Reflection of Internship Experience

For the Spring 2009 semester, I was a Professional Writing and Editing Intern at the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Morgantown. At the RMHC, I was responsible for editing and re-designing the Volunteer Handbook and Donor Program Flier. I used Microsoft Word Track Changes to edit the Handbook and Adobe InDesign to re-design the Handbook. For the fliers, I used Adobe InDesign, Microsoft Publisher, and Mac Pages.

While interning at the RMHC, I learned a great deal of information about how non-profit organizations are organized. Additionally, I taught myself how to use all the document creation software programs. This experience was very rewarding because I learned how to use software that will be very useful to me in the future. I can now put on my resume that I know how to use InDesign, Mac Pages, and Microsoft Publisher. Also, this can be beneficial to me in setting my self apart from other recent college graduates who are competing for the same job. Now, I have an edge on the competition because of my knowledge of document creation software.

I decided to include the Volunteer Handbook and the Donor Fliers not only because these documents fulfill the 20 page requirement but also because I put a lot of time and effort in creating the best working document. With each document, I kept the audience in mind. I wanted to make sure that the purpose was clear in each document, as well as the audience needs. In this case, the audience for the Volunteer Handbook would be the new volunteers at the RMHC and the audience for the Donor Programs fliers would be people who want to donate to the RMHC. With the revisions, I made sure that the document was appealing to the audience's eye, which in turn would make the volunteers and donors want to read the documents.In order to make the documents more visual appealing, I added color to each document as well as images. These images eliminated unnecessary white space without being irrelevant.

While I was editing and re-designing each document, I kept the purpose and the audience of the documents in mind. I learned from this professional writing and editing internship that good professional is essential in editing and re-designing documents. Additionally, I learned that when creating these documents, a professional writing has to think in terms of the audience needs and the importance of paying attention to detail and providing the best presentation of the documents. I incorporated all of these important elements into the Volunteer Handbook and Donor Program Fliers.