Perfect tips for a Perfect Internship Report

Generalizing internship reports is a bad idea because internship experience and reports vary significantly among organizations, educational institutions, and the degree itself. This is an article, specified for BBA students who chose a marketing-focused internship research proposal.

This article is not about how to write an internship report, it is about how to write a really good internship report. I will provide one good piece of advice for each section of a BBA internship report because it’s already hard enough to remember the names of these sections. Here we go:

Internship/Research Proposal

Pick a certain issue/problem within your academic scope. You can always analyze the problem from your unique point of view and give observations on how it’s being handled and discuss opinions on how it can be handled in a better way.

Executive Summary

It’s a TLDR (Too Long Didn’t Read) of your report. Construct sentences by taking words from your table of contents and try to keep them within a single page at maximum.

The internship report is divided into two parts. Part A describes the internship experience, and part B provides information on the research proposal.

Part A: Internship Experience

General information about the organization

Make a table to clearly portray this information (Organization name and tagline, Department, Contact details of academic and internship supervisors, and the duration of internship). A table makes it easy to read and easier to find later.

Organizational Background

A very brief, ten-sentence paragraph on how the organization came into existence and where it’s standing now compared to its mission and vision.

SWOT Analysis

Don’t download a SWOT analysis free picture from google, make your own SWOT analysis graphics or infographics. It does not have to look pretty, it only has to convey the information based on what you found in your SWOT analysis. Here’s a link where you can make free infographics and slides.

Porter’s Five Forces Model

Add tables, add paragraphs to describe the table, and add infographics to summarize both the table and the paragraphs. It’s called “Prepare for trouble and make it triple”.

Inter’s Role & Responsibility

You need to make this list before you go into the internship. Take the list with you to work and try to cross off as many goals as possible. This will give you meaning to your work and create content for your internship report. 

Observation

Write all the positives about the organization. It’s a reflection of your professional personality.

Recommendations

From SWOT analysis & Porter’s Five Forces Analysis, take the negatives (e.g. threats, weaknesses, higher bargaining power of the third parties over the organization) and find solutions to them. These solutions are your “Recommendations”.

Conclusion

Discuss the positive impact the internship had on you. Take inspiration from “Intern’s Role & Responsibility”.

Part B: Research Proposal

Let’s imagine, the Research Proposal asks “How can good hygiene in the R&D department impact the success of a pharmaceutical company”. Based on this example proposal, Part B’s advice is constructed.

Research Objective

Discuss how the result of your research impacts practical life or makes a difference in the bigger picture. For example, finding an answer to the above-mentioned research question can inspire big organizations to practice and promote hygiene and health nationwide.

Description of the Research Proposal

Describe the activities the organization is already doing in relation to the research proposal. For example, new employees are briefed separately on hygiene maintenance upon joining the company. This is a little similar to “Observation” from Part A but this description only focuses on what is relevant to the research proposal.

Sampling & Methodology

There are legit no tips for sampling and methodology. You just tell how many people you chose to interview in your survey and if your research is qualitative or quantitative.

Literature Review

Finish your Literature Review before you start your internship. Read more here

Questionnaire

Try to get permission from your internship supervisor to circulate your questionnaire through their official social media page or LinkedIn. You will receive more relevant answers this way.

Findings & Analysis, and Recommendation

You will not find these on google. Try your best to analyze the responses you received and explain what they mean to describe your findings and analysis. “Recommendation” is where your perfect creative freedom lies. All your academic and practical knowledge boils down to the recommendation you decided to provide to a real company, based on real events. 

Citation/Reference

Different academic background and education institute requires different types of citation styles. You can find different types of citation examples here

If you want to write a long report, my last suggestion would be to make your SWOT analysis, Porter’s analysis, observations, and recommendations long and full of useful information. The culture of writing a long report full of irrelevant information also gave rise to the culture of stacking internship reports on the dusty floor of the student career office. I really hope the next generation will see the internship as a learning opportunity, not as an annoying prerequisite to finishing college.