Bangladesh University 1

Internship Guidelines and

Procedures
Department of Business Administration

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 2

What is Internship?
An internship is a period of work experience offered by an employer to give students and
graduates, called interns, exposure to the working environment, often within a specific
industry, which relates to their field of study. ‘On-the-job’ experience can be as valuable as
anything learned in your studies. After all, you cannot really understand what a job is all
about until you have worked in that environment. Internships are great opportunities to
speak directly to people who have experience in the role you aspire to.

Philosophy of DBA
The primary purpose of the internship requirement at Department of Business
Administration (DBA) is to provide experiential learning outside of the classroom. Students
will gain vital skills and experience that they will be able to use throughout their
professional career. Through these experiences, students sample potential specialties,
explore workplace culture, and gain the experiences necessary to build a marketable
résumé. Additionally, internships provide students with an opportunity to build up their
community of relationships, which become useful when seeking employment after
graduation. Interning allows students the opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills in
a real-life situation and to develop professional experience in a structured, nurturing
environment. During the internship, students become a part of the organization or company
(paid or unpaid) and are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner at all
times, in accordance with the DBA Internship Code of Conduct.

During the Internship

Communicate with your supervisor and the Internship Coordinator. Remember that staff at
DBA and BU can act as advocates for you should issues arise in the middle of your
internship. The key to success and to resolving issues is open communication. If we do not
know there is a problem, there is nothing we can do to solve it.

Professional Conduct: Your conduct during your internship is important! Issues such as
dress, attitude, punctuality, dedication, ethical conduct, confidentiality, and notification to
the supervisor if you cannot keep a specific commitment will be reported by your supervisor
to DBA. If there are any problems that arise, please be sure to communicate those issues as
explained above. If you fail to meet your supervisor’s and DBA’s expectations in regards to
professional conduct (see DBA’s Internship Code of Conduct), your internship will either be
voided and you will need to complete another internship OR you will be given a failing grade
for your internship. Failing an internship can result in expulsion from DBA. The degree that
you are earning is a professional degree, so it is expected that you will learn proper
professional conduct both from your classes and at your internship.

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 3

General Guidelines:
1. Paper should be submitted in the form of Hard copy.
2. A Student should prepare four (04) Hard copies, (one copy to respective Supervisor,
one copy to the program office of the department, one copy to respective
organization, and another copy for the student).
3. Pages of the report should not be below 50 and more than 80.
4. Allow top margins 1, bottom margin 1, left margin 1.25mm and right margin 1.
5. Type 1.5 spaced text and allow for a double spacing between paragraphs.
6. Acknowledgements and /or the letter of transmittal should be given before the
summary/ abstract.
7. Important formula (displayed), figures, and tables should be numbered consecutively
throughout the manuscript.
8. Use page numbers in Table of Contents from Main text.

Fonts

1. Use font type Times and New Roman.

2. Use bold 16 point for the title.
3. Use 12 point for the author’s and affiliation names and addresses.
4. Use 12 point for the text (abstract, body, references and acknowledgement).

Headings

1. Major headings should be centered in the column.

2. Use capital letters in Major headings.
3. Sub-heading should be set in the bold and aligned to the left-hand margin of the
column on a separate line.

Table and Figures

1. Use 10-point font.

2. The charts and graphs must be centered and title should be at the top.
3. Number of all tables and figures with Roman numerals in the order in which the
tables are first mentioned in the text.
4. The illustrations and photographs must be centered.

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 4

Internship Report Format

Preliminary Pages
1. Cover Page (Check sample))
2. Blank Page
3. Inside of the Title Page (Name , ID, Batch & Major of the Student, and Supervisor’s
Name and Designation
4. Letter of transmittal
5. Organization’s Approval Letter
6. Supervisor’s Approval Letter
7. Approval of the Head of the Department
8. Acknowledgement & Endorsement
The Acknowledgement and Endorsement page should contain any acknowledgement of
assistance and a statement of endorsement, which states that they wrote the report themselves
and that it has not already received academic credit from another institution.

9. The Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is the most important part of the report. It summarizes the body of
the report, outlining its scope, purpose and major findings, highlighting the key conclusions
and recommendations. The Executive Summary allows a busy manager to understand the
report's significant information without reading the whole text. Interns should write their
Executive Summary after they have written the report. It is not enough to state what they are
`going to discuss’ in the report. The executive summary has to be self-contained and must
state all the major points of the study. Interns are not required to discuss in detail how they
derived the conclusions or argue about it; this is part of the main body of the text. However,
they have to indicate enough details about their study so that a specialist reader has a good
understanding of their contributions detailed in the report.

10. Table of Contents (Followed by list of tables)

The Table of Contents lists all sections and sub-sections and uses the same numbering system
as the main body of the report. The preliminaries are not listed. Remember – ease of use is
paramount

Chapter One 1.0 Introduction

The Introduction defines the subject of the report so that the
reader is prepared for the text that follows. Here interns can
outline the company and/or department for which they worked,
and they can summarize the work they performed at the
company. Setting the background is important because the
faculty member evaluating the report may not be familiar with
the detailed operations of their employer. Of course, there is no
need to give a highly detailed account. The information on the
site layout and number of employees would only be given if it
relates to later parts of the report. The second part of the
background should outline the history or objectives leading up to
the project or study detailed in the report. The purpose of this
How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU
 5

part is to argue why the specific project or the study outlined in

the report is of interest. From this second part of the background,
the reader can now anticipate the objectives of the study

1.1 Objective or Goal of the Study

The objective or goal of the study outlined in the report should be
crisply stated and conceptually separated from the background.
An introduction answers the question, ``Why was the specific
work or study done?'' Keep the introduction brief, but remember
to give a clear statement of objectives of the study. Ask a
question that will try to answer in this study. After reading the
introduction, the reader should be prepared for the report that
follows, and remember that a reader will be looking for sections
dealing with the issues addressed in the introduction

1.2 Significance or Rationale of the Study

Why are you proposing this study? What is the relevance of this
to you as a student and in you future career? What contributions
it can give to the Department of Business Administration or to
the university as a whole? to the business sector?
1.3 Limitations of the Study
Limitations are influences that the researcher cannot control.
They are the shortcomings, conditions or influences that cannot
be controlled by the researcher. All studies have limitations. Any
limitations that might influence the results should be mentioned.
However, it is important that you restrict your discussion to
limitations related to the research problem under investigation.
For example, if a meta-analysis of existing literature is not a
stated purpose of your research, it should not be discussed as a
limitation. Do not apologize for not addressing issues that you
did not promise to investigate in the introduction of your paper.

Chapter Two 2.0 Review of the Literatures

Chapter 2 is a literature review, a summary of the relevant theory
and research related to the research question. It should be a
scholarly review of the literature. It is also helpful to keep in
mind that you are telling a story to an audience. Try to tell it in a
stimulating and engaging manner. Do not bore them, because it
may lead to rejection of your worthy proposal. Recent citations
are recommended (i.e., last five to seven years).

Chapter Three 3.0 Methodology of the Study

The guiding principle for writing the Method section is that it
should contain sufficient information for the reader to determine
whether methodology is sound. Some even argue that a good
proposal should contain sufficient details for another qualified
researcher to implement the study.
Since there are no well-established and widely accepted canons
in qualitative analysis, your method section needs to be more
elaborate than what is required for traditional quantitative

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 6

research. More importantly, the data collection process in

qualitative research has a far greater impact on the results as
compared to quantitative research. That is another reason for
greater care in describing how you will collect and analyze your
data. You can divide this section by following subsections:
3.1 Data Collection procedures (Primary and Secondary)
3.2 Study Area
3.3 Sampling Procedures
3.4 Sample Size

Chapter Four 4.0 An Overview of the Organization

Brief description of the organization where the study is based or
where you are having your internship. What type of business the
organization is engazed in? How many employees are? Who are
the clients? Such as:
4.1 Background
4.2 Corporate information
4.3 Organization Structure
4.4 Number of Branches
4.5 Number of employees
4.6 Vision Statement
4.7 Mission Statement
4.8 Product /Services Schemes
4.9 Principal Activities
Chapter Five 5.0 Discussion, Analysis and Interpretation
of the results
On the basis of the data and information
collected which are usually presented in
tables, matrices and graphs, analysis and
interpretation can be made. Some
implications, explanations or justification
should be made why this obtaining situation
exist. The sequence of the analysis should be
made based on the Objectives of the study.
Some Issues and Problems can be an offshoot
of the analysis and interpretation.
Chapter Six 6.0 Findings of the Study
Specific significant findings of the study after
the analysis and interpretation of the Data
have been made. Your discussion should
begin with a cogent, one-paragraph summary
of the study's key findings, but then go
beyond that to put the findings into context.
Limit your discussion to a handful of the
most important points.
It is important to mention whether the
findings are statistically significant. If the
How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU
 7

findings are not statistically significant, we

would not conclude that there is a difference
between conditions in an experiment, or that
variables are associated in a correlational
study. Generally, a finding of a study is
considered statistically significant if the
chance probability is less than .05

Chapter Seven 7.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusions and recommendations are often
confused but they are not the samething.

7.1 Conclusion
Conclusions are derived from research
outlined in the main body and do not
introduce new material. They may be
presented in a sequence of two or three
sentence paragraphs. The conclusions should
specifically answer the questions raised in the
introduction or conclude how the goals or
objectives stated in the introduction have
been met.

7.2 Recommendations
Recommendations are proposed plans of
action for the future. They are suggestions
following logically from the conclusions.
Remember that conclusions deal with the
present, recommendations with the future.
Each should be presented on a separate page.

Bibliography and Appendix

References
References list all those books and journals,
and if necessary web pages, to which interns
specifically refer in their report. Materials
from other authors and diagrams that they
have not drawn should be acknowledged
explicitly when there are first used in the
report. The references should follow a well-
established and consistent style. It is very
unlikely that no references are needed in the
report. References have to include links to
any information that is coming form external
sources. This includes data or any other
material on which their analysis is based.
Any statement has to be justified. For
example, a statement like “the internet is
expanding exponentially” need to be
justified. How to justify this? They have to

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 8

refer to the source of this information or

back-up their statement on their own account
if this is a novel observation. In the former
case they have to make sure that they agree
with the statement, or state otherwise (in
which case they would have to justify their
opinion). If asked about any detail of the
report they must be able to answer all the
questions or be able to point to the right
references.
References should be complete and follow a
specific Style (APA format). Examples:
A. Books:
Author's last name, first initial.
(Publication date). Book title.
Additional information. City of
publication: Publishing company.
Examples:
1. Boorstin, D. (1992). The creators: A
history of the heroes of the
imagination. New York: Random
House.
2. Cumming, J. N; Butler, B; & Kraut,
R. (2000). The quality of online
social relationships. Communications
of the ACM”, 45(7), 103-108.
B. Articles:
Author's last name, first initial. (Publication
date). Article title. Periodical title, volume
number(issue number if available), inclusive
pages.

Note: Do not enclose the title in quotation

marks. Put a period after the title. If a
periodical includes a volume number,
italicize it and then give the page range (in
regular type) without "pp." If the periodical
does not use volume numbers, as in
newspapers, use p. or pp. for page numbers.
Unlike other periodicals, p. or pp. precedes
page numbers for a newspaper reference in
APA style.
Examples:
1. Harlow, H. F. (1983). Fundamentals
for preparing psychology journal
articles. Journal of Comparative and
Physiological Psychology, 55, 893-

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 9

896.
2. Khan A.A.(2005), Industrial
Relations in Bangladesh, Business
Review, Jagannth University, Vol. 1,
p(5-15)

C. Report:
1. Government of Bangladesh (2011) ,
“The Bangladesh Economic Review”,
Bangladesh Bank, Vol. 2, p. 10

D. Websites:
When there is no author for a web page, the
title moves to the first position of the
reference entry:
Example:
All 33 Chile miners freed in flawless rescue.
(2010, October 13). Retrieved from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39625809/
ns/world_news-americas/

Appendix
The Appendix (or appendices) provides their
reader with supporting information that
elaborates on, but is not essential to, the
development of their theme, or any
information that is necessary to justify their
statements and which are too lengthy to
include in the main text without interrupting
the line of thought developed there. The
appendices are identified by numbers or
letters. Do not include appendices that have
not been cited in the text.

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU

 10

Contact with your Internship Supervisor for any query

How to Write Internship Report Department of Business Administration, BU