International Master Programme

Higher Education Research and Development

(MAHE)

Information about the

Internship Report

Kassel, October 2009

Content

1.

General Information

2.

Internship Contract

3.

Number of Pages

4.

Formatting and Style Guide

4.1

General Document Guidelines

4.2

Structure

4.2.1 Statement of Affirmation

4.2.2 The Cover Page

4.2.3 The Contents Page

4.3

How to Cite Sources

4.3.1 In-text Citations

4.3.2 Reference List

4.4

Orthography and Grammar

5.

Contents of the Internship Report

5.1

First Part: Report

5.2

Second Part: Reflection

6.

Deadline and Submission

7.

Grades and Feedback

8.

Criteria for Grading

1.

General information

A practical work placement of 160 hours will be obligatory, be it as a member of a research

project team or as an assistant in one of the relevant units of university administration and
related agencies.
Students are expected to make the necessary arrangements for an internship themselves.
However, the coordination office of MAHE can be of assistance in finding an internship place.
Before signing the contract and starting the internship, please discuss it with Prof. Kehm or Ms.
Hckelmann.
Absence due to illness or similar reasons has to be retrieved.
For the internship documented achievements from the professional experience can be taken
into account, as far as equivalence is given. The Board of Examination has to decide about the
recognition on request of the student.
After you have finished the internship you have to write an internship report.

2.

Internship Contract

Enclosed you will find the internship contract. Please make three copies, which have to be
signed by you, your internship supervisor and Prof. Kehm as MAHE coordinator. One copy is for
you, one for the supervisor and one for Ms. Hckelmann.
The contract will also be provided for download (MAHE homepage - Registered Students Information).

3.

Number of Pages

You have to write an internship report of about 20 pages.

4.

Formatting and Style Guide

4.1

General Document Guidelines

- Type your paper on a computer and print it out on DIN A4 format paper.
- Set the margins of your document to 2.5 cm at the top and the left and right sides, and 2 cm at
the bottom.
- Use font Times New Roman (size 12 point) or Arial (size 11 point).
- Alignment: create an even right margin by using justification (except in headings).
- Line Spacing: use one and a half-space throughout the paper.
- Pagination: the page number should appear in the footer; centre it or flush it with the right
margin.
- Headings: number main sections and subsections with Arabian numerals according to the
decimal classification system (1 - 2 - 2.1 - 2.2 - 2.3 - 2.3.1).
Highlight headings in bold. Except for main sections (1 - 2 - 3), headings have the same style
and size as the text. The headings of main sections should be formatted two points larger than
the rest of the text.
- Tables: Number tables consecutively with Arabic numerals.
Table headings should be as concise as possible. Below the table, provide the source.
For the content of a table, use double-line spacing.
Tables which do not fit to one page have to be moved to an appendix.
- Figures: Number figures consecutively. The figure caption (below the figure) should be short.
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4.2

Structure

Parts of an internship report are:

- The statement of affirmation (provided by INCHER-Kassel)
- The cover page
- The contents page
- If applicable, the lists of tables and figures
- The text body
- The reference list
- If applicable, an appendix
4.2.1

Statement of Affirmation

The internship report has to be prepared on your own and you are not allowed to utilize other
resources or other means (including electronic media and online sources), than those explicitly
referred to.
Enclosed you will find the according Statement of Affirmation. We would like to ask you to fill it
in, sign it and give it to Ms. Hckelmann together with the internship report.
The statement will also be provided for download (MAHE homepage - Registered Students Information).
4.2.2

The Cover Page

The cover page has to include the following information:

- The name of your university and the name of the unit of the university where you submit the
paper (University of Kassel, INCHER-Kassel).
- Your current semester.
- The name(s) of the lecturer(s) teaching the module.
- The title/theme and type of the paper (here: internship report).
- Your name and email address.
- Your university registration number.
- The date of submission of the paper.
An example of the cover page will also be provided for download (MAHE homepage
Registered Students - Information).
4.2.3

The Contents Page

- In the list of contents, include the headings of all main sections and subsections with their
numbers and the respective page numbers.
- Formulate the headings of the sections in relation to the section content and not in relation to
the formal structure of the paper (Introduction, body, end).
- Place lists of figures and tables on a separate page.
4.3

How to Cite Sources

Citing is the process of giving credit to the sources you used to write your paper or publication.
It is essential to give proper credit to another authors work which you use for your own paper. If
you do not, this is considered as plagiarism (and the internship report will be graded as failed).
Plagiarism means using another's words and ideas and passing them on as your own. Words,
ideas, or knowledge are considered the Intellectual Property of the original author. Intellectual
property is in nearly all countries protected by copyright law.

"What constitutes plagiarism:

- Turning in another person's work as your own, and this includes a paper from free website.
- Copying a paper, an excerpt, a paragraph, or a line from a source without proper
acknowledgement (these can be from a print source, such as a book, journal, monograph,
map, chart, or pamphlet, or from a non print source, such as the web and online databases).
- Taking materials from a source, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks.
- Paraphrasing materials from a source without documentation of that source.
- Purchasing a paper from a research service or a commercial report mill.
- Sharing or swapping from a local source (from student papers that were previously submitted).
- Creating invalid or faked citations."
(Amrita M. (2006, February) Students' Guide to Preventing and Avoiding Plagiarism. Long
Island University. Retrieved may 6, 2006 from URL:
http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/exhibits/plagstudent.htm (Retrieved May 6, 2006)
4.3.1

In-text Citations

Formats for citing are consistent so that other researchers may quickly identify the sources you
used and easily locate them. Especially in the US several styles manual are in use such as
APA, MLA, or Chicago Manual of Style. Each style manual format includes the same basic parts
of that citation but may organize them slightly differently. The APA style (American
Psychological Association) for instance is very common in psychology, education, and other
social sciences.
Nevertheless, we present here a slightly varied style, which we suppose to be easy to follow:
You may refer to someone else's ideas either by repeating the exact words that another author
has written (quoting) or by expressing what somebody has written by using different words
(paraphrasing).
Quoting:
Place quotation marks () around the words you are taking from another author.
Give publication dates (the name of the author, the year of publication of the text you are
quoting and the number of the page where you quote from) in parentheses after the second
quotation mark.
Example: (Neave, 1996, p. 27)
Paraphrasing:
Provide publication dates (the name of the author, the year of publication of the text you are
quoting and the number of the page where you quote from) in parentheses after the sentence in
which you have expressed the ideas written down by somebody else.
Example: (Rees, 1998)
If you mention the name of the author you are referring to in the text, the year of the authors
publication has to be given immediately after the authors name.
Example: Rees (1998) explains
Making parenthetical citations of publications with different numbers of authors:
- One author (Miller, 1989, p. 43)
- Two authors (Schroeder & Schmitt, 1997, p. 56)
- Three and more authors (Schulz et al., 2003, pp. 12-20)
When a source has no known author, use a shortened title of the work instead of an author name.
An in-text citation corresponds with an entry in your list of references at the end of the paper.
If you are unsure for which information you have to make an in-text citation, use the following rule of thumb:
In principle, in-text citations have to be provided for all information taken from printed sources
like statistics and texts published by others. The only exemption is commonly known facts like
historical dates.
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4.3.2

Reference List (at the end of your paper)

If a publication has more than three authors, name only the first author and add et al.
(Teichler, U. et al. (2005)).
a) Journal or Magazine Article (use for journals that start each issue with page one)
Authors (Date). Title of Article. Title of Periodical, Volume, Pages.
Example:
Wilcox, R. V. (1991). Shifting roles and synthetic women in Star trek: The next generation.
Studies in Popular Culture, 13(2), 53-65.
b) Journal or Magazine Article
(use for journals where the page numbering continues from issue to issue)
Authors (Date). Title of Article. Title of Periodical, Volume, Pages.
Example:
Dubeck, L. (1990). Science fiction aids science teaching. Physics Teacher, 28, 316-318.
c) Newspaper Article
Authors (Date). Title of Article. Title of Periodical, Pages.
Example:
Di Rado, A. and Robertin, C. (1995, March 15). Trekking through college: Classes explore
modern society using the world of Star trek. Los Angeles Times, p. A3.
d) Book
Authors (Date). Title. Place of Publication: Publisher
Example:
Okuda, M. and Okuda, D. (1993). Star trek chronology: The history of the future. New York:
Pocket Books.
e) Book Article or Chapter
Authors (Date). Title of Article. In Editor(s) Title. Place of Publication: Publisher, Pages
Example:
James, N. E. (1988). Two sides of paradise: The Eden myth according to Kirk and Spock. In
Palumbo, D. (Ed.), Spectrum of the fantastic. Westport, CT: Greenwood, pp. 219-223.
f) Encyclopedia Article
Authors (Date). Title of Article. In Encyclopedia (Volume). Place of Publication: Publisher,
Pages
Example:
Sturgeon, T. (1995). Science fiction. In The encyclopedia Americana (Vol. 24). Danbury, CT:
Grolier, pp. 390-392
g) Electronic Sources (aggregated databases, online journals, Web sites or Web pages,
newsgroups, Web- or e-mail-based discussion groups, and Web- or e-mail-based newsletters.)
Authors (Date). Title. Retrieved date, year from source.
note: if the date the page was created is not given, use (n.d.).
Example:
Lynch, T. (1996). DS9 trials and tribble-ations review. Psi Phi: Bradley's Science Fiction Club Web
site. URL: http://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/DS9/ep/ 503r.html (Retrieved October 8,
1997)

Further information:
American Psychology Association. (2001). Publication Manual of the American Psychology
Association. Washington, DC *
Patria, B. (2008). How to write Reference List according to APA style (1). Retrieved September
15, 2008 from URL: http://www.e-mahe.com/writing/how-to-write-reference-list-according-toapa-style-1
*Available in the INCHER-Kassel
kassel.de/incher/mahe.
4.4

library

and

as

electronic

version

on

www.uni-

Orthography and Grammar

Because most of us are not native English language speakers, no one is expecting from you to
write impeccable papers. Still, your papers should have as little as possible spelling or grammar
mistakes in order to be read easily or to be published for peer review.
Therefore, please use the spell and grammar check function of your word processor and have a
look at the following materials:
Procter, M. and Taylor, D. (2008). Hit Parade of Errors In Grammar, Punctuation, and Style.
Retrieved September 15, 2008 from URL: http://www.utoronto.ca/writing/hitparade.html
APA. (2002). Expressing Ideas and Reducing Bias in Language. In APA. Publication Manual.
Washington, DC. p. 31-76

5.

Contents of the Internship Report

5.1

First Part: Report (~10 pages)

Where have you done your internship?

Duration (from-to).
Short description of the internship place, its function, spheres of work and projects.
Description of the internship:
- training phase
- contents of the internship
- description of your work/project
- results
- which topics of the internship did you already know?
- which were new?
- what have you learned?

5.2
-

Second Part: Reflection (~ 10 pages)

Expectations to the internship.

Were these expectations fulfilled?
Could you use and bring in the knowledge acquired during your study?
Could you also bring in and learn other things?
Could you bring in the theoretical and methodical knowledge of your study?
How do you classify the internship analyzed and reflected on the basis of the knowledge
acquired during your study?
Are there differences between the book knowledge and the practical experience?
Have you been confronted with challenges?
Have you developed yourself?
Put the internship place and your internship work into the context of the contents of the Master
Programme.
Which suggestions/motivations did you get for your study and your future profession?
How could you benefit from the internship as regards knowledge, abilities, experiences,
attitudes, aspects, contacts, orientations?
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6.

Deadline and Submission

Students are expected to submit the report eight weeks after the internship has finished. During
these eight weeks, you can benefit from the support and counseling for the report writing from
your tutors.
Please submit the internship report (hard copy as well as electronic version) including the
signed Statement of Affirmation to Ms. Hckelmann: mahe@uni-kassel.de
In case you have done the internship in the INCHER-Kassel, the report will be graded directly
by your supervisor.
In case you have done the internship in another institution, the report will be graded by Prof. Kehm.

7.

Grades and Feedback

The grades range from 1,0 4,0; > 4,0 means failed.
1 = very good

2 = good

3 = satisfactory

4 = pass

Reports which are better than 2 , 3 or 4 will get the grades 1,7 , 2,7 or 3,7.
Reports which are not as good as 1 , 2 or 3 will get the grades 1,3 , 2,3 or 3,3.
You will find the grade for the internship in the online examination system.
Together with your grade, you will receive comments to your report. This feedback can be
asked from Ms. Hckelmann and can be discussed with the teacher if necessary.

8.

Criteria for Grading

Please see the criteria for the term papers.

In addition, you can follow the contents of the internship report as described under 5.

For further questions, please contact the tutors: mahetutors@googlemail.com