ENG 400: Internship
You are currently looking at the ENG 400 welcome page, where you can find our course description, meeting times and location, requirements, and policies.
This site contains all the material that would normally be on a course syllabus, and more. There’s a lot of information here, but that’s because everything you need for ENG 400 — on the Department of English side, at least (it’s up to you to arrange other necessary information with your partner organization!) — is all collected here conveniently in one place. You’ll mainly use this site for reference during the year, but before you commit to joining our class, be sure you review and understand the contents of this site, because by proceeding with the class, you indicate that you understand and agree to the course requirements and policies explained here.
I am happy to arrange accommodations or modifications to this class for anyone who would benefit from them, but in my classes, you must request accommodations and modifications according to the instructions at the bottom of this page (simply sending along a letter of accommodation will not be sufficient here).
I’m your professor, Matthew Sergi. You can call me Prof. Sergi or Matt (not “sir,” please); you can contact me at sergi.utoronto@gmail.com as needed. I’ll only be able to answer emails sent to sergi.utoronto@gmail.com; if you send an inquiry about ENG 400 to another email address of mine, it will likely be delayed, missed, or deleted.
Course Description
The primary purpose of this course is to assign students to, and facilitate, credited internships (about 84-88 hours across winter term) with selected organizations outside of the U of T campus — and so to oversee and provide support for those partnerships from within the university/classroom, to facilitate learning and reflection (both practical and humanistic) from these experiences, and to assess and evaluate students’ work by combining feedback from off-campus partners with in-class reports by students. In ENG 400, we’ll attend not only to basic professional skills and practices that English majors and specialists might need for the workplace beyond campus, but also to the contributions that English majors and specialists might be especially well-positioned to offer in such workplaces.
Thus, in addition to the approximately 7 hours per week that each student must spend at their internship, students enrolled in ENG 400 must also attend periodic in-person meetings on campus with me (schedule below). Across their internship hours and their on-campus sessions, students can expect to:
practice the application of writing and communication skills to meet organizational needs;
develop collaborative workplace and time management skills;
develop professional networks and working relationships in areas that may provide future career opportunities;
share internship experiences in conversation with fellow students and reflect critically and collectively on lessons learned in the workplace;
integrate academic and experiential learning to create a presentation (in person, but also involving online components that the student might continue to use in future) of the skills and experience they gained.
Attending Your Off-Campus Placement
Some internship placements may likely give you work to do independently, or meetings to attend remotely, from your own computer.
All placements will have some significant component to attend in person.
ENG 400 expects you to work with your off-campus partner organization, proactively and thoroughly, to establish your work plan/schedule within the first week (see “Individual Work Plan,” below). It is up to you to ensure that your scheduled internship hours add up to a total of at least 84, and no more than 90, hours over the course of term, with about 7 hours per week on average.
If you end up at the end of term with fewer hours than the minimum, your course grade may be reduced; if you exceed 92, you’ll be doing more unpaid work than what is covered by your university credit.
ENG 400 expects you to educate yourself ahead of time on what your assigned organization expects in terms of professional/mature attire, conduct, and etiquette — as well as to adjust that understanding accordingly once you start attending — and then to exceed, slightly, those expectations. Aim to do a bit better, to behave a bit more maturely, and to present yourself a bit more sharply and cleanly than what the partner expects.
If your attire, conduct, or etiquette leave an impression with your partner organization that you are less than professional, or not ready or mature enough for professional workplaces, your course grade will be reduced.
Above all, ENG 400 expects you to complete, effectively and with high self-enforced standards of quality, the tasks your internship partner assigns you. It is your responsibility to ask for (and clarify subsequently) what their expectations and standards are for completion, to report to them and to me regularly with updates on your progress, and then to meet or exceed those expectations within the timeframe they have assigned you. That includes attending all work sessions, meetings, and events at which they expect you. All work and attendance must be done punctually: aim to arrive a bit earlier and leave a bit later than expected.
If your partner organization reports that you have not completed your assigned work with sufficient quality or within their assigned timeframe, or if you show up late — or no-show (see policies below) — for work sessions, meetings, or events at which you’re expected, expect your course grade to be reduced.
Attending On-Campus Meetings
ENG 400 does not meet on campus as often as 400-level classes usually do — since you’ll already have your hands quite full with your off-campus partnership. The goal of the on-campus meetings is to support and evaluate the work you’re already doing, rather than add further work hours, so our on-campus meetings are infrequent. In-person (or at least real-time) attendance at these meetings, including engaged and attentive discussion, is still required, but I promise to respect your time.
On-Campus Meeting 1, Wed 13 Jan, 3:10pm to 4:40pm: initial meeting and check-in, troubleshooting; review of requirements and assignments (for discussion at this meeting, I will circulate anonymized copies of the materials students submitted in their applications for this program, including résumés and answers to the application questions)
On-Campus Meeting 2, Wed 20 Jan, 3:10pm to 4:40pm: first-week check-in, troubleshooting, reflections on workplace conduct, attire, and etiquette (attend this meeting dressed as you would for the workplace and bring one printed-out copy of your Individual Work Plan)
On-Campus Meeting 3, Wed 10 Feb, 3:10pm to 4:40pm: discussion: how non-campus workplaces can fit into, and change, the “literary heart” (self-care, self-presentation, long-term plans); discussion of online projects
On-Campus Meeting 4, Wed 3 Mar, 3:10pm to 5pm: discussion: how the “literary heart” can fit into, and change, non-campus workplaces (ethics, humanistic interventions, purpose); review of online projects in progress; assignment of final presentation dates
On-Campus Meeting 5, Wed 24 Mar, 3pm to 5pm: final presentations part 1
On-Campus Meeting 6, Wed 31 Mar, 3pm to 5pm: final presentations part 2
All on-campus meetings will happen at [assigned room TBA], on the University of Toronto campus, which is on the shared territory of many First Nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Wendat, and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, under the Dish With One Spoon Treaty, and under Treaty 13 between the Mississaugas and subsequent settlers.
If you can’t make it to an on-campus meeting in person, you can (though this is hardly ideal) attend via Zoom and, even without prior notice, not have it count as a “no-show” (see below): I will always keep Zoom running and recording during on-campus meetings, at the “Current Remote Meeting Link” provided under “Resources,” above. Before you do so, consult my Rules and Requirements for Remote Attendance (click here and scroll down); expect me to call on remote attendees without warning, periodically, and to eject remote attendees who are unresponsive more than once.
Course Requirements/Grading Weight
Instructions, prompts, and evaluative criteria for each of these course components are explained at more length below.
I. Impressions from Placement Partners, 20%
II. Individual Work Plan, due (printed out) at On-Campus Meeting 2, 10%
III. Weekly Bare-Bones Reports on Internship Work, 10%
IV. Online Portfolio/Project/Presence, due in draft form (online) at On-Campus Meeting 4, due in final form (online) exactly one week after On-Campus Meeting 6, 20%
V. 12-Minute Final Critical/Creative Presentation, due either in On-Campus Meeting 5 or 6 (as assigned at random), 20%
VI. Responsible Attendance at your Placement (Work Sessions/Meetings/Events) and On-Campus Meetings, 20%
I. Impressions from Placement Partners
It is up to you to check in regularly with those you are working with at your partner organization, to determine their ongoing impressions of your work. Ask “how am I doing and where can I improve” as often as seems appropriate; you should at the very least meet with your partner organization in early February to ask for their feedback more substantially. When you do so, and throughout your own self-evaluation of the work you do, keep in mind the assessment questions I list below.
After the end of your placement, I will share a simple exit questionnaire with your partner organization, asking them five simple question sets:
Did your intern attend all work sessions, meetings, and events at which you expected them? If they missed any expected attendance without clearing the absence with you ahead of time, when and where did this happen — and what reason, if any, was provided?
Was your intern consistently punctual, attentive, and alert during the work sessions, meetings, and events they did attend — and if not, when and where did this happen?
Did your intern consistently demonstrate a professional and mature level of attire, conduct, and etiquette, as appropriate to your workplace? What advice, if any, should we offer them to improve this?
Did your intern complete, effectively and well, the tasks you assigned them? What advice, if any, should we offer them to improve this?
Is your intern the type of worker you’d be ready and eager to hire at your organization, or to recommend for hire at a similar organization, if a position appropriate to their level of experience appeared? Would you be ready and happy to meet your intern after the end of their placement, for lunch or a coffee, to chat informally and discuss their career plans?
I will invite your partner organization to rate your work in relation to each question set above, on a scale of five ranked criteria: from 5, “definitely”/“always”, down to 1, “definitely not/never”. I will then convert those ratings to a score out of 100 (5 = 90, 4 = 80, 3 = 73, 2 = 57, 1 = 45). Skipping the first question (see below), then taking the average of the four remaining scores, and then making adjustments based on my own impressions of the partner organization’s ability to assess your work fairly and of their verbal answers to the question sets, I will determine a final, non-negotiable grade for this course component. The highest possible score here is 90 — keep all five questions in mind throughout your internship work, and aim for above 90.
II. Individual Work Plan
Work scoping and planning is a critical skill that professionals use in every field and sector – whether it be project managers at an environmental science firm, research directors at non-profit organizations, or graduate students in managing their own research work. At the beginning of the semester, students will be introduced to their host supervisor, who will describe the project/work to be undertaken, as well as expectations around timelines, communication, and other facets of the student’s engagement with them and their team. Based on this initial contact, students will then be expected to draft a work plan. Work plans can take many different forms, but for the purposes of this assignment, yours will consist of two main sections: (a) a 350-500 word statement which outlines your organization’s vision, goals, and key activity, and fully describes the project(s) on which they would like you to work; (b) a succinct week-by-week timeline that captures precisely how you will achieve the expected outcomes/produce the required deliverable(s). Your timeline should break down the project statement into specific tasks, and outline when they will be completed.
III. Weekly Bare-Bones Reports on Internship Work
This one is easy, or should be. Starting on the Wednesday of On-Campus Meeting 2, and continuing to one week after On-Campus Meeting 6 — every Wednesday, before 12 noon, you are responsible for sending Prof. Sergi — at sergi.utoronto@gmail.com — a short email containing only the following information, put in simple, succinct language: (a) how many hours you worked at your internship in the week prior (the prior Monday thru Friday); (b) what tasks you worked on (or what meetings etc you attended) during those hours; (c) what tasks you completed during those hours. Include nothing in the email other than that information, in simple, succinct language. Use “WEEKLY BB REPORT: [YOUR FULL NAME]” as your email title.
If you miss a weekly report, you should at least have made contact with me in order to tell me when to expect it by noon on the Friday following. If you do not touch base at all by then (even to say “there’s been an emergency — I’ll be in touch soon about my weekly report”), I will record the report as missed. If you do touch base, I will suggest an alternate option for submission (an email to which I also expect a prompt reply, within two business days).
Timely completion of this simple assignment cannot increase your course mark — but if (a) the total hours worked and reported amount to fewer than the required 84 hours, (b) the hours you report differ significantly from what your partner organization reports, and/or (c) you have missed reports, failed to touch base in a timely manner, or failed to engage promptly about alternate options for submission, I will reduce your grade proportionally.
IV. Online Portfolio/Presence/Project
Establishing an online portfolio or other substantial online presence that summarizes and captures the spirit of your internship work — a “what I did at my 2026 internship” project — will not only help you deepen and document your learning experience over the course of the placement, but also leave a lasting online imprint of the work you did — so that future potential employers might find that imprint and form positive opinions of your work. I will evaluate and grade this project based somewhat subjectively on how well you achieve that aim.
Keep in mind, as you create this project, that it should be both a product (a digital collection of artifacts attesting to your work, which future employers might see) and a process (something you compile and shape slowly and reflectively over the full course of your internship, rather than packing it into the final weeks). You can use this online project for reflecting on your experience as it progresses, but you can also edit and shape it once the placement is over, in order to generate a document that communicates your skills and experience to potential employers.
This online project can take any number of forms, using any platform/app you prefer, as long as that platform/app creates some output easily searchable and accessible by the public (do not use internal campus-based apps like Quercus), even those who do not have the same accounts/subscriptions as you do (I’ll make an exception for Instagram-based projects, because these are widely searched by potential employers). Perhaps this can be a public Google Doc, perhaps a website or e-portfolio (consider using the Linkr E-portfolio, with instructions that will be provided by the Experiential Learning Office), an online slideshow, a YouTube account with curated and self-created content, a single YouTube video, or any mixture of these. You can, if you wish, build this online project from or around any online presence or project you already have going. If you wish, you can remove your portfolio/presence/project from public view at the end of term, but hopefully you’ll have good reason to leave it up and live for future employers to see.
IMPORTANT: Be sure that your placement organization has also reviewed, and approved, any material pertinent to their work (or their brand) that you have posted online.
The output of your online project, whatever form it takes, should require about 15 minutes of my time to fully read and review (and thus the same amount of time and focus from a potential employer) in order for me to come away with the impression that you are the kind of co-worker I’d like to work with (but not that you’re creating the project for me personally). Be creative and innovative even as you demonstrate your professionalism and maturity. Your project might, for instance include some or all of the following: weekly blog-style reflections (either written, audiorecorded, or audiovisual weekly reflections on your placement experience); links to or recordings of artifacts you’ve created in your placement, along with brief reflections and contexts; audio or video content, in which you might interview someone at your placement (set up a coffee date!). Your project must include a link to an online pdf of your professional résumé, updated to include your internship work.
Be prepared to present your project-in-development at On-Campus Meeting 4, and to email me (sergi.utoronto@gmail.com) with a link to its final form by exactly one week after On-Campus Meeting 6. Since we’ll already discuss this project and give feedback on it extensively during on-campus meetings, my feedback after end of term will only take form as a numerical grade (no written comments).
V. 12-Minute Final Critical/Creative Presentation
But your lasting online portfolio/presence is the outward, public impression that will remain visible to potential employers in the future.
What do you really think, as a humanist and a scholar of literature and language, about the work you’re doing and have done at this placement? What are its more complex ramifications and meanings, aesthetically, ethically, socially, theoretically or otherwise? What is interesting, complicated, deep, and human about the work — the kind of thinking that is too intricate, fine, provocative, or controversial to position outwardly to employers, but that shows your fellow students, me, and yourself that you have kept your “literary heart” alive and awake during your placement — and that you’ve looked for opportunities to humanize the workplace by bringing it into contact with the work you’ve done in English?
In the last two weeks of class, you’ll be given exactly 12 minutes to present a structured talk, organized around but not limited to your online portfolio/presence project, that answers some or all of the thought questions above — or, ideally, that complicates and deepens them — with respect to the work you’ve been at all term. Use your 12 minutes to draw our attention to elements (or ramifications) of your online project that a possible employer, or a casual scroller, might miss — “another mode of meaning behind the obvious,” as Thomas Pynchon might put it.
As long as you organize some of your 12 minutes around some element of your online portfolio/presence project, you can use any format or medium you wish for this presentation, as formal or informal as you wish, as long as the result is substantial, complex, provocative, and deep (set part of it in verse! deliver part of it as a fiery exhortative sermon! sing part of it as a song! do a performance piece! whatever!) — aim to leave your classmates, and me, inspired, provoked, and thinking more deeply, complexly, and humanly about your work than we did before. Prof. Sergi will evaluate and grade this project based somewhat subjectively on how well you achieve that aim.
Each of our final two On-Campus Meetings will feature seven students’ 12-minute presentations. Practice your presentation to make sure it takes 12 minutes: coming in under 11 or over 13 minutes (after which I’ll cut you off) will result in a grade penalty. There will be time for Q&A and discussion of the presentations at the end of both final class sessions — be prepared for that (I will take the quality of the end-of-class discussion into account when grading). I will give feedback on this project live, in our meeting, immediately after your presentation; after that, I will assign a numerical grade (no further written comments).
At On-Campus Meeting 4 I will assign students to present either at On-Campus Meeting 5 or 6, at random; you cannot negotiate your assigned presentation date with me, but you are invited to ask fellow students if they are willing to switch. All such switches must be confirmed with me at least three days ahead of time.
VI. Responsible Attendance: Read This Carefully
You earn twenty points of your course grade (see above) just for showing up. If you fail to show up, without clearing that absence with the partner organization or professor, and receiving their approval, ahead of time, you will lose some of those allotted points.
For grading purposes, every student can no-show once without affecting their course grade — by “no show,” I mean “missing any single assigned session, meeting, or event, inclusive of all such assignments from your partner organization and on-campus meetings, without clearing that absence and receiving approval ahead of time.” Even a no-show with a good reason — if that reason is only communicated after the fact, or does not receive approval ahead of time — will count toward this one-shot limit. (I’ll gather information about attendance from your partner organization at end of term, using the questions listed above.)
To be clear, you should never no-show for any element of a course that connects you to real-world workplaces (!) — but emergencies do come up in ways that can take us by surprise, and so you can do so once without affecting your course grade.
Beyond that, and regardless of the reason, every further no-show (again, inclusive of off-campus placement assignments and on-campus meetings) will reduce your Responsible Attendance grade by five points. Thus, no-showing twice will reduce your Responsible Attendance grade to 15/20; three no-shows will make it 10/20; four will make it 5/20; five will make it a zero. There are no after-the-fact exceptions to this no-show policy, regardless of the circumstances.
Since accommodations and modifications related to attendance (see below) generally must be secured, and approved by both the professor and the internship partner, before the placement has begun, accommodation-related absences already count as “approved ahead of time,” to the degree that they conform straightforwardly to the terms of the agreed-upon accommodation.
Accommodations secured later on for emergency situations (see below) do not excuse the student from the responsibility of checking in respectfully and quickly (i.e., within an extreme maximum of five business days) with supervisors and anyone else who is affected by their absence, then negotiating a plan for how to move forward — failure to do so will be counted as a no-show.
This no-show policy does not bar you from missing assigned sessions/meetings/events in general (people get sick! problems arise!): it penalizes you only if you have missed an assigned session/meeting/event, twice or more, without clearing that absence and receiving approval from your partner organization (or, for on-campus meetings, from me) ahead of time. Serious issues and emergencies arise for all of us at one time or another, but in the world outside university student life, even in hard times we still must show up for work — and if we truly can’t, we absolutely must get in contact with our employer, respectfully and as soon as the issue becomes apparent, in order to proactively come up with a plan to make up for lost time.
For absences from on-campus meetings: I will generally approve any request to miss a meeting (no reason need be provided) up to two times, as long as the request is made by email (sergi.utoronto@gmail.com) by 5pm on the Monday prior — except for the meeting where the student is scheduled to present, which the student must attend. Remember that you can always attend on-campus meetings remotely, even without prior notice (see above).
For absences from off-campus placements: it is up to you and your supervisor at your partner organization to determine, proactively, whether and how to clear and approve any given absence ahead of time (for instance, you might try “I’m sorry, but something has come up that will make it difficult for me to attend our scheduled appointment on Tuesday; can we re-schedule for later in the week? I’ll work around your availability on Thursday or Friday” or “I’m feeling under the weather and doubt I’ll be able to attend later today — would it be all right for me to attend this meeting remotely?”). In short, as long as your supervisor has no reason to list the absence as unapproved in their exit questionnaire (see above), the absence will not count toward your no-show limit. No-showing at your partner organization, or requesting too many approved absences, may of course also adversely affect the organization’s impression of your professionalism; however, calculating your Responsible Attendance grade will never take that additional adverse effect into account.
Other Course Policies
Be sure you know the ENG 400 policies before joining our course — because joining ENG 400 means that you understand and agree to its course policies, as far as they are summarized on this page. If you are concerned that you may not be able to adhere to any of these policies, or if you want to learn more specific details about how or why I enforce a policy, click on the “further explanation” link next to that policy. NOTE: In any instance where the below policies conflict with information elsewhere on this website, the below policies take precedence.
If you feel you would learn better or work better with modifications to this course’s structure or requirements tailored to you, including accessibility-related or health-related accommodations, I will generally approve these (and prefer to arrange these) without any letter or documentation— if and only if you request any such modifications and accommodations, proactively and respectfully, in an email to me at sergi.utoronto@gmail.com, a full month or more (preferably much more!) before your internship begins. From there, I will get in contact with both the Experiential Learning Office and the relevant partner organization to try to make arrangements acceptable to all involved. In your email, you do not need to explain to me why you need accommodations (I prefer that you do not) — feel free to just say “it would help me learn if we did this”. In clear, succinct language, offer suggestions for modifications specific to this course, or to any of its particular assignments or policies, with direct reference to this webpage. For my part (I cannot speak for the partner organizations, though!), I will generally approve requested accommodations and modifications that (1) are requested a full month or more in advance, (2) do not compromise the course’s pedagogy/spirit/learning outcomes, (3) do not modify evaluative criteria in a way that is unfair to fellow students, (4) do not make unfair or inappropriate demands on any partner organization or on me, and (5) do not set any precedent that would require extra work hours on their part or on my part.
If you need to request any accommodation or modification that does not straightforwardly satisfy all of the above criteria (including any such request made less than a month in advance — including emergency situations), and/or that is not readily acceptable by the partner organization, you will need to contact an Accessibility Advisor in order to arrange for a letter of accommodation for the Experiential Learning component of this course (you can learn more about Accessibility Services registration by clicking here, or contact them at 416-978-8060 / accessibility.services@utoronto.ca). Be aware that any accommodations for an internship, involving an off-campus organization, might look different than accommodations from another course, especially with respect to attendance; be aware as well that while I will take recommendations from Accessibility Services very seriously, final decisions about the enforcement of course policy are mine. Note that, as per the course policies above, even in emergency situations, this course will hold you responsible for checking in with me and your partner organization promptly (within five business days after the first missed session as an extreme maximum) and for actively and promptly negotiating plans as needed soon afterward to make up for lost work hours.
Every student must be absolutely clear that they understand, and agree to, the course attendance/no-show policy as stated above under “Responsible Attendance.” This course offers various ways that issues with attendance, and emergencies, can be handled proactively, but there will be no after-the-fact exceptions made to the “no-show” policy above, under any circumstances, regardless of the reason.
I generally use Google apps and Zoom, not Blackboard or Quercus, for class announcements and contact. After term begins, you must make sure you are receiving class emails I send from sergi.utoronto@gmail.com; adjust your junk mail or spam settings if need be. (Click here for a further explanation of this policy.)
In order to minimize glitching and lag in the online materials I use in class, to accommodate various participants’ needs, and to stand against the encroachment of an exploitative attention economy, I require all in-person students to disable internet connectivity on all their devices as soon as they enter my on-campus meetings, to stay offline until the on-campus meeting is done, and not to engage at all with phones, even offline, while the on-campus meeting is in session, except where online access is necessary for in-class projects or presentations. (Analog attention management tools are fine.) If I see an in-person student using phones or internet connectivity during class, I will require that student to leave the classroom, marking the student as a no-show for the day. If you have a special circumstance on any given day in which you need to remain on call, clear that with me ahead of time, at the beginning of class.
All students, with no exceptions, are expected to engage and participate actively in discussion during on-campus meetings in order to count as having attended them. (Click here for a further explanation of this policy.)
For students who have difficulty jumping into class discussion, I offer an array of alternative avenues for participation, which the student must pre-arrange with me according to the specific instructions I make available on this website. (Click here for instructions on how to arrange for alternative avenues for participation.)
There are no extensions available for assignments that involve real-time presentations. If you do not deliver your presentation on the assigned day, I will record it as a permanent zero. If you are unable to attend class in person on an assigned presentation day, attend remotely and deliver a modified version of your presentation via Zoom (see above).
If you want a deadline extension for an assignment that does not involve real-time presentations (i.e. the Individual Work Plan, the final Lasting Online Portfolio/Presence, or any given Weekly Report), you must request it at least one week in advance (please do not share the reason for your request; just ask). If you request the extension one week in advance, I will extend your deadline by exactly one week (no more no less).
Without an extension secured in that way, I will penalize late assignments that do not involve real-time presentations by 3 points (out of 100, counting the Weekly Reports as one collective 100-point assignment) for the first week after the assignment was due, then an additional 3 points (totalling 6) beyond that. From there until exactly two weeks after On-Campus Meeting 6, no further penalty will be taken. However, I will record any assignment that has not been emailed to me (sergi.utoronto@gmail.com), following the instructions at this page, two weeks after On-Campus Meeting 6, as a zero. If you have good reason to hand in an assignment late after that point, you must approach your college registrar, and ask them to provide me with a formal extension request; if I receive such a request, I’ll honour it.