The professional internship I engaged in this summer was, without a doubt,

one of the most important parts of the education I am receiving at The

Florida State University. The academic major I selected is Editing, Writing,
and Media. I chose this major because I love the written word. I easily lose
myself in creating short works of fiction, I enjoy reading and interpreting
what others write, and I revel in the chance to analyze and improve
grammatical structures. During three years of residence at the university, I
have learned a lot, and my writing and editing proficiency has improved.
However, I was unsure about how this required internship would fit into my
education. What would my sponsor expect of me? What could I possibly
contribute to a professional organization? Was I ready to venture out of
academia into the real world?
My sponsor and her co-workers were very friendly and tried hard to make me
feel welcome at Holt Bosse. I was given a small private office in which to
work, and use of a desktop computer. My sponsor knew that I was also
working two different part-time jobs this summer, and was understanding of
my need for a flexible schedule. At first, I went in to the office at times when
I could attend a staff meeting. This helped me get my feet wet and become
familiar with the types of work done at Holt Bosse. The company is an
advertising firm composed of about a dozen professionals, located in a small
town on the shore of Lake Michigan. Their clients include local small
businesses, large manufacturing firms located in Southwest Michigan, local
governments, and non-profit organizations. My first assignments were to
perform research for my sponsor. I looked online and collected facts and
statistics that would help her write her copy. This was a good first step
because it gave my sponsor and me a chance to get to know each other. I
was very shy, and by presenting the results of my research, I was
contributing without the pressure of having to create original work.
After a couple of weeks, I began to receive requests to edit various pieces of
writing for the staff copywriters. The pieces I edited were generally around
five-hundred words. Again, my sponsor had the right idea. She didnt
overwhelm me with lengthy articles to edit. I am good at editing and I enjoy
it, but my experience had been limited to editing my own papers at school or
reviewing papers for my friends. I found that I was able to provide some real
benefit to the copywriters by pointing out punctuation and grammar
mistakes, and suggesting changes to words and phrasing. I also increased
my knowledge of Microsoft Word, learning how to use editing functions such
as the Track Changes button. It was very interesting and helpful to learn how
to use the tools on the Review tab of Word. I had been using Word to type

papers as a student for years, and now I was beginning to use the software
as a professional editor would use it. This really helped boost my selfconfidence.
As time went on, my sponsor asked me to assist with a wider range of
projects. I was given the opportunity to try my hand at copywriting. Two of
the projects I enjoyed were writing copy for websites. This, of course,
required some research into the nature of the businesses. I used online
resources, files held by Holt Bosse, and personal experience.
I was also asked to write blogs for St. Joseph Today, an organization which
promotes the local community. This was more difficult than I expected. I had
never written for a blog before and wasnt sure of the style or tone required.
My mentor didnt seem to be able to give me much direction. She just asked
me to write some blogs about some things to do in the area. I found out that
blogging to promote a community doesnt have the freedom found in writing
fiction, nor the precision of technical writing. It is its own form of marketing. I
immersed myself in it, and, after extensive rewrites, was able to produce
several blog articles. At first my writing was not personal enough. My articles
sounded more like travelogues than blogs. I rewrote. After I did a couple of
pieces about some specific businesses that I visited, she indicated that it
wasnt a good idea to promote a single business in a blog. Other businesses
that were members of the organization might feel slighted. If I began to write
the blogs at the beginning of the summer, I could have come to understand
better what my mentor wanted and had time to write blogs that met her
specific needs. This type of writing did not come easily to me, but I see its
usefulness on the internet and I would like to gain more experience with it in
the future.
Looking back on the internship, I would say that the major weakness I
exhibited was being shy. I did not want to bother the professionals I worked
with. If I was more outgoing, perhaps I could have received more feedback
on the work I did and taken better advantage of the staffs experience. Some
of my writing was too wordy which made it hard for others to understand.
Perhaps this was due to lack of confidence and trying to over-explain myself.
My greatest strengths while working in this internship were my knowledge of
grammar and ability to edit. These are skills that I really enjoy using, and
they were very relevant to the position. I have a better understanding now of
how these skills can be utilized in a career. I also showed a good sense of
organization in managing the different tasks I was assigned. Finally, I was

able to expand my knowledge of Microsoft Word quickly to produce work

more efficiently.
One of the main advantages of the internship at Holt Bosse was that it was a
very laid-back organization. I was able to come and go as I needed, as long
as I let my sponsor know my schedule. Most of my assignments came via
email. I was able to do a lot of my writing at home during hours convenient
to me.
One aspect of the internship that could have been improved was the amount
of feedback I received. The employees I dealt with were very busy and had
their own deadlines. Sometimes I found myself completing work that no one
had time to review or comment on. I think my writing could have improved
even more if I had some additional constructive criticism. My work could
have received greater visibility if it was posted on Basecamp, a collaboration
tool that the copywriters used to share their work, but I wasnt invited to use
it. I would recommend to future interns that they be a little more aggressive
in requesting feedback.
My work during this internship was a combination of editing and writing. The
number of hours I spent on writing was greater than those spent on editing,
but the word count for the two areas was fairly evenly divided. The total
word count for all of my projects was 24,646 words. This word count includes
the total of words spent on drafts and edits of my writing. I accumulated
these totals on a daily basis. Sometimes I worked only on one piece on a
given day, other days I worked on parts of several pieces. This number is
itemized daily in the spreadsheet which can be found by selecting the Word
Count button on my ePortfolio.
My editing and writing work is found by selecting the Work button on my
ePortfolio. The total number of words that I edited is 7,476 words. You can
view my editing work by selecting the Edits button found on the Work page.
The total number of words in my completed writing projects is 7,481 words.
These completed writing projects are separated into two sections, Blogs and
Copy. These buttons are also found on the Work page.
I have listed the individual word counts for each of my completed projects
below.

Edits

Blogs

Copy

610 Expand Prod Line

Dir
476 Edit Board of Dir PR
452 Fresh Fruits &
Veggies
422 Expand Cust Base
Dir
405 Distributor App E
Blast
1109 Founders Week
1202 Summer Live
Music
972 Wine Festival
389 Expand Profits Dir
868 June E-Newsletter
572 SJ Vet Website

655 Shoreline Trip 1

472 Southshore Copy

1154 Shoreline Trip 2

874 Shoreline Trip 3

746 Holt Bosse Copy

983 Breweries
453 Carousel
555 Silver Beach Pizza
501 Compass Fountain
555 Sarett Nature
533 The Buck