Setting up Internships in Technical Writing

Abstract

Only recently has anything been written about internships in technical writing; however, teachers interested in setting up internship programs can learn from papers written on the experience of teachers of journalism and from cooperative education programs. Internship programs vary widely–some offer academic credit, some do not. Students work from four to forty hours per week for credit of one to fifteen hours; some internships pay students; some provide them with samples of their work; some use contracts, some do not; some are located on campus, some off campus; some are part of cooperative education programs; different programs require different prerequisites; and students do a number of different types of jobs. Sourcebooks can provide information about how to locate employers, how to administer programs, how to evaluate programs, and what other people's solutions to common problems have been.