STANDARD
SYLLABUS
DEPARTMENT
OF CRIMINOLOGY
COURSE: CR
493 INTERNSHIP (12 semester hours)
DESCRIPTION: Internship is an academic course offered
to qualified students who wish an experiential learning opportunity. Internship allows selected students to
engage, full-time (480 HOURS), in an approved work environment where they can
apply their knowledge of criminology/criminal justice in the actual daily
activities of a professional criminal justice agency.
INTRODUCTION: CONGRATULATIONS on securing an
internship. The internship experience can be one of the most rewarding
educational aspects of your undergraduate experience. Internships typically present students with a
wide variety of opportunities. Make use
of them. At the same time, keep in mind
that you represent IUP and the Department of Criminology.
You are responsible
for following instructions’ Dr. Rosemary Gido, your
Internship Coordinator, and the Chair of the Department of Criminology,
forwards to you. This syllabus states
the expectations and requirements of the faculty. Please keep this syllabus and refer to it
over the course of the internship. It
includes important information and a schedule of DUE DATES, for which you
are responsible. Failure to meet the
requirements and due dates outlined here will lower your grade. It may result in failure.
STUDENT
REQUIREMENTS: Students must send the professor the
following, in writing, by the end of the first week:
1. Name, title, address, and telephone
number of agency/site supervisor.
2. Student's work and residence
addresses and telephone numbers during
the internship.
3. One page job/position description,
describing what it is that you will be doing during the internship.
4. Detail directions (map, if
possible) so the professor can easily find you when the site visit is made.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: Students are required to maintain a journal
and prepare an academic research OR professional term paper.
Journal: The journal may be handwritten, but
legible, or typed. It is recommended
that the journal be maintained as a "daily diary" where you record
the events of the day and your observations.
Weekly Summaries (2-3 pages) should examine the essence of
those events and offer your insights concerning these events. Your journal should
be more than simply a list of things you did that day. Your thoughts and reactions, even recommendations,
will give the events meaning and should be recorded. The focus is on what you are experiencing
and learning.
Academic term paper: Students will prepare an academic term paper,
either a research paper OR a professional paper, with the approval of your
faculty supervisor. Papers will be between 15-20 pages in length. The basic requirements for both papers are
essentially the same.
The research
paper topic will reflect some specific (not every) aspect of your
internship experience. You will describe
the issue/problem, address the underlying theory(ies), conduct a literature review, gather and analyze data,
as appropriate, and draw conclusions and offer recommendations, based on your
findings.
The paper is to
focus on some aspect of your internship experience. Your experience should be analyzed with
regard to appropriate research and theory. For example, assume you find the
placement of a certain juvenile client in the facility in which you are an
intern, to be questionable, even wrong, by your standards. Describe the situation/problem but
your paper will be evaluated not on how well you describe the problem but
rather on how well you demonstrate an understanding of the relevant
theory and research, which gave rise to the placement and to your objections
and alternatives.
The professional
paper, when approved by the faculty supervisor, provides the intern an
opportunity to develop an academic paper based on a professional/technical work
product or project of the agency. For
example, if an intern was involved in the writing of a grant or the formulation
of an agency policy, that grant or policy may be used as a foundation issue and
working document for the professional paper.
However, the student will still have to describe the issue/problem, address
the underlying theory(ies),
conduct a literature review, gather and analyze data, as appropriate, and draw
conclusions and offer recommendations, based on your findings and observations.
The research and
professional papers must include a title page, table of contents, body, and
bibliography. Your paper must have a
minimum of ten (10) citations to separate references, of which at least three
(3) must be references to articles from refereed academic journals. Journals like, The Police Chief, the Law
Enforcement Bulletin, Corrections Today, and Federal Probation
are not acceptable references. (As a
rule of thumb, if a journal has pictures in it, it is not acceptable.) If you have questions about a reference, call
me. Works cited that are in addition to
the three (3) core citations can be from any source. Citations and references must be done using
APA or ASA style. The APA Manual of
Style is available at the bookstore and at the reference desk of all
research libraries. In addition, I have
included a style sheet that illustrates an acceptable reference style.
All research
material must be submitted with your paper.
That is, you must submit Xerox copies of all articles cited in the paper
(with identifying bibliographic information), Xerox copies of relevant portions
of all books cited in the paper (with identifying bibliographic information and
Xerox copies of all other material cited in the paper (with identifying
bibliographic information).
Alternatively, you can submit your notes taken from articles, books, and
other material, including with each source identifying bibliographic
information.
Failure to submit a
paper; failure to submit copies of all research material with your paper;
having citations to fewer than three acceptable core references; failure to use
APA style; or submitting a paper on a topic that was not approved in advance by
your internship supervisor, will result in receiving a zero for the paper.
SOME TIPS -- Start thinking
about the topic of your paper immediately.
With this in mind you can begin to ask for ideas from agency
personnel. Also, in order to be better
prepared to write your paper, it is suggested that you take several relevant
books and journal articles with you. For
example, if your internship is in a police department, you may want to take
several textbooks in police administration, complex organization, contemporary
issues, and ethics with you as references.
This is important if you will not have ready access to a relevant
library collection.
To ensure an
approved and consistent academic writing style you may wish to purchase an
"academic writer's manual."
The department of criminology recommends the style of the American
Psychological Association (APA).
SITE SUPERVISOR: The site/agency
supervisor will be your day-to-day supervisor and agency representative. The site supervisor will be the agency
contact person for your IUP faculty supervisor. The site supervisor will also
be asked to prepare an evaluation of your internship performance.
FACULTY SUPERVISOR: The faculty supervisor is your IUP
contact person. The faculty supervisor will:
1. Be in contact with you and/or your site
supervisor by telephone twice or more, if necessary.
2. Visit you and/or your site supervisor
once during the internship. (The site visit will be made by a Criminology
faculty member, but may or may not be your assigned faculty supervisor.)
3. Evaluate your academic work and submit
a course grade.
GRADING: Your grade will be based on: (1) your faculty supervisor's assessment of
your performance on site (based on your site supervisor's report and the
faculty supervisor's site visit report); (2) the quality of your journal entries
as they relate to your learning experience; (3) your term paper; and (4) whether your materials are submitted and
phone calls are made on time.
The percentage
contribution will be:
33% on-site performance
20% journal
33% term paper
14% timeliness of materials/calls
PHONE CONTACTS: Most of your contact with IUP and your
faculty supervisor will be by telephone.
Some calls will be on an "as-needed" basis. Feel free to call anytime. You MUST call your faculty supervisor
if you are having difficulty or if your site supervisor is not satisfied with
your performance. If you have any
problem CALL, do not wait.
Other calls are scheduled. (See the tentative schedule below.)
MANDATORY GENERAL
INTERN AND FACULTY MEETING: At
the mandatory general meeting held each academic term, the internship program
was presented. In addition, interns were
given a copy of this syllabus, an article on Plagiarism, which interns were to
read, and a Statement of Understanding, which interns are to sign and return to
their faculty supervisor. Interns also
met with their faculty supervisor at the general meeting.
TENTATIVE
INTERNSHIP SCHEDULE
DATE TO BE RECEIVED WHAT TO DO or TO SUBMIT
Call -- (Required) faculty
supervisor and let him/her know you arrived and are okay and give:
* Name, title,
address, and telephone number of agency/site supervisor.
* Student's work
and residence addresses and telephone numbers during the internship.
Mail – (Required)
* Addresses,
contact numbers, one page job description, map and directions to site.
* Signed Statement of
Understanding Plagiarism.
* First week's
daily journal entries and Weekly summary.
Mail -- (Required)
* Paper topic (Research OR Professional
Paper) (YOUR TOPIC MUST
BE APPROVED)
* Outline (topics you expect to include in
your paper)
* Bibliography - a
minimum of 15 sources, five of which must be refereed. This is more than the number of sources
required for the paper, but it gives you an advantage in the event some of the
sources become inappropriate when you write your paper. This exercise is to
make reasonably certain you have access to adequate resource material before
you attempt to write your paper.
CALL
ME – (Required phone contact)
* Mail--(Optional)
Individual journal entries, to date
Journal Summary
Draft of paper
* Remind your site
supervisor to send a letter evaluating your performance, to your faculty
super-visor before the deadline listed below.
MAIL
-- (Required)
* Course Research or Professional Paper
* ALL Individual journal entries
* ALL Journal Summaries
* Site supervisor's performance evaluation
letter of intern.
IMPORTANT/CAUTION:
The mail dates above are due dates--the date they must be RECEIVED, not
mailed. This means you must mail the
materials several days before the due date.
Keep
in mind that part of your grade depends on you demonstrating that you have the
motivation and personal organization required to comply with the schedule. Also, keep in mind that you are earning 12
semester hours of academic credit toward your college degree. Your work products are expected to reflect
that fact.
NOTE: Your failure to meet due dates will affect
your grade.
Work hard and have
fun doing it. Good luck!
DO NOT
THROW THIS SCHEDULE AWAY
REFER TO
IT OFTEN TO MEET
YOUR
DUE DATES ON TIME