Internship Report Guidelines

Students Pack
(applicable to all students appearing for viva in. Spring 2015)
V 2.3

Department of Management Sciences

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad
ManagementSciencesCIIT

Prepared By: Dr. Yasir Bin Tariq

INTRODUCTION

Why are internships important? There are very few courses at university that provide graduates
with a specific professional qualification. It is generally down to you to define and implement your
own personal career plans. An internship can be of considerable benefit to you in this respect.
Internships will introduce you to potential future work environments and you will be able to decide
whether these meet your career wishes and interests. You can also acquire important
supplementary skills during an internship and make contact with potential future employers.
In summary: An internship will make it easier for you to find work and get off to a good start in
your career. In many sectors, such as the media industries, successful job applicants now need to
demonstrate that they have already completed an internship.
Internships represent a cross-over point between university and career, and will not only help you
in your career, but also in planning your studies. The experience you gain during an internship will
indicate how you should structure your future studies, particularly when it comes to deciding what
aspects you should focus on. An internship and your study focus will thus help you establish your
individual career profile1.
This document is intended to offer guidelines regarding internship reports for the following
aspects.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
1.1

When you can do an internship?

Report Submission & Evaluation Process (Important)
Chapter-Wise Contents Guidelines
Report Formatting Guidelines
Evaluation Scheme
What is Plagiarism and how to avoid it
LEARNING OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES

Before you join an organization or business entity for an internship, you should answer this
question that what I will be able to do as a result of this practical experience
A successfully completed internship should have following learning objectives and
outcomes.
To have a better understanding of real business world
To realize how class room knowledge helps in carrying out practical organizational tasks.
To add job experience to your resume
To develop & learn new job skills
Personal development

http://www.career.uni-mainz.de/115_ENG_HTML.php

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WHEN YOU CAN DO AN INTERNSHIP

An internship can be done after the completion of sixth or seventh semester.

2.1

IMPORTANT NOTE

If you have done your internship or planning to do your internship after the completion of sixth
semester, you are required to appear for viva in the very next semester i.e. seventh semester. The
internship carried out in semester break after the sixth semester is not acceptable for viva in eight
semester.
Scenario One

6th Semster

Semester Break
Six Week
Internship

7th Semster
You must appear
for viva in this
semester

Scenario Two

6th Semster

Semester Break
Six Week
Internship

7th Semester

8th Semster
(Internship done in sixth
semester's break is not
accepted for viva in 8th
semester)

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Semester Break

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REPORT SUBMISSION & EVALUATION PROCESS

Submit your internship

Letter

Allocation of
Supervisor

Internal Evaluation by
the Supervisor

Report Writing &

Submission to
Supervisor

Submission of
Softcopy by Supervior
to Coordinator for
Plagiarims Checking

Submission of
Supervisor Apporved
Spiral Binding for
External Viva

Incorporate changes, if
any and submit hard
binded copy (only two
copies)

External Viva

CHAPTER-WISE CONTENTS GUIDELINES

The suggested number of total chapters are four. The suggested contents of chapters are as follow.
2.1

CHAPTER 1- INTROUDCTION OF THE REPORT

Chapter 1 includes a summary of the report, why you carried out this internship, what is the
purpose and objectives of this report. This chapter usually do not exceeds more than three pages.

3.1

CHAPTER 2- INTRODUCTION TO THE ORGANIZATION

The purpose of this chapter is to offer an introduction of the company/organization in which you
did your internship.
3.1.1

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO

Instead of following the traditional practice of copying all organizational details from corporate
annual report or website, you should research about the organization in question, its place in the
industry and about its competitors and then write about it. This chapter should include the
following contents.
Background and introduction of the company
Details and analysis of its business model and a very brief account of products and services
offered by it. It is suggested that instead of producing the long list of products/services, a
categorized summary should be offered.
Its position in the market/industry, market share, and financial position
Brief details of its competitors (Should compare the details in the previous point with its top 3
competitors.

3.1.2

WHAT YOU SHOULD NOT DO

Copying and pasting the companys profile, vision & mission, its board of directors details, the
long list of products and services offered etc. from the annual report or website.
3.2

CHAPTER 3- JOB DESCRIPTION & ITS ANALYSIS

This chapter should offer the detail account of the all activities (categorized by functions i.e. HR,
Sales & Marketing, Finance, General Management, Operations etc.) carried out by the internee,
during the six week period. This includes
Details of the office/branch where you worked e.g. size, total number of employees, the position
of this office/branch in overall organizational structure, its budget & financials, total number of
transactions performed and customers entertained.

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 Details of your job description and your position

A detailed account of activities/functions performed by you
An analysis of activities/functions performed by you and how they contributed towards final
goal/objective of the organization.
3.3

CHAPTER 4- FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on your six week work experience, observations and your interactions with the employees &
management, you are required to report your findings in this section. Please note that these findings
should be focused on and restricted to your workplace level i.e. if you worked in a branch, your
analysis and findings should be related to that branch. You could focus on the following aspects
but not limited to;

Workplace environment:

This could include general environment of the workplace, spacing, lighting conditions,
workers safety, facilities etc. Also if the branch/office deal with the customers, than you can
also include how customers are dealt, facilities provided to them etc.

Managements leadership style

Employees attitude and morale
Budgets & Financials
3.3.1

A WORD OF CAUTION

Since the major source of information/data regarding these finding & recommendations, is your
experience and observations, therefore you should be very careful in your analysis. To avoid
subjectivity, please try to be as objective as possible when analyzing the office/branch you worked
at. Also make sure, if you had any bitter experience with the management or employees, this
should not affect your objective judgment or assessment of the work.
4
4.1

REPORT SEQUENC AND FORMATTING GUIDLINE

WORD COUNT

Total number of words (Executive summary & four chapters) should not be less than 6000 words
and more than 10,000 words.

4.2

SEQUENCE OF THE CONTENTS OF THE REPORT

1. Title Page (Front Cover)

2. Title Page (Internal Cover)
3. Students declaration

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4. Supervisors certificate (that changes suggested by examiner has been incorporated)

5. Approval Sheet
6. Copy of your internship letter
7. Dedication
8. Table of Contents
9. List of Tables
10. Acknowledgment
11. List of Abbreviations/Acronyms
12. Executive Summary
13. Chapter 1-4
14. References (Harvard Style)
15. Bibliography
16. Appendices (If any)
4.3

SAMPLE OF INITIAL PAGES

Pages from item number one to 11 are usually considered as initial pages. For a sample of these
page, see Annexure-I
4.4

FORMATTING GUIDELINES

The report should be formatted in a professional manner. Please follow the following guidelines
4.4.1

FONT & PARAGRAPH FORMATTING

Font size for text: Times New Roman, 12 points

For Tables, Arial Narrow, 11 points, could be used.
Line Spacing. 1.5
Paragraph Spacing. 6 points (after)

The following fonts & numbering scheme should be used for Headings.

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1. Chapter Main Heading- Level 1 (Times New Roman, Bold, 16)

1.1. Sub Heading Level 2 (Times New Roman, Bold, 14)
1.1.1. Sub Heading Level 3 (Times New Roman, Bold, 12)
1.1.1.1.

4.5

Sub Heading Level 4 (Times New Roman, Bold, 12)

TABLE OF CONTENTS (TOC)

The table of contents should be properly formatted and numbered. It is recommended that you
should use MS Words automatic TOC generating tools.
Help Note: It couldnt be easier to add a table of contents to your report. Just click in the document
where you want the TOC to appear. Then, on the References tab, click Table of Contents and then
click one of the Automatic options.
When you do, the TOC is inserted and text you formatted using Heading 1, Heading 2, and
Heading 3 styles is automatically added to it.
4.6

REFERENCES

Your report should following Harvard Referencing Style for both in-text citations and chapter end
references. The guidelines & examples for Harvard Referencing style could be download from the
following links.
1. http://guides.is.uwa.edu.au/harvard
2. http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/harvard_quick_guide_tcm44-47797.pdf
3. http://www.staffs.ac.uk/assets/harvard_referencing_examples_tcm44-39847.pdf

For references, you could use MS Word built-in referencing tool. Alternatively, you could use
software like Endnote or Mendley.
MS Word Help Note: On the References tab, in the Citations & Bibliography group, click Insert
Citation for the option to add sources and then place citations in the document.
When youve added all the citations you need for your report, on the References tab, click
Bibliography to insert a formatted bibliography in your choice of styles.

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EVALULATION SCHEME

The evaluation of the internship report is carried out in two parts i.e. 1) Internal Evaluation and 2)
External Evaluation.
5.1

INTERNAL EVALUATION/VIVA

Internal evaluation of the students internship report will be carried out by a committee consisting
of two or three members including report supervisor. The internal evaluation carries 25 marks.
5.2

EXTERNAL EVALUATION/VIVA

After a student has cleared his/her internal evaluation, two copies of the internship report (spiral
binding), duly signed by supervisor will be submitted for external evaluation. The external
evaluation will be carried out by a panel consisting of an external examiner and department
nominated internal examiner. The external evaluation carries 75 marks.
Internal Evaluation
25 marks

External Evaluation
75 marks

Total
100 marks

The external viva can be conducted immediately before the start of semester end exams or
immediately after the end of semester-end exams.
6

WHAT IS PLAGIARISM AND HOW TO AVOID IT

Plagiarism is a very serious issue and with very serious consequences. Students are advised to
download the following guideline from HEC and made themselves familiarize with the concept.
Excuses of not knowing or misunderstanding will not be accepted. The Little Book of Plagiarism
can be downloaded from the following link.
http://www.hec.gov.pk/InsideHEC/Divisions/QALI/QADivision/Documents/Little%20Book%20of
%20Plagiarism.pdf

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ANNEXURE-1

Sample Pages

Prepared By: Dr. Yasir Bin Tariq