AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
COMMUNICATION FIELD EXPERIENCE
COMM 291
SUMMER 2016
PROFESSOR GEMMA PUGLISI
DATES: May 9th—August 5th
Professor:
Office Phone:
Cell/Text:
Email:
Twitter:
Office:
Office hours:
Gemma Puglisi
202.885.2153
703-772-9174
puglisi@american.edu
@puglisigemma
McKinley, 2nd floor, Room 207
TBA (during summer)
Purpose of the Course
The Communication Field Experience offers a student the first on-site opportunity to
learn about some of the realities of working in the communication field that he or she is
planning to pursue as a career path. The Comm Field Experience (COMM 291)
generally occurs before (COMM Careers Experience COMM 391) and before the
Senior Internship (Comm 491).
Course Description
The Communication Field Experience compliments the communication student’s formal
education. For many students, the Field Experience is the first opportunity to gain
experience in a communication career path. The field experience should acquaint
students with actual professional practices in their disciplines. It is a one credit course.
Professional Component
A School of Communication student who enrolls in an internship is required to commit
an average of at least 15 hours per week for 12 weeks in their internship. For a
student’s own wellbeing academically and personally, he or she should not work more
than the agreed-upon hours.
A Communication Field Experience student is expected to be professional, arrive on
time, dress appropriately, and be proactive and creative in attempting to resolve any
problems that may arise. Please remember that at all times you are representing AU
and the School of Communication.
Required Reading
Intern Queen Blog http://www.internqueen.com/
Savvy Intern http://www.youtern.com/thesavvyintern/
Intern Match Blog http://www.internmatch.com/guides/student
Internships.com http://www.internships.com/eyeoftheintern/
ASSIGNMENTS:
ONE ON ONE MEETING with Professor Puglisi
Because this is a summer class and individual schedules are different, please meet with
me BEFORE you leave for the summer. (McKinley, Room 207.) If this is difficult,
please either SKYPE or call me. (cell is 703-772-9174) SKYPE is gemmapug
This meeting is to discuss your internship and your expectations, your assignments, etc.
MID-POINT MEETING with Professor Puglisi
By Monday, May 30th, please either SKYPE or call me to touch base and discuss how
your internship is going, etc.
Academic Component / Grades
The grade in the course is calculated by weighing two main areas/items A & B:
A. Supervisor Evaluation of you and your internship 35%
B. The Academic Component, graded by your professor 65%
Part A- Internship Evaluation (35%) completed by your intern supervisor includes:
 reaction to supervision and criticism
 effectiveness in completing tasks
 maturity and judgment
 professionalism
 ability to solve problems effectively
 resourcefulness
 writing ability and verbal communication
 understanding of organizational goals
 quality of contribution made
 dependability and motivation
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collaboration and working with others
Questions your supervisor will consider and answer:
What would you say are your intern's strengths?
In what ways did you see your intern develop professionally?
In what ways did you see your intern develop academically?
In what ways would you say your intern has demonstrated learning about the
field as a result of this communication field experience?
What would you recommend in terms of further professional and/or academic
development for your intern?
Part B-Academic Component- The Communication Field Experience, graded by your
professor: 65% (There are six/6 different graded aspects to this section)
1. Meet with Professor Puglisi:: 15% total (by May 9th) If it takes some time to get an
internship before THAT date, please contact her immediately after you secure your
position.
2. Updated Resume reflecting internship experience 5% (due Friday, May 27th.)
3. Business cards 5%- Even in a digital world there is room for low-tech old school tools.
Business cards are one of the things that still work. You can use free or cheap sites
(Vista Print, Zazzle, Moo.com etc or use UPS store on campus to pay for an official and
professional looking AU template that you can use along with titles such as B.A
Candidate in Public Communication 2016 etc.(Turn in on Monday, August 8th with
your reflective summary and blog entries.)
Read: http://www.internmatch.com/guides/standout-with-student-business-cards
4. Reflective Summary A one to two page written summary reflecting on semester’s
Communication Field Experience. 20%
For our purposes, this is a summary of your entire Communication Field Experience.
This synthesis of information will help you be able to discuss with a potential employer
the highlights of your communication field experience. The page limit is one page which
will help you gain experience synthesizing large amounts of information and ability to
communicate concisely in a one page memo format. Due: Monday, August 8th

The Field summary should be logical, clear, interesting -- and exciting.
 It should capture others' attention and imagination, and make the reader
want to read more about what happened, what you liked, learned., etc.
 It intrigues readers most by conveying your commitment to -- and
excitement about your experience (whether great, good, neutral, etc.) in terms
of what you learned during the internship etc.
*Your paper should be Single Spaced; 12-point Arial font.
5. –Create your own blog if you don’t have one yet: (but see these below as great
examples)
Intern Queen Blog http://www.internqueen.com/
Savvy Intern http://www.youtern.com/thesavvyintern/
Intern Match Blog http://www.internmatch.com/guides/student
Internships.com http://www.internships.com/eyeoftheintern/
Please create a blog—share your experiences at your internship. Again, please see the
blogs above to guide you with great topics, conversation, etc.
The blog is to help you through your experience.
Would love five entries that you post during the time at your internship. (These blog
entries should be attached to your One page memo format (reflective summary) that is
due August 8th, Monday.)
6. Create a Linked-In account if you don’t have one. And please connect with me.
Important in all aspects of your career and networking. (Please connect with
me by May 20th.)
Please see below to help you with your blog entries:
A. What do you expect to gain from completing this course/internship?
Why did you choose this particular internship? How do you see this internship
enhancing your course work? How do you see this internship experience being useful to
you in your future work life? What specific aspects of the internship are you excited
about? What specific promises did your internship supervisor make when you
interviewed with him or her? What specific aspects of the internship experience are you
concerned about? Do you anticipate any problems in balancing the time commitment to
your internship and your other courses?
B. What are you doing during your internship? What specific activity at your
internship do you commit the most time to? What percentage of your time does that
activity require? What aspects of the work do you enjoy the most (and why)? What
aspects of the work, if any, do you not enjoy (and why)? What aspects of the internship
do you find particularly meaningful (and why)? What aspects of the internship do you
find less than meaningful (and why)? Are there any changes you would like to make in
your internship experience at this point in the semester? If so, what strategy do you plan
to pursue to bring about those changes?
C. How did your internship relate to your academic coursework?
The point of this section is to give you the opportunity to reflect both on your internship
and your academic career as a whole—and then to articulate those thoughts. In
preparing this section, you should consider such questions as: What did you learn in the
internship that reinforced what you learned in previous courses (including which
courses)? What did you learn in the internship that contradicted what you learned in
previous courses (including which courses)? Did your previous courses prepare you for
the internship? What, if anything, was lacking in your previous courses that would have
better prepared you for your internship.
D. How did your internship experience affect your career planning?
Discuss your goals vis-à-vis the kind of job you intend to pursue after graduation and
how those goals either changed or did not change because of the internship you are
now completing. Will you do another internship at a similar/same place ahead?
E. Any concerns, issues, problems and/or surprises?
Has something happened that was unexpected? Is there an issue occurring?
Is another intern a pain? Is your supervisor someone who isn’t clear in communicating?
Do the organization not follow through on what they promised in terms of your internship
etc.?
RECAP ASSIGNMENTS –AND TIMELINE:
O BY MAY 9th, please meet with Professor Puglisi before you leave for summer
and your internship. If you have not secured an internship by this date, please
schedule a one-on-one with her, immediately after you are notified that you have
one.
O BY MAY 20th, have a Linked-In account and connect with Professor Puglisi
O FRIDAY, May 27th, please e-mail Professor Puglisi your updated resume
including your internship.
*****O Friday, June 10th -- please call/skype/with me and let me know how your
internship is going.
O Monday, August 8th, DUE:
Your one- page reflective summary
Your business card
Your 5 blog entries reflecting on your summer internship
NOTES FOR YOU:
AU CAREER CENTER RESOURCES: The Career Center has lots of resources for
your updated resume, etc.: Feel free to use information in the Career Center library,
on its website, and in its virtual toolkit to work on your resume.
It is important for the student to note that this breakdown reflects the fact that the
Communication Field Experience is an academic course.
Attitude
The Communication Field Experience can be an enriching and rewarding
experience. For that payback to occur, however, a student must be more than a
passive participant in the process. Any number of factors may affect the quality of an
Communication Field Experience —a supervisor may be distracted by other
responsibilities, the office workload may be either unusually heavy or unusually light, a
supervisor may have had a negative experience with a previous intern, etc.
For the Communication Field Experience to reach its full potential of success, therefore,
a student often must be more pro-active than in other courses. This is all part of the
experience—and the challenge—of a Communication Field Experience. So if the
situation is not going as well as a student would like, she or he must think about what
can be done to improve the situation . . . and then do it!
Academic Integrity
By registering for this course, a student has acknowledged his or her awareness of
American University’s Academic Integrity Code and is obliged to become familiar with a
student’s rights and responsibilities as defined by that code. The professor will not treat
violations of the Academic Integrity Code lightly, and he will take disciplinary action
should such violations occur. The Academic Integrity Code can be found online at
http://www.american.edu/provost/registrar/regulations/reg80.cfm
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS FOR DISRUPTION OF CLASSES –This is a
summer class---and thus all communications will be done via e-mail, SKYPE,
blackboard, and phone.
Updated and adapted from Professor Sarah Menke Fish’s Syllabus and Professor
Scott Talan. Thanks to both of my colleagues!
_______________________________________________________________
CAREER RESOURCES, LINKS, & ARTICLES
Linked In Articles
Mashable: Build Your Own Personal Brand on LinkedIn
http://mashable.com/2009/07/27/linkedin-personal-brand/
CBS News Money Watch: How to Create a LinkedIn Profile that Really Connects
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505143_162-47743025/how-to-create-a-linkedinprofile-that-really-connects/
LinkedIn: Build a Robust Profile
http://careerservices.linkedin.com/profile/
LinkedIn: How to Build a Professional Student LinkedIn Profile
http://careerservices.linkedin.com/Build-A-Professional-Profile.pdf
Recruiters and Employers Using Social Networks to Find, Recruit & Hire
Recruiters “Liking” Facebook in Finding Employees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903885604576490763256558794.htm
l
Why Recruiters Like Facebook
http://online.wsj.com/video/493F14E2-612A-4FF6-8F83-8D3BB8866B13.html
Using Social Media to Network Online
http://www.internmatch.com/guides/using-social-media-to-network-online-videoresource
Resumes and Other Ways to Connect and Compete for a Job
AU Alumnus Carter Gibson on Using Social Media for Your Career
http://www.american.edu/kogod/news/20120323_ksbnews_cartergibson.cfm
Resume Templates to Check and Choose
http://www.internmatch.com/guides/resume-templates-and-visual-guide
10 Tools for Creating Dazzling Online Resumes
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/c2387d5d-7c8d-48b5-a04a5c8ca92d8358.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
10 Creative Social Media Resumes To Learn From
http://mashable.com/2011/05/20/social-media-resumes/
No More Résumés, Say Some Firmshttp://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB100014240529702037504045771730319918148
96-lMyQjAxMTAyMDMwMDEzNDAyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email_bot
Forget the Resume, Try Tweeting
http://www.fins.com/Finance/Articles/SBB000142405297020430140457717280407631
0024/Forget-the-Resume-Try-Tweeting
Kendall Byl’s Resume & Portfolio on Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/kendallbyl/my-resume-portfolio/
Articles on Brand You and Your Personal Brand
Fast Company: The Brand Called You by Tom Peters
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/10/brandyou.html
Murketing: Rob Walker on Why We Brand Ourselves
http://www.mdaniels.com/murketing-rob-walker-on-why-we-brand-ourselves/
Define Your Personal Brand with Simple Questions by Ron Ashkenas
http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2010/01/define-your-personal-brand-wit.html
Investing in Your Personal Brand
http://www.ted.me/invest-personal-brand/
TED Blog: LinkedIn’s CEO on Being the Entrepreneur of Your Own Life
http://blog.ted.com/2012/02/29/be-the-entrepreneur-of-your-own-life-reid-hoffman-atted2012/
Fast Company: I’m with the Brand
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/154/im-with-the-brand.html
Infographic on Steps to Consider for Personal Branding
http://jorgensundberg.net/way-personal-branding-infographic/
Infographic on Steps to Consider for Personal Branding
http://jorgensundberg.net/way-personal-branding-infographic/
Blogs on Branding: These blogs are suggested to peruse and review so you can stay
on top of latest trends and ideas on personal branding. Brand You.
Seth Godin: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
AdAge: http://adage.com/section/adages/310
Branding Personality: http://www.brandingpersonality.com/blog/
The Brand Channel: http://www.brandchannel.com/home/
YouTube Channel Playlist: This link has a couple of videos that related to personal
branding and why it’s important to you and your career.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEAAD8982E042114E&feature=mh_lolz
Your Web Profile
Millennials are digital natives and speak tech-talk as a first language. Add in the growing
reliance on employers to use the Web to search, find, vet and recruit talent, it makes
solid sense to create a professional Web profile. The idea is that you develop an online
portfolio of your work. The portfolio can feature assignments related to your major or
special interests and can link to your resume or social media/digital resume. It can also
have photos, video or other media or school items that build your case and your brand.
You should review the following Web bio sites below to see which is best for you and
then choose and use one to create your Web bio. They are all free.
http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html
http://www.visualcv.com/
http://wordpress.com/
https://about.me/
http://flavors.me/
http://re.vu/