POS 5945
MAPP Internship/Practicum
Dr. Crew
The MAPP program requires that 12 hours of credit be attained through an internship or practicum This
requirement may be met in a variety of circumstances: in a campaign for political office, as a lobbyist, as
an organizer of grassroots activities, as a member of the staff of a legislator or an elected executive, in a
political party or with a political consultant. There may be other ways to meet this requirement; ask me.
Keep in mind that this internship is designed to provide an experience in a political environment as
opposed to an ordinary bureaucratic one. Thus, working in a state, local or federal agency will not
automatically satisfy the requirement.
There are two elements of the internship: a work requirement and a paper requirement. The work
requirement can be satisfied by contributing 300 hours of work to the internship/practicum.
The circumstances of the work are to be arranged between the student and the employer.
The paper requirement will be tailored to the internship, but cannot be simply a description of some
element of the job involved. Nor may the paper be simply descriptive in nature; it must include an analytic
component.
For people working on political campaigns, the requirement will be a campaign plan or some element of
such a plan. Individuals serving as lobbyists will typically write a lobbying plan and a description of the
extent to which the plan was successful. Individuals working for grassroots organizations probably will be
asked to develop a plan to achieve specific advocacy goals and to describe the relative success of efforts to
achieve the goals.
One of several types of written reports may be submitted for those interning in legislative and executive
offices or in other more ambiguous circumstances.
1. If a student is assigned responsibility for the accomplishment of a specific task, then it may,
depending on the assignment, be possible to use it as the focus of the written report. This would require
specific approval and a written statement of the goals of the paper.
2. If employed as a general assistant in a legislative or executive office, or with a political consultant,
the student may satisfy the requirement by: a. identifying the goals - or some agreeable subset thereof - of
the official involved (not just the legislative or policy goals but political goals as well); b. developing a
plan for achieving these goals; and c. describing the extent to which the goals were achieved. The latter
part will require a description of how the plan (or goals) changed as developments occurred.
3. I am open to other suggestions to fit unique circumstances.
While the length of the paper will vary with the specific project, I generally want a product that is
between 25 and 30 pages long.
Guided by the foregoing rules, each student must describe, in writing, the specific topic they will write
about prior to the initiation of the project. I encourage students to talk to me about their choices and about
the details of their papers.
My responsibility in the course is to assist you with the paper. I will work with you in whatever manner
that is most advantageous to you. At a minimum, I will expect to have an opportunity to read a draft of
your paper, and provide feedback, before it is submitted.