Pecorella, R. F., & Stonecash, J. M. (2007). Evaluating successful political internships: A view from the student seats. Journal of Cooperative Education and Internships, 41(1), 4-11.
If planned and monitored with care, government internships provide students with an opportunity to evaluate popular and academic conceptions about politics while also enhancing their professional experiences. This article is an effort to ascertain the most important elements comprising a successful government internship experience. Analyzing survey data from more than 600 undergraduates who completed legislative branch internships between 1999 and 2005, this research tests several possible predictors of success including, student background characteristics, general attitudes toward work and politics, and perception of treatment by the office against overall levels of intern satisfaction. The findings indicate that interns who feel that they have been entrusted with interesting work, who believe that they have been treated well by office staff, and who have been afforded frequent opportunities to interact with the elected official who heads the office will tend to be highly satisfied with their experiences in the legislature.