Marketing Internship

MKT 490 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview Internships offer a preliminary view into the industry and career path you have been working toward throughout your academic experience at SNHU. Through this internship, you will have the opportunity to challenge yourself by applying theoretical knowledge and program outcomes; communicating ideas, suggestions, and relevant information; identifying areas for professional self-development; and reflecting upon the experience gained.

In this assessment, you will reflect on your internship experience by creating an internship brief. The real-world working environment is dynamic and complex, and some things can only be experienced in a real-world setting. Your internship brief will look at how the things you have learned in the classroom translate to a real-world work setting, as well as what things took place that were never mentioned in the classroom.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

 Apply theoretical knowledge and program competencies in solving practical, real-world problems within a professional fashion merchandising or retail setting

 Communicate ideas, suggestions, or relevant information in a professional manner appropriate for the fashion merchandising or retail industry  Identify opportunities for self-improvement within a professional fashion merchandising or retail setting  Articulate how knowledge and experience gained via the internship can be effectively implemented in achieving professional goals

Prompt In this project, you will develop an internship brief that reflects on your internship experience. Your brief will reflect on how concepts, theories, and practices are used within a real-world workplace and how they can be applied to your future professional goals.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Company A. Describe the fashion merchandising or retail company where you completed this internship, and explain why you chose this company. B. Explain your duties and responsibilities within this fashion merchandising or retail organization with regard to why you selected this specific

internship opportunity.

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II. Application of Theory A. Describe how you applied the theories you learned during your academic program to actual practices within the fashion merchandising or retail

organization. For example, in what ways did you apply what you have learned in solving problems or engaging in workplace practices? B. How did the projects you were involved in allow you to demonstrate your knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting the outcomes of your

program?

III. Observed Differences A. Describe the differences between the theories you learned in the classroom and workplace practices in this internship experience. For example,

what about this experience challenged your assumptions about the theories you learned in an academic setting? B. Describe how these differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices within the fashion merchandising or retail industry.

IV. Future A. Describe a situation or event that took place during your internship that you had to respond to. How might you respond differently to that

situation in the future? B. If you had the opportunity to do this experience over, how would you approach it differently and why? (If you would not have approached

anything differently, explain why not.) For example, was there key feedback that you received from a colleague or supervisor at the end of the experience that informed how you would have approached certain tasks or represented yourself?

C. What would you like to have accomplished that you were unable to because of time, other priorities, and so on? How would experience from these accomplishments have benefited you in a professional setting? For example, was there a project you wanted to finish? Or were there projects you would like to have been involved in that would have provided you opportunities to network with others?

D. Describe the impact this experience has had on your professional goals. Did it change them or just reaffirm them? Why? E. Identify insight that you gained from this experience that you could not learn in a classroom setting. Why is this insight valuable? F. Describe the connection(s) between your internship experience and your academic program. What specific knowledge and/or skills did you

acquire or enhance as they relate to your professional goals?

Final Project Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your internship brief should be 7 to 10 pages in length with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and adherence to APA guidelines for all formatting and citations.

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Critical Elements Exemplary (100%) Proficient (85%) Needs Improvement (55%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Company: Company Meets “Proficient” criteria and is exceptionally clear and contextualized

Describes the company where the internship was completed and explains why the company was chosen

Describes the company where the internship was completed and explains why the company was chosen, but explanation is cursory or illogical

Does not describe the company where the internship was completed

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Company: Duties and Responsibilities

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation is well supported with examples from experience

Explains duties and responsibilities, connecting them to reason for selecting internship opportunity

Explains duties and responsibilities but response lacks specificity in connecting them to reason for selecting internship opportunity

Does not explain duties and responsibilities

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Application of Theory: Applied

Theories

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Describes application of theories to actual practices within the organization

Describes application of theories to actual practice but response is illogical, lacks specificity, or contains inaccuracies

Does not describe how theories apply to actual practices

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Application of Theory: Outcomes

of Program

Meets “Proficient” criteria and explanation is well supported with examples from experience

Explains how projects demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting program outcomes

Explains how projects demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting program outcomes but response is illogical or lacks specificity

Does not explain how projects demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities in meeting program outcomes

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Observed Differences: Differences

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Describes differences between theoretical concepts learned in classroom and workplace practices in internship

Describes differences between theoretical concepts learned in classroom and workplace practices in internship but response is illogical or lacks specificity

Does not describe differences between theoretical concepts learned in classroom and workplace practices in internship

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Observed Differences: Impact

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Describes how differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices within the industry

Describes how differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices but response is illogical or lacks specificity in connecting to effective practice within the industry

Does not describe how differences might impact the effectiveness of professional practices

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Future: Situation or Event

Meets “Proficient” criteria and description is exceptionally clear and contextualized

Describes a situation or event that took place during the internship that was personally responded to and determines how that situation or event might be handled differently in the future

Describes a situation or event that took place during the internship that was personally responded to and determines how it might be handled differently in the future but response lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not describe a situation or event that took place during the internship and how that situation or event could be handled differently in the future

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Future: Approach Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well supported with examples from experience

Determines how experience would have been approached differently (or not) and why

Determines how experience would have been approached differently (or not) and why but response lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not determine how experience would have been approached differently (or not) and why

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Future: Accomplished

Meets “Proficient” criteria and response is well-supported with examples from experience

Describes desired accomplishments that were not achieved and the commensurate benefits these accomplishments might have brought in a professional setting

Describes desired accomplishments that were not achieved but does not connect these to the benefits they might have brought in a professional setting or response is illogical or cursory

Does not describe accomplishments that were not achieved

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Future: Professional Goals

Meets “Proficient” criteria and draws especially cogent connections between the internship experience and professional goals

Describes the impact of the internship experience on professional goals, including if the goals changed or were reaffirmed and why

Describes the impact of the internship experience on professional goals, including if the goals changed or were reaffirmed and why, but response lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not describe the impact of the internship experience on professional goals, including if the goals changed or were reaffirmed and why

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Future: Insight Meets “Proficient” criteria and response demonstrates sophisticated insight into the value of real-world experience

Identifies insight gained from the experience that could not be learned in a classroom setting and explains why the insight is valuable

Identifies insight gained from the experience that could not be learned in a classroom setting and explains why the insight is valuable but explanation lacks detail or contains gaps in clarity

Does not identify insight gained from the experience that could not be learned in a classroom setting

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Future: Connection(s)

Meets “Proficient” criteria and employs real-world examples to support connections

Describes the connections between internship experience and academic program, relating knowledge and skills gained to professional goals

Describes the connections between internship experience and academic program but does not relate knowledge and skills gained to professional goals or response is illogical or cursory

Does not describe the connections between internship experience and academic program

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Articulation of Response

Submission is free of errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, and organization and is presented in a professional and easy-to-read format

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

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Total 100%

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