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Biochemistry and Biotechnology Graduate Internship

Application Form

Student Responsibilities


Before the internship begins

  • You must be a student in good standing (not on academic probation) majoring in Biology, Chemistry or Biochemistry & Biotechnology.
  • Identify a mentor/supervisor and a position in a research lab or in industry in the greater St. Louis region that is appropriate for a biotechnology internship.
  • Discuss an appropriate project with the mentor/supervisor and what her/his expectations are in terms of duties and the time commitment for the position.
  • Contact the UMSL faculty member who is the director of the internship program to discuss the position, whether it is appropriate for a biotechnology internship and to obtain the biotechnology internship application form
  • Fill out the form and have the internship mentor/advisor read and sign the form.
  • Bring the form to the director of the internship program at UMSL for approval before you register for the internship for credit.


During the internship

  • Work on the project as agreed upon with the mentor/supervisor for the agreed upon hours/week.
  • Discuss appropriate background reading material with the mentor/supervisor and obtain this reading material.
  • Keep a detailed notebook of your work.
  • Meet with you mentor/supervisor regularly to discuss progress or possible problems and show her/him your notebook.
  • Over the period of the internship, write the paper that is required for the internship. Consult with your mentor/supervisor (or the Director of the internship program if the supervisor is not available) for help in writing the paper. Note the section on the next page that gives more details on writing the paper.
  • Complete the project to the satisfaction of the mentor/supervisor and turn in the paper to the director of the internship program by the last day of classes for the semester. Failure to turn in the paper by this date will result in a penalty of one point per day, 5 points per week, until the paper is submitted (including weeks during the semester breaks).


Mentor/Supervisor Responsibilities

  • Guide and supervise the student in the project.
  • Help the student identify appropriate reading material for background information on the project.
  • Meet with the student regularly to discuss progress or possible problems and to review the student's notebook.
  • Guide the student in writing the paper.
  • Provide oral evaluation of the student to the director of the internship program.


Credits

One credit hour of internship is equal to about 10 hours of internship work per week for one semester (15 weeks). In the summer, one credit hour of internship is equal to about 15 hours of internship work per week for 10 weeks. No internship can last less than 10 weeks, no matter how many hours are worked because 10 weeks in the minimum time for an appropriate internship experience. This means that students who want to earn internship credit for the summer must either begin the internship in May or must extend the internship into August, which will usually result in a delayed grade with the actual grade given after the paper is submitted and evaluated. Students graduating in August cannot take internship credit in the summer unless they can complete the 10-week internship in time to receive a grade at the end of the official summer term, since they cannot get a delayed grade.

No student can earn more than 3 credit hours in a 15- week semester and no more than 2 credit hours in the summer semester.


Written Paper

  • About 3500 words (excluding citations, references and figure legends) per credit hour of internship.
  • Submit the paper to the director of the internship program by the last day of classes for the semester.
  • The paper should be written in good, grammatically correct English and organized as if it were to be published in a scientific journal. It must include:
    1. Summary or abstract of the project.
    2. Background information on the project with references and citations to the references in the body of the paper.
    3. A description of the purpose of the project and an overview of the strategy to be used in the project.
    4. Materials and methods used in the project with references, including a rationale for the methods used and an explanation of how the method works.
    5. Results from the experiments or techniques used in the project. Include data figures, figure legends, and tables when appropriate.
    6. A discussion of the meaning or significance of the results, problems encountered and possible future directions for the work.
    7. References cited in the paper.
    8. Turn in the paper to the director of the internship program by the last day of classes for the semester. Failure to turn in the paper by this date will result in a penalty of one point per day, 5 points per week, until the paper is submitted (including weeks during the semester breaks).


Plagarism

Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a grade of zero for the work. In addition the student will be reported to the administration for academic dishonesty.

Plagiarism is defined as stealing the words or ideas of others and presenting them as your own. To avoid plagiarism you must: (a) not use the words of others (* see note below) without formally citing the author of those words, and (b) not present the ideas of others without formally citing the author of the idea.

To cite others properly you must reference your source in the text of your written paper and list your sources at the end.

* If you copy a sentence but change a few words in the sentence you are still plagiarizing. Lawyers define plagiarism as more than three consecutive words copied from another. If you choose to copy the words of another then you must use quotation marks to indicate that you are copying.


Internship Grade

The grade will be determined solely by the official UMSL instructor and will be based primarily on the quality of the paper (including correct use of English, spelling and grammar) and the quantity and quality of the work performed as described in the paper, as well as the evaluation of the student's performance by the mentor/supervisor.