Sociology 399R Academic Internship
Instructor:
Winter semester, 2014
Carol Ward (carol_ward@byu.edu)
Office: 2023 JFSB Phone: 801-422-3047
Office hours: 1-2:00 pm MW (Other times by appointment)
Internship Purposes:
Sociology internships are intended to help sociology majors integrate the knowledge and skills
learned in the sociology degree program with their own life goals and professional and career
interests. This is an opportunity to apply what you have learned in your sociology classes to a
real world professional setting and work experience. The internship is designed to be a semesterlong experience, with students working approximately 42 hours for every 1 hour of university
credit. Additional course assignments are designed to enhance your internship experience by
using sociological perspectives. The internship and assignments are intended to help students:
1. Develop a professional sense of the work you will do by identifying personal learning goals
or outcomes for the semester
2. Understand how to work within an organization and learn how sociology can enhance your
job experience.
3. Help you think about the nature of what sociologists have termed "interactive service work"
or jobs that require working with other individuals, and other issues relevant to your work
setting.
4. Help you think about the kinds of information or data organizations use in order to succeed,
whether that information is about individual clients, work processes or organizations.
Readings include selected chapters from the following sources:
Robin Leidner, 1993. Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday
Life. University of California Press.
Lofland, John and Lofland, Lyn H. 1995. Analyzing Social Settings: A Guide to Qualitative
Observation and Analysis. 3rd ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
The Sociology Writing Group, 2001. A Guide to Writing Sociology Papers. 5th ed. New York
City, NY: Worth Publishers.
Learning Suite:
Information for this class is available on Learning Suite.
Assignments:
The total number of points for assignments is 500. Point values are shown in the chart below.
Assignment may be turned in electronically by email or message on Learning Suite, or you may
bring paper copies to the sociology department office. Feedback will be provided on your
assignments by email or message in Learning Suite. Please check your assignment grades
throughout the semester. If you have any questions about assignments or grades, please get in
touch by email, phone or come by my office. I’m always glad to talk with you.
1
Course Objectives, Readings and Assignments, Due Dates, and Points and % of Grade
Learning
Outcomes
1. 1. Establishing goals
or outcomes for
your internship.
Readings and Assignment Guidelines
Due dates
Internship goals: Use a memo (business)
format. Identify 4 specific goals and how
you plan to achieve them in your internship
(approximately 300 words).
Assignment #1:
Memo on
internship goals
DUE JANUARY 17
3. 2. Understanding
how socialization
occurs in
organizations
Reading: Vann Maanen article (You can
find a PDF of this article in Learning Suite
under Content)
Summarize in 1-2 pages Vann Maanen’s
argument and explain how it relates to your
experience with your internship.
Assignment #2:
Reading summary
DUE JANUARY 24
5%
33 3. Documenting
your internship
experience Journal entries
Journal about your internship experience:
Write at least 1-2 pages per week on your
experiences, questions, etc. You may be able
to use some journal entries as data for your
final research project.
Note: Read Chapter 5 from the Lofland and
Lofland book for excellent guidelines and
information on collecting data in the field
(interviews, observations, etc.) and use of
field notes for analyzing social settings.
Assignment #3:
Journal
DUE ON THE LAST
15%
Choose a book from the following options
that is relevant to your internship:
1. Leidner, Robin. Fast Food, Fast Talk:
Chapters 1-4 (See Note below)
2. A book related to the substantive work
associated with your internship that will
help you develop a project proposal.
For the book you chose, describe the core
concepts and discuss how they relate to your
internship. Write about a page per chapter (a
minimum of 4 pages; about 1000 words).
Note: Organizations exist within a specific
environment and are maintained by an
organizational structure and culture. The
Leidner book is intended to give you some
appreciation of managerial concerns.
Sociologists focus on organizations and how
they operate. The purpose of this assignment
is to help you develop insights into your
internship work environment. Organizations
exist within a specific environment and are
maintained by an organizational structure
and culture.
Assignment #4:
Book summary
and discussion
DUE FEBRUARY 21
4. This assignment
is designed help
you learn about
what sociologists
call "interactive
service work" or
jobs that require
working with
individuals, OR
issues related to
your specific
internship setting.
In your assignment
you will produce a
brief analysis of the
organization or
setting in which
you work.
2
% of grade
& # of points
5%
25 points
25 points
75 points
DAY OF THE
SEMESTER ( ALONG
WITH FINAL PROJECT
PAPER)
15%
75 points
<! 5. Develop a
proposal (plan) for
a research project
that examines some
aspect of your
internship. This
may be an
examination of the
organization itself
or a research paper
on issues the
organization
focuses on.
Project Proposal: Develop a 1-PAGE
PROPOSAL outlining what your final research
project will be about. I will give you
feedback about the appropriateness of the
topic. The proposal should describe:
A. Focus of the paper: what is your
research question?
B. Rationale: Why is your question
important? (What issues in the
relevant literature does it relate to?)
C. Methods: How you will collect the
appropriate data or information
needed for answering your question?
Assignment #5:
Project proposal
DUE MARCH 7
5%
6. Complete the
research project and
paper providing the
results of your
project.
Final Research Paper:
Your paper should be about 15 pages long
(about 5 pages per credit for a 3 credit
internship). Your paper should follow the
basic outline of your proposal and add your
research results related to your internship
setting. Include about 10 references related to
the issues you are studying. (You can usually
find references using Google Scholar, Web
of Science, ProQuest, or EBSCO.)
Assignment #6:
Project paper
DUE APRIL 15 (THE
LAST DAY OF CLASS)
50%
7. Final
requirements of the
internship
Final meeting and evaluation forms:
No grade is given until you complete the
following:
1. Meet with the internship coordinator to
discuss your internship experience and
submit evaluation forms. (This requirement
may be waived if you cannot be here.)
2. Fill out and submit the student evaluation
form. (Find under content in BYU Learning
Suite)
3. Have your internship supervisor fill out
the evaluation form. (Find under Content in
BYU Learning Suite)
Assignment #7:
Final meeting and
evaluations
DUE BY THE END OF
5%
25 points
250 points
<
Note: If you do not complete all the
hours or project paper by the end of
the semester, and you have completed
assignments 1-4, ask me in writing
about the possibility of taking a “T”
grade (to be submitted).
3
THE SEMESTER
25 points