The internship is a must for all students in France. This allows you to gain significant professional experience, once you have your diploma. At the end of this essential step for everyone, it is time to write an internship report. Discover all our advice and a suggested plan for writing the best internship reports!
Before writing your internship report
Remember that the internship report is a report which will summarize the missions and responsibilities that you had within your company. The proofreader who reads you must be able to understand what you did and what you got out of it. It is therefore important not to limit yourself to the simple description of your tasks when you have to write your internship report. You can describe the skills that you have used or acquired throughout your experience, for example.
The report must be able to answer several questions such as:
- What type of company was the student in?
- What were its shortcomings? Did the student correct them? And how?
- What were his objectives? Did he reach them?
- Would he want to work in this kind of company?
- What did the student learn from his internship? What did he learn?
- What are the benefits of the internship for the student?
- What skills has he developed?
Namely:
- Depending on your establishment and your background, the methods for writing the internship report may be different. Don’t forget to do your research before rushing in head first!
How to write the internship report? Example of an outline for an internship report:
Let’s get to the heart of the matter! First of all, remember that an internship report is made up of several parts: the cover, the acknowledgments, the summary, the introduction, the development, the conclusion and the bibliography.
When you have to write your internship report, you can also include a list of abbreviations and a glossary if necessary. Obviously, these parts will have to be organized in alphabetical order!
Finally, you can add, at the end of the internship report, you can also add annexes. You can put proof of your achievements there, for example. Before slipping an important document in, check with your company if you have the right to communicate these elements to your school.
The cover or cover page of your internship report
You will need to be careful at this stage in writing your internship report because it is the cover page that gives the first impression. must provide:
- your first and last name;
- the title of the position you held;
- the mention “Internship report”;
- the name and logo of your school or university;
- the name and logo of the host company;
- the first and last name of your internship supervisor;
- the dates of the course;
- the addresses of your school and the host company.
It is also on the cover page that you can indulge in some visual fantasies to give some pep to your internship report.
The thanks
In this section, only mention the people who helped you write your internship report. These may be external to the company or to your educational establishment. This part should not be more than one page.
In order of importance, here are the people to thank:
- THE internship supervisor: the fact that he trusted you, supported you throughout this period and shared his passion with you
- L’teaching team of your school establishment: in terms of administrative facilities, in the event of a problem with your tutor, etc.
- THE colleagues who marked your experience during the internship and who gave you a warm and friendly welcome.
- your family and your loved ones: the specific contributions of one or more people.
- A proofreader.
Where to place the thanks? They are located between the cover page and the summary.
Even if this part is personal and has an offbeat side, you must nevertheless respect a certain number of rules:
- avoid spelling mistakes
- use a monotone
- overdo it and lose authenticity
- thank an infinite number of people, you must select the people carefully and respect an order of importance
Summary of the internship report
This is one of the most important pages since it is here that your corrector will have an overview of the outline of your internship report. This will allow your tutors to have a vision of the progression of your thought. The reader should be able to get a clear idea of the theme of your internship report. This is why it is important to carefully select your words for each part and each sub-part.
The introduction
Start, of course, with a hook with a salient fact in order to capture the reader’s attention. If you know your career plan, don’t hesitate to mention it before stating the reasons why you chose this internship and this particular company. Then, quickly present the company, its sector and your missions. When writing your internship report, you can include an organization chart or detail the organization of the company in which you carried out your experience.
You can also introduce a problem there, if it arises. Then you can finish by announcing the plan for your internship report. Please note that the introduction must be at least two pages long.
The introduction includes the following themes:
- How did you find your internship?
- Why did you make this choice of company and sector?
- A general presentation of the company with some key figures.
- What is your professional project and how has the company contributed to helping you refine it?
- What is the direct relationship between this internship and your training at school or university?
- What were the objectives that you set for yourself during this internship, did you achieve them?
- Presentation of your plan and, if necessary, the problem you wish to detail.
The development of the internship report
Here, we advise you to adopt the funnel method. You must start by talking about the history of the company, its sector of activity as well as its development until today. Then, you can discuss the framework of your internship and the missions entrusted to you.
Finally you can finish with the benefits of the internship. To help you, here is an example of a plan, which obviously needs to be adapted according to the instructions of your establishment and your internship.
I. The economic environment
A. The sector of activity
- Presentation
- The economic sector
B. The company
- Company history
- The company today
II. The internship framework
III – The contributions of the internship
A. Missions
- The tools used
- The different missions
- Additional tasks
B. What I learned during my internship
The conclusion: important element of writing the internship report
This part must answer the introduction or even the problem if you have one! We advise you to write the conclusion a few days later in order to take a step back and keep only the main ideas. Don’t hesitate to take a critical look at your experience.
Finally, we recommend that you conclude with an opening, both about the future of the company but also about yours. How did this internship help clarify your professional project? Do you think you will continue in this sector or not? What did you learn during this internship (working methods, skills, companies, etc.)? What impact did this internship have on your career plan? Be constructive!
Generally, the conclusion should be about one page long.
If you have cited works in your internship report, it is imperative to reference them at the end of your internship report, in the bibliography, respecting the APA standards.
Appendices
All documents mentioned or used to illustrate your internship contribution must be referenced in this part. These documents may be illustrations or graphics. Don’t forget that the annexes will have to be mentioned during the development.
What plan for an internship report? Content details
After having organized the skeleton of the report using the plan above, a question arises: what content should you put at the heart of your internship report?
I – The economic environment
This part must absolutely begin the heart of your internship report. In fact, it allows you to introduce your internship, but also your business.
The economic environment of the company is divided into two parts. The first is a fairly simple presentation of the sector of activity and economics of the organization in which you did your internship. You can also talk about the sector’s turnover, the major players who bring it to life, even the innovations developed recently. Indeed, some completely change the operation and strategy of players in the sector, like YouTube, which has become essential for audiovisual groups such as France Télévisions. You therefore have the right, obviously, to retrace a little of the history of this sector.
In this part, you must also look at your business, its history and its activity today. This is where you can insert a more or less detailed organization chart, depending on the size of the organization that welcomes you. You can come back to the different strategies initiated within the group, the shareholders, past and present challenges, etc. You can insert a SWOT analysis here, highlighting the different companies with which your hosting company collaborates, but also its competitors.
II – The framework of the internship
In this section, you will need to highlight the department in which you completed your internship, but also how it works, the different people present, with whom you collaborated. Do not forget to describe their role within the host company. Finally, don’t forget to specify the place of your department within the organization: is it strategic? How does it interact with other departments?
III – The contributions of the internship
This is the most important section of your internship report. It is divided into two distinct parts. The first is more descriptive while the second focuses more on your feelings and allows you to have a critical perspective on your experience within the company.
In the first part of this section of the internship report, it is very important to describe your role within the company and in your department. You must come back to your missions, of course, the tools you used to achieve your daily tasks, the different additional missions, etc.
In the second part, you take a critical look back at your internship. It is imperative to go back over everything you have learned. Don’t neglect to mention the skills you have developed, the postures, the know-how and the interpersonal skills! Then, you can allow yourself to start talking in hindsight about the company, the missions and your department. How could we do better? How to optimize everyone’s tasks? We also advise you to end with this step back which will allow you to introduce your conclusion in which you can develop your analysis.
Some tips for writing your internship report well
Don’t forget to be critical when writing your internship report. Write short, precise sentences so as not to lose your reader.
For all those who are still on an internship, we advise you to keep a logbook during your internship period. Note the missions you have carried out as well as your feelings (failures, disappointments, joy, etc.). They will be useful to you when writing. Indeed, this will give more consistency and precision to your report.
Furthermore, take advantage of the time you spend in the company to ask questions, whether about the company or the functions of each employee.
Are you paid enough for your internship? Find out in our article!
