About the course
English 490, Worksite Internship Practicum, is a summer course intended for students who are undertaking internships to receive academic credit for their experiences and develop job related writing skills. The course focuses on enhancing workplace communication skills and on using writing to reflect on workplace culture. English 490 will help students improve the writing and communication that they do on the job while they are applying the content knowledge that they are learning in their major.
The course is during mods 2 and 3 (although some students start work before that), and it is online. Students need to work a minimum of 160 hours during that time in order to receive credit for the course (many students work much more than that; but because of cost prohibitions and internship sites that require college credit, we allow students to choose how many credits they wish to receive).
Who should take the course?
- students who need academic credit in order to qualify for their internships
- students who may have an internship credit mechanism in their department, but no class to help them prosper in that internship
- students who are concerned about the writing they will need to do in their internship, and would like the support of a writing/business communication class
What internships will count?
The internship should be in a specific workplace setting with co-workers, a supervisor, and job responsibilities. Internships with student-run organizations or businesses do not count, nor do recreational experiences. Internships with not-for-profit agencies are very welcome as long as the work is professional in nature and relates to the student's major.
How does it work with other courses?
While students are able to take first-year writing, business or technical writing, and other writing courses at Purdue, there is not a course that offers help with real-world writing on the job. English 490 helps students focus on learning and understanding the kinds of workplace communications that are not covered in other courses. Even if you are already receiving credit for your internship experience within your department, you may be able to take this course since we will be focusing on communication and writing.