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In order to complete the internship experience, it is necessary to make connections between the work done in the field and the lessons more commonly learned in the classroom. The mechanism for achieving that goal is the academic project. The project is most commonly a small research paper, although alternative arrangement may be made between student and the Internship Coordinator. For a three hour internship, a 7 to 10 page paper is required. Smaller papers are required for 1 or 2 hours of credit.
This paper is not simply a reflection paper on ones internship experience. Rather, it is an attempt to make comparisons between the predictions made by academics in the relevant subject area and the realities as observed by the student during their internship. As such, some documentation of the academic literature is essential. This means, in short, that some research is needed. Unless the project has been specifically negotiated to be something different, it is required that 3 references to book chapters (not all from the same book) or scholarly journal articles (no Time, Newsweek, FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, or similar news or practitioner oriented journals) be made. Full bibliographic citation is required. Alternatively, citation to one of the seminal books in the relevant field may substitute for the three journal articles or book chapters.
Your task is to read and understand the academic references and compare what you experienced during your internship with the theoretical predictions made in the literature. This means you have to think a bit. I will be willing to provide guidance on the project during the course of the semester, and will gladly suggest references for you, or at least point you in the right direction.
The final paper will be due at noon on the last day of exams. Of course, it must be typed or printed, with standard margins and reasonable fonts.
The paper must be decently crafted. The paper must be such that a grade of "C" would be merited. Papers full of typographical errors, mistakes of grammar and usage, and misspelled words will not receive a passing grade. I will gladly review rough drafts of papers provided that they are turned in to me at least two weeks before the due date. If rough drafts are of sufficient quality, then no further work will be required. If not, revisions will be required. Those who choose not to avail themselves of the opportunity to get feedback on a rough draft will pass or fail based on the quality of the paper as turned in. No pass or incomplete will be given, regardless of the quality of the work done at the work site, if the paper is not of sufficient quality to earn a passing grade.