COM/JPW Internships

How to Apply for an Internship

1. Attain a letter of intent to hire from the company or organization with which you are working. The letter must include the number of hours per week you will be working, the duties you will be performing, and your supervisor and his or her contact information.
2. Seek out a supervising faculty member in the Department who you would like to work with. Your faculty supervisor will provide more information on the Internship Proposal and will provide you with their Method of Evaluation.
3. Submit the complete application (letter of intent to hire, Internship Proposal, approval from supervising faculty, and Method of Evaluation). From there, if approved, the Assistant Dean will submit your information to the Office of Records & Registration so that the internship will appear on your schedule in PAWS. This process can take up to two weeks.
   1. Reminder:  All forms are submitted electronically, in PDF format.
   2. Records and Registration enters approved courses into PAWS.  You do not enroll via PAWS registration.

JPW Internship Information

• Internship Forms

  Please see your advisor or department chair with questions or concerns before completing any form.

  • JPW Internship Proposal form
  • JPW Employer Internship Evaluation form
  • JPW Student Intern Evaluation form

  Internship Guidelines

  JPW places considerable emphasis on the value of practical experience as preparation for entry into professional media. JPW majors and Journalism minors are required to do an internship with a professional media organization in order to graduate. The internship is optional for Professional Writing minors. Many of our students complete more than one internship.

  The College allows students to take up to four-course units of internship/independent study during the course of their college career. Please note, however, that any internship credits beyond those that are required will count as elective credits toward graduation.

  JPW requires that a student have junior standing in order to do the required JPW 499 internship. All proposed internships must be approved by the department chair. The internship may be paid or unpaid and can take place at any time during the year. Students who want to gain academic credit for sustained involvement with a campus news organization should enroll in the practicum course (JPW 397).

  Arranging credit for your internship

  1. Discuss the proposed (or desired) internship with your advisor.
  2. Fill out an internship proposal form.
  3. As you are filling out the form, please note that College policy requires internships completed for a major or minor to be taken for a grade, not pass­ fail.
  4. The student arranges the hours for the internship with the employer. TCNJ requires 180 hours of work for the organization in order to receive credit for a full course
  5. Submit the complete application (letter of intent to hire, Internship Proposal, approval from supervising faculty, and Method of Evaluation). From there, if approved, the Assistant Dean will submit your information to the Office of Records & Registration so that the internship will appear on your schedule in PAWS. This process can take up to two weeks.
     1. Reminder:  All forms are submitted electronically, in PDF format.
     2. Records and Registration enters approved courses into PAWS.  You do not enroll via PAWS registration.
  6. The student and faculty supervisor meet during the semester to discuss the student’s progress and any concerns.
  7. The student is expected to keep a reflective journal that is primarily designed to capture insights you may be gaining about the field in which you are working, as well as your career goals.
  8. At the end of the internship, we require the worksite internship supervisor to complete an employer evaluation form, and the intern also completes a student evaluation form.
  9. Grading is based on a portfolio consisting of copies of written work, the reflective journal, the employer and supervisor evaluations, and any other assignments outlined in the internship proposal.

  How to find an internship

  Check with the faculty for leads: We keep a list of places to look, and we send regular emails about internship opportunities.

  Prepare your resume and portfolio: Prospective employers expect to see a crisp, well-crafted resume with absolutely NO typos, as well as writing samples, preferably published work. To get those clips, we suggest writing for The Signal or other campus media.

  Visit the Career Center: It offers a number of resources, including workshops and tips on internships, resumes, and interviews. The office also sponsors career fairs each semester.

  Where to find internships
  

  If you know which media outlets or other companies you’d like to intern with, look at their websites for application information (often under a “Careers” or similar tab). Here are some other resources:

  New Jersey Collegiate Press Association: Newspapers throughout New Jersey hire college students for internships, both in the summer and during the school year. In addition, the New Jersey Newspaper Foundation places several college students through its internship/scholarship program.

  TCNJ’s Career Center: Look under the “Student Employment” tab to find internships,

  These sites have extensive internship and job listings:

  • journalism-internships.com
  • journalismjobs.com
  • internships.com
  • mediabistro.com
  • careers.poynter.org
  • careerbank.naa.org
  • internshipprograms.com
  • internabroad.com
  • ed2010.com (mostly magazine jobs, but also a few internships)
  • bookjobs.com/search-internships
  • The Associated Press offers a variety of internships, ap.org/company/careers.
  • Dow Jones News Fund: For The Wall Street Journal and many other news organizations: dowjonesnewsfund.org
  • The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, twc.edu

Credits, GPA, and Requirements for an Internship

• Enrollment is limited to students who have completed a minimum of 3 course units at TCNJ and have a 2.0 GPA in that program.
• A minimum of 45 on-the-job hours should be required per quarter course unit of credit. Actual professional situations where the student experiences the requirements of employment must be used.
• The internship is an applied experience. In the internship, the student must apply what she/he has learned in the classroom. This academic foundation must be identified in a general way in the course offering proposal. Specific knowledge, methods, skills, activities, etc., must be listed for each intern in the proposal. (See below.)
• A substantial written assignment (or portfolio) requiring research and/or creative work should be required. A simple log describing activities may be included but in and of itself is not sufficient to satisfy this requirement. Exceptions may be approved by the department chair in fields where there is an extensive professional component already required (e.g., in the Journalism/Professional Writing major where the intern’s duties may be public relations, researching, and reporting that constitute a substantial writing, research, and creative experience).
• The intern should be paid a salary whenever possible.
• Internships may be offered on either a graded or pass-fail basis.
• Second internships within the same program should be limited to those situations in which the student will be able to apply essentially different knowledge, methods, skills, etc. (still program-related) than those applied in the prior internship. This limitation does not apply to a second internship in a different program (e.g., a second major or minor).
• The maximum number of internship course units to be counted toward a degree by any one student is three units. The maximum number of course units for a single internship is two units.

The Internship Contract

The student will prepare a written proposal to their supervising faculty meeting the following requirements:

• The proposal should state the number of credit hours from any previous internship, as well as the semester taken and the firm or agency where the internship was done.
• The proposal must explain exactly how credits are to be earned and what on-the-job activities will be required of the intern.
• The proposal must describe the method of evaluating the internship to be used by the faculty supervisor.
• The proposal must identify the firm or agency where the internship will be done.
• The proposal must identify the professional person at the firm or agency who will supervise the student during the internship.
• The proposal must be approved by the department chair or his or her designee before a student may proceed with the internship.
• The approved proposal must be delivered to the Office of Records and Registration by the end of the first week of the semester in which the internship is to be completed.
• Copies of the approved proposal should be provided to the student, the faculty supervisor, the department, and the firm or agency supervisor.
• If the circumstances of the internship change, it is the student’s responsibility to notify the faculty supervisor. At that point, the faculty advisor will send an addendum to the proposal to the Office of Records and Registration.

Other Notes

• Students who wish to intern for credit in the summer or winter sessions are required to pay tuition for those credits.