Internships in Sociology

 

All sociology majors are eligible for Sociology 397 (Field Work in Sociology). In co-operation with UNL's Internship and Cooperative Educataion office, stundents may earn up to four hours credit in sociology through an internship with a public or private agency in Nebraska. These internships provide on-the-job experiences in human services, policy, research and management and help to relate this work to the academic program. An internship also helps to build a resume for future employment.

Undergraduate Internship Coordinator
Susan L. Wortmann, Ph.D.

Department of Sociology
725 Oldfather Hall
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Lincoln, NE 68588-0324

Phone: (402) 472-3664
Email: swortmann@unlserve.unl.edu

 

Internship Guidelines

As an intern you are embarking on what should be a different and rewarding learning experience. While most tasks have their routine, dull, and perhaps even unpleasant side, much of what you experience should help you better understand and apply some of your course work. In addition, it will help you with career preparation, plans, and objectives and teach you how to solve problems, deal with ambiguity, work in groups, and develop confidence and proficiency.

We have put together a package of activities and requirements to insure your internship is a valuable one warranting academic credit. Requirements include keeping a journal, writing an essay, and doing some reading. These requirements are described in more detail below.

To get the most out of your experience you should follow all of the guidelines provided by the Student Employment and Internship Center. The "Memorandum of Understanding" is especially important. In addition, as the Undergraduate Research Coordinator (URC), I will visit with your work supervisor in person and over the phone. Finally you will have several individual meetings with me. These activities are described below, as are grading policies and other details.

 

Hours of Work

For an internship to be worthwhile, the student should work at least 10 hours per week. Less than that greatly reduces learning opportunities. Overall, students need to work 40-50 hours for each credit hour. If you are enrolled for three credit hours, you would be required to work 120-150 hours. You should schedule your work to take these factors into account.

 

Keeping a Journal

Keeping a journal is a way of capturing new experiences when you are working to fit them in with what you already know. Committing the experience to paper forces you to think about it in a systematic and organized way, which in turn helps you with the learning experience. Interns usually learn more at the beginning of their field experience than in the final weeks. Journal entries should be more extensive and frequent in the beginning weeks.

Individuals will vary in their journal writing depending on the type of internship, the student's interest in writing, and the uniqueness of the experience. As a general rule, every time you learn something, write it down. Journal entries must be legible and may be of variable length.

I will review your journal entries one or more times in the early weeks of your internship to see that the topics are appropriate, that the entries are thoughtful and complete, and to discuss issues and concerns that are raised. The complete journal is due the last day of classes of the semester you are enrolled in Sociology 397.

Topics appropriate for journal entry may include but are not limited to the following:

• description of activities and responsibilities
• accounts (who, what, when, and where) of experiences which are unusual or unique for you and analysis (how and why) of those events
• description and analysis of the organization in which you work, including its structure, nature of the interpersonal relations among employees, and the relationship of the organization in which you work with other firms or agencies
• questions to which you would like to know the answer
• insights on how to get things done in the organization
• what you want to achieve during your internship
• description and analysis of how your experience is different than you thought it would be
• any of the topics listed below under “Essays”

 

Essays

Interns are responsible for a summary essay, which should be written towards the end of your internship. The summary essay is intended to help you integrate your intern experience with course work and career plans. The organization of the essay may take whatever form best serves the purpose of the assignment. Begin the essay with a brief description of your goals for the internship, activities and responsibilities, the name of the organization, and the name of your supervisor. You should devote one or more paragraphs to each of the following topics:

• Employer-employee relations. From your experience, what makes them work? What makes them fail?
• From your own experience, what are the differences between how the organization is supposed to operate and what actually happens?
• Based on your experience, what factors seem to influence organizational effectiveness the most?
• What did you learn about getting things done in the organization?
• What did you learn about finding a job and hanging on to it?
• What did you learn about becoming more effective as a person?
• How did your internship relate to:
  • the coursework you have already taken?
  • the coursework youplan to take in the future?
  • the research skills you have developed?
  • the research skills you still need to develop?
• How has your internship affected your thinking about career preparation, as well as career plans and objectives?
• How could your internship experience have been improved?
• What were the most rewarding aspects of your internship?
• Would you recommend this placement site for future sociology interns? Why or Why not?

All essays are due the final day of class in the semester you are enrolled in Sociology 397. Generally, the essay should be 8 to 10 pages in length. Essays must be typed and double-spaced. Spelling, grammar, and organization will be taken into account in grading the essay.

 

Reading Assignments

You and I, perhaps in consultation with your work supervisor, may put together a short reading list intended to help you bridge your internship experience and your coursework. For example, a person working in a drug treatment program may read research articles reporting on the trends in drug abuse and the effectiveness of various treatment approaches. Or, an individual helping to organize conferences may read articles on planning and evaluating educational programs. In cases where the internship itself entails reading assignments designed to accomplish this goal, a separate assignment will not be made. Notes on reading assignments may be part of the journal-keeping assignment and may be reflected in essays.

 

URC Visits with Internship Supervisor

may meet in person or by phone with your supervisor during the first week or so of your internship and again at its conclusion. Other visits may be made if issues and/or problems emerge.

The purpose of the initial visit is to make sure the supervisor has a full understanding of the internship program; that the program is to be a learning experience for the student and that assignments are not excessively menial or are not exploitative.

The purpose of the last visit is to discuss the criteria for evaluating the intern's performance and to arrive at a consensus as to the grade which the supervisor assigns to the work the intern has done.

 

Individual Meetings Between URC and Intern

Several meetings will be scheduled throughout the course of the semester. The purpose of the meetings is to set goals, assess progress toward goals, troubleshoot problems, decide on reading and essay topics, review journal entries, go over graded essays, and discuss the links between course work and field experience.

These will be scheduled at our mutual convenience. If you cannot keep an appointment, please call and let me know as far in advance as possible.

 

Grading Procedures

Grades will be based on essays, journal entries, and the work supervisor's evaluation. The weight given to each is variable depending on the emphasis that you give to each component. This will be worked out through discussion with me. The minimum and maximum that can be counted for each component is listed below:

	Range	Typical
Essays	30 - 50%	40%
Journal	25 - 40%	35%
Supervisor Evaluation	20 - 40%	25%

Assignments turned in late may be graded as much as a full letter grade lower than the work otherwise merits. If prior permission is obtained to turn the work in after the due date, the grade will not be lowered. The overall grade may be affected by missing scheduled meetings without prior permission. Note: Students taking it Pass/No Pass must have a grade of C or better to receive a Pass.

Incompletes are rare and ordinarily not granted for this course. Under exceptional circumstances incompletes may be arranged. If the promised work is not turned in by the agreed upon date, a grade is turned in based on work completed to date.

 

Partial List of Internship Placement Sites

This is a partial list of public service organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, that have hosted interns in the past few years. There are hundreds more in the community in the areas of social services, health, education, criminal justice, and so on. Although more rare, private businesses may also be placement sites if the student can demonstrate that experience will bear on sociological issues.

The prospective intern bears primary responsibility for identifying an internship placement, however, the student should talk to the Undergraduate Research Coordinator before contacting the potential placement site.

Adult Felony Probation Office for Lancaster County

Internships in this office pair students with a probation officer in a wide range of activities, including court appearances, pre-sentencing investigation, interviews with potential parolees etc.

 

Attorney General’s Office: Consumer Fraud Division

This is a competitive internship which accepts applications at set times during the year. The intern will handle calls, screen and investigate cases dealing with alleged consumer fraud. Exposes students to the legal control of white collar crimes as well as other forms of fraud.

 

Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Heartland

This program matches men and women with children in the community who are in need of adult support and mentors beyond that provided by parents. In many cases, these children are from low income female households. Big brothers and big sisters act as role models and friends for at risk children ages 7 to 14. Interns work with the staff of this organization to screen applicants as well as organize a number of social and educational programs.

 

Cedar Youth Services

Provides emergency shelter, respite and residential care, outreach for pregnant teens. Interns are exposed to a wide range of responsibilities associated with social work.

 

Child Protective Services

CPS is the state agency responsible for intervention in child abuse and neglect cases. Interns work with case workers to investigate and follow up on abuse cases. This internship provides exposure and experience to the responsibilities associated with many social work positions, including supervision of parent-child visits, court appearances and documentation of cases.

 

Family Service Center

Provides preschool and after-school child care, family life education and support (both preventive and to families with risk) to prevent child abuse, substance abuse, and school failure.

 

Friendship Home

Shelter and support for women and their children who need shelter because of domestic violence or sexual assault.

 

Hispanic Community Center

Provides tutoring, English as a Second Language Instruction, and other support services for Lincoln’s Spanish Speaking Community. Interns assist with a broad range of programs from tutoring to family visits.

 

Lincoln Action Program

The Lincoln Action Program organizes a wide range of programs to assist low income families. These programs include emergency food assistance, employment services, homeless prevention services, and information referral.

 

Lincoln Council on Alcoholism and Drugs

Provides education and information programs to promote healthy communities and prevent substance abuse. Variety of programs to educate general youth populations and to intervene in at-risk populations.

 

Lincoln Police Department

The Lincoln Police Department offers several internship opportunities every semester. These internships are available in the area of inspections, youth aid, criminal investigations, technical investigations and others. The internship provides valuable experience and contact for those students anticipating careers in criminal justice.

 

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has as its mission: To stop drunk driving, to support the victims of this violent crime and prevent underage drinking.

 

Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest

The Nebraska Appleseed Center is a non-profit, non-partisan law project dedicated to pursuing equal justice for all, by providing an effective voice for individuals and groups with little or no access to economic and political power.

 

Nebraska Civil Liberties Union

The ACLU Nebraska provides legal representation, education and legislation to promote civil liberties. Interns work to screen cases and provide referral information. Internships at ACLU provide excellent experience for those considering law school and other legal careers.

 

Nebraska Correctional Treatment Center (NCTC)

The NCTC provides unique intensive inpatient correctional abuse treatment programs to male adult inmates. It also supervises structured outpatient substance abuse treatment services within the adult correctional institution.

 

Nebraska Crime Commission

The Nebraska Crime Commission is engaged in a wide variety of research projects which focus on the criminal justice system. This internship provides the opportunity for hands on research experience and evaluation which then provides the basis for decisions made by the legislature about criminal justice programs.

 

Parent Aide Support Services (PASS)

PASS is a program organized through the Department of Social Services to prevent child abuse. PASS volunteers work in several ways to provide preventative services to families that are at high risk to abuse or neglect children. Volunteers are matched on a one-to-one basis for a minimum of one year with a parent or child to provide friendships, nurturing, a connection to community resources and positive role modeling.

 

Planned Parenthood of Lincoln

Women’s reproductive health and educational services. Sexuality education for youths, families, community.

 

Project Youth

Project Youth is a program founded by Jo Ballad which organizes various athletic and educational programs to make a positive difference in the lives of disadvantaged youth. Volunteers provide various support services, including organizing and coaching softball teams during the summer as well as acting as role models for the kids involved.

 

Rape and Spouse Abuse Crisis Center of Lincoln (RSACC)

RSACC provides advocacy and support services for victims of domestic violence, rape and incest. Volunteers staff the crisis line, provide legal and medical advocacy, counseling services and child care as well as other support services.