Resources to support projects

Emails

Guidance for students - your first email to your organisation

General guidance on emails - See here for some template professional emails

Try and follow the lead of your organisation in tone/formality

Meetings

Your first meeting - a suggested agenda/project plan

Professional Conduct at Work

Managing your time:

• Making sure you are organised and able to manage your time is key to ensuring your internship is successful.

• You may may be tasked with more than one piece of work at a time so you setting out a plan that works for you is important

• The use of a calendar (e.g Google calendar) will support you in your time management 

Keep people informed:

• It may sound basic, but it is crucial that you let your organisation know if you are ill, unable to get to their office, or any other changes that affect your attendance

• We have formed positive relationships with all the organisations who have offered a project for you to work on during this internship scheme. These need to be maintained to allow us to continue to offer students exciting opportunities.

• Please also let us know of any changes in your circumstances. 

Confidentiality:

• Depending on the project you will be working on, you may be required to work with confidential information.

• It is very important that  you adhere to your organisation’s policies on managing data and information

Networking skills:

• Whilst your internship is a fantastic opportunity to gain some practical experience with an organisation, it also serves an important role in developing your network.

• There’s no need to be put off by the word ‘networking’.

• Most of the time you will be doing it without even realising. It is the little conversations that you have that form relationships and can lead to further opportunities.

When you're working on a project or an assignment, how do you make best use of the time available to you?

• Time management means planning your time and using it effectively. 

• Developing techniques around motivation, planning and prioritisation can help you to keep on track with your work and manage deadlines effectively.

Planning your time

• As a student at the University of Sheffield, you have access to Google Workspace which has many tools for helping you to organise your internship or project, and stay on track with tasks. Through MUSE you can access Google Calendar, Keep, and Google Tasks.

• The first step towards building good habits is understanding your workload. 

• Map out all your deadlines and other important tasks to get an overview. 

• You could simply write these down in a notebook, or use a calendar to enter and visualise when your deadlines are.

• Create time blocks in your calendar: Designate specific time periods for tasks, e.g. time to prepare or read material before a meeting, a meeting, training, research, and time to complete a task.

Keeping track of tasks

• Finally, you'll need to keep track of all your tasks. 

• A good idea might be to create a  Prioritised To-Do list (Google Doc) for the internship, adding to it everything that you need to do and identifying which are the high-priority tasks and which are lower priority. 

• To prioritise tasks, think….

• Which do you need to do now?

• Which need doing soon?

• Which can wait?

• What are the things you need to get done in order to complete a task?

• What tasks rely on other tasks? Plan out a logical order. 

• What needs to come first?

Writing a report or presentation

See here for tips and examples 

You may be asked to summarise your internship via a report or presentation. This should be concise and professional, with consideration for your audience. You may have guidance from your organisation about the format they would like, but following sections will work well for a variety of projects: 

Executive Summary

Paragraph or slide with the headline outcomes of your project or research

Actions taken

Explain your methods - scope of your research, data used, methodologies - including any strengths or weaknesses e.g. “ this data but has the following limitations …”

Main conclusions

To add detail to your executive summary - again with any proviso needed, for example “ Research shows a…b…c… however in the scope of this project x…y….z…. Have not been explored

Recommendations

For many projects you have been asked to recommend further actions - this could be a list with any details needed to help the organisation progress. For example a recommendation may require investment for equipment or staff time - show that you are aware of this and that your recommendations are realistic

References

Any sources you have used 

Appendix

This could be a more detailed data analysis for example, or interview transcripts

A reminder of the agreement form signed by organisations and students: 

Students and Internship hosts will both agree to the same statement below: 

PROJECT HOSTS AGREE TO

• Offer a project of 70 hours to each student matched with your organisation, to be completed between 7 April-25 April 2025

• Provide a workplace and workplace culture to positively support equality, diversity and inclusion, and provide a welcoming and supportive environment.

• Establish attendance expectations and any project deadlines with the student(s) as part of their induction, taking into account both business needs and student availability.

• Provide the student/graduate with a full and clear induction to the organisation and its working practices, including health and safety arrangements, fire precautions and emergency evacuation arrangements, how to report accidents, incidents and unsafe conditions. 

• Provide clear guidance on confidentiality if the student is to access any workplace systems. Any Intellectual Property generated by students during their internship will be owned by the host organisation.

• Meet with the student(s) at least once a week (via phone, video or in person) to discuss progress and agree priorities for the coming week.

• Not exceed 70 hours unless the student(s) offer additional time on a voluntary basis

• Commit to the spirit of the project in supporting the student to get the most from the experience, offering feedback and support where possible.

• Contact t.horton@sheffield.ac.uk if you have any concerns regarding the student or project, including poor attendance or student welfare.

• Complete a short evaluation form at the end of the project.

• Process all student personal data in accordance with the GDPR.

• Hold employer or volunteer liability insurance

STUDENTS AGREE TO

• Attend the pre- and post-internship skills workshops to ensure they make the most of their internship

• Meet with the project host prior to April to agree the project brief, working arrangements and deadlines

• Meet with the project host at least once a week (via phone, video or in person) to discuss progress and agree priorities for the coming week.

• Commit to 70 hours during the Easter vacation period to complete the project by Friday 25 April - exact working arrangements to be agreed with the project host.

• Abide by all the rules regarding health and safety requirements, and other practices and procedures of the internship organisation including confidentiality, GDPR and safeguarding  

• Inform the University if they have concerns about the project

• Commit to the spirit of the scheme in supporting worthwhile projects to achieve their stated goals.

• Notify the Project Host and the University as soon as possible if they can no longer complete the project or meet agreed deadlines (bursary payments may be reclaimed in the event of a student withdrawing from a project).

• Complete a short evaluation at the end of the project.

• The sharing of their personal data as needed for the placement between the faculty and the host.

• That they are not employees of the host.

THE FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (University) AGREES TO

• Match students with projects to the best of our ability

• Provide the student and host with a named person who can be contacted to discuss any issues - Tracy Horton t.horton@sheffield.ac.uk 

• Provide students with a pre-internship skills programme on making the most of a project and good practice on project working (including expectations for remote working)

• Contact the student and host to check on progress.

• Support students to understand how to make the most of the experience once completed

• Process bursary payments during the early stage of the internship to enable students to cover any travel costs etc associated with the project

Internships should always include an induction element - whether part of the intial meeting, first day on the host premises, or via written communication. We expect the induction to cover the following: 

• Working Pattern.

• Hybrid, remote or in-person mode of attendance.

• Hours of attendance and break arrangements.

• Sickness/absence procedures.

• Workplace culture and rules of conduct.

• Digital tools used for communication.

• Security procedures.

• General Data Protection Regulation and confidentiality compliance.

• Evacuation procedures.

• Display screen equipment practice (safely using computer screens/laptops).

• Reporting hazards and incidents.

• General safety procedures specific to the role.

• Use of dangerous machinery.

• Lifting and carrying techniques.

• Control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH).

Have you been asked to develop a Social Media or Marketing Strategy? this article could help you get started.  Also refer to Cialdini's 6 principles of influence which is a framework commonly used in Sales and Marketing

Does your project involve monitoring and/or evaluation of a service? This article could help you get started, and the NCVO also produces guidance for voluntary sector organisations