Department of Political Science

Internship in Political Science (POLI 599)
Proposing an Internship
Evaluation
Contacts


Internship in Political Science (POLI 599)

The Department of Political Science has established an internship (practicum) program for graduate and undergraduate students. Government, NGO and private-sector placements are eligible. 

Internships consist of a minimum of 150 hours of work as an intern. The course consists primarily of a major research project based on the internship. The major project shall ordinarily consist of a research paper related to the student’s placement.

Internship placements can be arranged in any term, or may stretch over two terms; the Department expects that many will be completed over the summer months, normally 8-12 weeks. Because of the heavy workload involved, students should be wary of coupling an internship course with a full course load. 

Please see Post- Secondary Co-op / Internship Program information on this website if your internship is part of this program. https://www.mcgill.ca/arts-internships/students/credit


Proposing an Internship (Practicum)

Once you have secured an internship position, complete the steps below if you wish to obtain internship course credit. Students wishing to undertake an internship must submit a formal proposal to this effect, well in advance of the proposed internship starting date. This proposal must be approved by the full-time faculty member who has agreed to supervise the internship, the Arts Internship Office, the Department, and the Internship Advisor (for undergraduates) or the student’s graduate advisor (for graduate students).

Please use the web form (Internship Academic Credit Application Web Form) to submit your documents to the Arts Internship Office. The Faculty of Arts Internship Course Credit Approval Form (found in webform), must be signed by:

  1. the Academic Supervisor,
  2. the Faculty of Arts Internship Officer
  3. the Department
  4. the student

Students wishing to undertake an internship must complete a Faculty of Arts Internship Course Credit Approval Form (available in webform) accompanied by a formal proposal well in advance of the proposed starting date. The form must be signed by both the Faculty of Arts Internship officer and the supervising professor. The proposal must then be approved by the Department Chair.

Please submit the Faculty of Arts Internship Course Credit Approval Form (available IN WEBFORM) to the administrative office of the department.

The proposal must include the following information:

  • An outline of the proposed internship, including specific discussion of “learning goals”, “activities”, and “means of evaluation”
  • A description of the organization with which the student will be working including the name of the supervisor to whom the student will be accountable
  • A letter indicating the willingness of the responsible person and sponsoring agency to assume the task of supervision
  • A proposal for an associated research project. As noted above, this will ordinarily take the form of a lengthy research paper, researched during the internship, and equivalent in length and quality to that produced in an independent reading course

Students must also satisfy requirements established by the Arts Internship Office, found in the Handbook for Faculty of Arts Interns (found here).


Evaluation

A grade for the internship will be assigned by the academic supervisor, based on the agreement initially made between the student and the academic supervisor.

 


Contacts

For information about course credit visit this page

Back to top