: Your paper and journal should be submitted by email to comsopps@concordia.ca as one PDF.

About

This is an informal site for BA and Diploma students in the Department of Communication Studies to seek out paid and unpaid internships for credit, and for organizations to post internship opportunities. NB Internships are not required in order to complete your BA or Diploma degrees.

We strongly encourage participating organizations to offer renumeration for their posted internship opportunities.

We also post job opportunities when we hear about them.

This site is run and monitored by the Internships Co-ordinator.

NEWS

March 31, 2021: Internships and COVID-19 – special announcement

To BA and Diploma students in the Department of Communication Studies: If you are considering a Summer internship, please know that under these exceptional circumstances you may work partly, or entirely, from home. This assumes, of course, that your onsite supervisor fully supports this arrangement. If you still have concerns or questions after you’ve read the Guidelines, please contact the Internships Co-ordinator.

June 2019: Young Canada Works is a government program offering thousands of job opportunities each year in the fields of heritage, arts, culture and official languages. Sign up and search! (Thanks to Natasha Whyte for the tip!)

May 2019: We are now allowing students to have the option of receiving compensation for their internships (more info above).

Sept 2018: Please note that all internships are considered complete as soon as students reach 120 hours. We ask that everyone respects this limit.

Sept 2016: Please note that, in order to maximize the value of the internships for everyone, we support a maximum of TWO student interns at any one company during any given semester.

A Few Words of Caution

To our students: These opportunities have been submitted directly by companies and organizations offering internships (120 hrs, supervised, paid or unpaid) or paid job opportunities for students in the Dept of Communication Studies. It is ultimately up to you, the students, to assess them for accuracy and value. Please approach all potential opportunities thoughtfully and respectfully. All internships are subject to approval by the Internships Co-ordinator. The information provided here is to be used solely for the stated purposes.