Introduction

An occupational internship is an opportunity for you to earn academic credits while applying your knowledge and skills learned in course work to real-world problems. Qualified undergraduate majors are encouraged to apply. The working experience, combined with your academic pursuits, will enhance your chance for employment upon graduation. The internship also provides you with a chance to obtain a first-hand look at a potential employer. Accepted students will be allowed to register in CS 410 for up to 12 credits during one term and a maximum of 15 total credits.

Eligibility

To be eligible for enrollment in CS 410, you must satisfy the following requirements.

1. Complete your sophomore year as a undergraduate Computer Science major.
2. Complete CS 261 Advanced Data Structures.
3. Maintain an overall GPA of 3.0 or higher in upper division Computer Science courses.

These eligibility requirements are considered to be minimum prerequisites for a position that qualifies for CS 410 internship. However, some of these requirements may be waived under special circumstances.

Participation

There are many companies and organizations providing internship positions to CS students. The Career Planning and Placement Center on campus keeps files of these positions. You should meet with representatives of these companies and organizations when they visit campus for recruitments, or you can contact them directly. Many students may also find internship opportunities on campus. In addition, some internship positions are coordinated by the department, e.g., through the MECOP program. The internship may or may not be a paid position.

Once you find an appropriate position, prepare a Preliminary Project Description and see the CS internship coordinator. Once you, the site supervisor, and the CS internship coordinator agree with the internship conditions, you can register for CS 410.

Preliminary Project Description

Before you register for CS 410, you and your supervisor should clarify your role and the objectives of your internship. In this form you should describe.

1. Your contact information, including your e-mail address,
2. The names of the employer and your immediate supervisor,
3. The goals of the internship,
4. Your responsibilities with respect to those goals, and
5. The target dates for completion of your tasks.

Evaluation

During the course of your internship, you are required to submit progress reports and a final report. The course grade (P/NP) will be assigned based on these reports. However, the department may solicit evaluations from your supervisor, and these evaluations may be used in conjunction with your written reports to determine your final grade for CS 410.

The reports should be initialed by your immediate supervisor. Mail each report to.

Toshimi Minoura Occupational Internship Coordinator
School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Kelly, Room 2077
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR 97331-3202 minoura@eecs.orst.edu (If you are in the Corvallis area, submit a hard-copy report in person. Otherwise, you may e-mail it.)

Progress Report

Internship duration varies from one to two terms. Progress reports allow the department to assess your accomplishments. Each progress report requires your supervisor's initials and should contain the following information.

1. The names of the employer and your immediate supervisor,
2. The list of accrued changes made to the goals stated in your preliminary project report,
3. The status of your internship (i.e. - What objectives have been met?), and
4. A summary of the positive aspects of the internship as well as problems or difficulties you have encountered.

One Term Internship

After filing the preliminary project report, you will be expected to file progress reports in weeks four and six. The reports should be one to three pages long, typewritten.

Two Term Internship

After the preliminary progress report has been sent in, you will be required to file progress reports in weeks five and eight during the first term of the internship. In the second term of the internship, file progress reports during weeks two and five. If you do not submit a final report at the end of the first term you will receive a grade of I for that term.

Final Report

All internship students are expected to submit a final report before or on the last Wednesday of the term of the internship (Finals Week). The final report should be a well written and professionally presented document. This document should present a complete picture of your involvement in the project.

Before you start writing the final report, consult with your supervisor about the format of your report. Any reasonable format used by your employer is acceptable. The report should satisfy the expectations of your employer as well as the requirements of CS 410. If your employer does not have any specific format for the documents you produce, then use the following format for the final report.

• Title Page
  The title of the project, the date when the report is produced, and the name of the author (you) should be listed.
• Project Summary
  The goals and the outline of the project, the results produced, and the future work should be summarized in one page.
• Project (or System) Overview
  Present an overall picture of the system or the program you worked on, including such subjects as external specifications, system architecture, program structure, and results of requirement analysis. Use figures and diagrams with concise explanations. A brief description of the overall project into which your part fits may be useful. The major design considerations and decisions, both technical and non-technical, made in the course of your project should also be described in this section.
• Design Details
  Important design details for major components, including data structures and algorithms used, should be presented. Depending on the nature of your project, such documents as user's manuals may be included.
• Discussions
  Comments on the work completed and to be completed should be documented so that they are not lost. You can also describe what you learned from your internship, such as: design and programming methods, systems, algorithms, data structures, administrative and organizational techniques.
• Conclusions
  Emphasize the importance of what was achieved, and describe the work left for the future. You may also include your evaluation of your internship experience.
• Appendices
  Attach all the documents produced including source-code lists.

The required number of pages of your final report depends on the number of CS 410 credits:

Although pages containing such materials as program source code can be counted towards the total number for your final report, at least one-third of the report should be devoted to textual and pictorial descriptions of your project.

In case your employer does not allow you to include proprietary information, the documents that contain such information should be excluded from the final report. In this case, a letter that states the number of pages of excluded materials should be obtained from your supervisor, and it should be attached at the beginning of the final report.