Week 4 Internship Blog

 

Patrick Callaghan here for another week. This will be week number four of my internship. This week added some extra stuff to what I was doing for the project of Olustee which included learning to write better with new techniques that are to help build up to something that future advisors would look for.

During this Internship under the supervision of Dr. Gannon, she has offered us an opportunity to help build our skills outside of our main work with our projects. She is holding zoom meetings that we can attend and talk about the ways people or bosses in our field are expecting papers and work to look like. Interestingly enough the first technique she provided us was very similar to what I do in my head. First is to just start writing. I use this to put as much information I know down and to help formulate what my question will be. Although what she recommended was a little different I do see the similarities and it is something that I will for sure take up in future projects. Personally, I have not really thought that the work I could be doing is so “scripted”. During my time in college I have tried to write in a way that would be interesting to myself if I were reading it. In a way, I never thought that the work I did or do would be fully read but if someone would read the first and second paragraphs, they would be hooked on the topic and look for more based off what I wrote, which would be a success for me. Perhaps I need to work on my own confidence in that sense, but I suppose there is a reason I prefer to watch a good movie that stretches the boundaries of real life a little more than reading. I have always found reading more of a chore unless it came to comics or other things that allowed me to visualize what was happening while reading.

Along with these, I am also going to start a LinkedIn account and begin connecting to people. It appears that I am behind a lot of people, and I plan on bridging that gap this summer starting with this. Because of Covid I have been at my parent’s house do to being a medium risk, they are well versed in how to make an account and how to utilize it to find more and more people, but at the same time keep it as it is and not something like Facebook. Another aspect this internship is revealing to me is the look to going to get a master’s degree and maybe even a doctorate. Although I am not one hundred percent certain on the topic I would research I believe this opportunity will help lead me into some viable topics and make my decision on how far I want to take education.  

As it seems now I am set to make great gains from these opportunities under Dr. Gannon and I cannot wait for what else waits for me.