Your journal should be a professional record of your internship experience and will vary in format depending on the type of project you do. It might summarize useful information that you'll refer to again in the future, and it is designed to help you develop effective work habits, whether your future job will be in a research laboratory or administrative office.

Your major professor will be reviewing your journal at the end of your internship, and this will contribute to your final grade. If you signed a confidentiality agreement required for your internship, your major professor should also sign one.

Each day's entry should be long enough in length to sufficiently summarize your activities for the day (typically 0.5-1 page, single-spaced). Be concise, neat and thorough. Your journal format will vary depending on your job responsibilities.

If you are working in a research laboratory, a typical day's entry might read:

26 February
Serum PRL was measured by heterologous RIA using an anti-human PRL antisera (NIDDK-anti-hPRL-3), iodinated ovine PRL (NIDDK-oPRL-I-2), and African elephant standards (elephant PRL [G100, 2.1] purified by C.H. Li, UC, San Francisco ). For each iodination, 5 g PRL (in 25 l of 0.01 M NaHCO 3 buffer) were incubated with 1 mCi carrier-free Na 125 I (ICN Biochemicals, Costa Mesa, CA) and 5 g chloramine-T (in 10 l 0.05 M phosphate buffer; pH 7.5) for 1 min. The reaction was stopped by adding 20 g sodium metabisulfite (in 20 l 0.05 M phosphate buffer; pH 7.5). Labeled hormone was separated from the free Na 125 I using gel filtration chromatography (Sephadex G-75-120; Sigma, St. Louis , MO ), eluting with Tris-HCl with 0.1% BSA. Thirty 500 mL fractions were collected, and the iodination fraction immediately following the labeled hormone peak was used in the assay.

If you are working more in an administrative capacity that involves project planning and daily meetings, your entry for one day might look like:

26 February
Joe Smith, Chairman & CEO of Solar Power and Ferrogrow, 5678 Kubu Road, P.O. Box 1282, Gaborone; Tel: 267 35221 or 713 0036 (cell) or 398 1229 (residential); Fax: 267 31455; Email: joe.smith @ yahoo.com; Web: preview.com

  • 1:00-5:00 pm: Initial meeting to discuss possible collaborations to develop fertilizer and mineral supplement from mine tailings; local university already experimenting with fertilizer, but would like us to join project (especially seed growing industry-largest in world)
  • Mineral feed supplement not yet developed-requested proposal for research & he would develop subsequent business plan;
  • Pay for proposal development (min $2500 for 5 days)-need to bring in collaborators for research; he agreed but we're to confirm via e-mail
  • Action: We're to meet with USAID to discuss possibility

Use your judgment to decide which format, or combination of journal styles, most suits your internship.