English majors may receive as many as four academic credits for an internship or practicum. If the project is appropriate, up to four of these hours may count toward the English major or minor. Although the English & Creative Writing Dept. has several internships available to qualified students every semester (described below), it is the student who generally finds a suitable job (on or off campus) and initiates the process of developing the project. To qualify for internship credit, the job must require the student to use his or her research, writing, and editing skills. To qualify for practicum credit, the job must offer public service as part of the academic service project of the S.U. Volunteer Center.

In the past, English majors have earned internship credit for positions with two local newspapers, the public relations office at a local department store, the University's public relations and admissions offices, the local office of human resources, a television station in Wilkes-Barre, an advertising firm in New Jersey, and an admissions office of a New Jersey college. The latter two positions were summer jobs in the students' hometowns.

At the place of employment, the intern works with a supervisor on tasks of a professional nature, in order to learn the scope and range of the position. The supervisor completes an evaluation at the end of the internship period. The intern must compile a portfolio of the work he or she completes on the job and write an evaluation of the experience at its conclusion. The supervisor's evaluation, the portfolio, and the student's evaluation are submitted to a faculty advisor at the conclusion of the internship. The faculty advisor assigns the grade, either S or U. No letter grades are awarded for internships.

The Department of English sponsors an internship on campus with the Academic Skills Center. Qualified students work as an assistant to the Writing Coordinator. They are trained by the coordinator and work five or ten hours a week (2 or 4 credits) in the Center. Duties include tutoring, preparing individualized lessons for special cases, record-keeping, monitoring student progress, evaluation of programs, and development of self-paced lessons. Interns are expected to be "assistants" rather than tutors. That is, they participate in preparing and administering individually designed lessons and oversee the operation of a portion of the Skills Center. They are directly supervised by the writing coordinator and must be approved as candidates by the department chair as well as the Tutorial Services director. Preference will be given to those students with previous tutoring experience in the Tutorial Services. Evaluations will be made by the director. In addition, internships in editing and production are offered each year in conjunction with the publication of The Apprentice Writer, which has national distribution.