Céline’s top tips

CélineFinger (M2 MICAI 12-13) not only got a good mark for her placement report…. she got 1500 Euros for it…and an All-Alsace Best Report award from an independent body!  As a result she got to go on TV  See Céline’s TV  interview on Alsace 20. [NB. Her interview starts about 8 minutes 10 seconds into the link.]  She would be the first to say: “If I can do it – you can do it”….  so do read and take ‘on board’ what she says below (without any coaching from me!) – they represent her keys to report-writing success and she has offered them to help you:-

•  Make sure you pick an internship where you have a defined, clear mission. You won’t be able to write a brilliant report if you spend your days making coffee and photocopying.
•  Start working on your report the day it starts. Over the course of 5 or 6 months, you will process a tremendous amount of information, so start taking notes from the very first day. Also, Captain Obvious here: don’t be afraid to ask questions during your internship!
•  Take notes. After a month or two, read your notes and start thinking about the exact topic of your report and a possible structure/plan. Once you’re decided about that, it will be so much easier to organize your thoughts and writing. Share your report structure with your tutor and friends. They may have some valuable ideas in store for you. Feel free to erase an entire chapter or add another one. At this stage, you are still very free. Always bear in mind that you will need reading material and some extra information to write your report, so make sure you will have access to that and it is not out of your reach. Once you feel like you have that one plan that is absolutely perfect, stick to it. You don’t want to change your mind all the time while writing your report – it will show if you do and you might be faced with lacks of coherence in your report.
•  Ever heard of the ‘for dummies’ books? They are great – you can learn about any complicated topic without being an expert beforehand. Always remember that not everyone who is going to read your report is an expert in your field. So make sure your report is a ‘for dummies’ version!
• Be clear – Have some friends who don’t know much about the topic of your report read your report. Ask them to let you know whenever they feel something is unclear or too hard to understand. If your readers have to read your sentences over and over again to understand it, your report won’t be any good.
• Define field-specific terms – Might be pretty hard to realize that when you’re a MICAI student, but seriously though, some people really have no clue what a SWOT matrix is! Make sure you define important words & expressions right when you start using them in your report.
• Make it catchy! Try and write your report in such a way that people will catch people’s interest.
•  Tutors are here for a reason. You will be assigned a tutor for your internship. Make sure you communicate with him/her throughout the internship. Chances are, they might also know about the topic you are going to be writing about and may be able to share some very useful resources with you. And if need be, don’t hesitate to get in touch with your other teachers either.
•  Make it sexy! – It might sound shallow but let’s be honest: no one wants to read a report that looks like the terms and conditions to your microwave purchase. So make an effort for the layout – from the 1^st page to the very last. Structure your report graphically. Use spaces between paragraphs, titles, etc. Use colors. But be careful with fonts – try not to use more than 2, or you will lose coherence graphically speaking. Create your own rules (e.g. very important titles in Times New Roman, red, size 12 and less important titles in Times New Roman, orange, size 11) and by all means stick to it. It’s your report – you are free to be creative! Making your report look sexy will make it that much easier for people to read it.
•  Proofread. You are going to be writing an entire report in a language that is not your native language, so chances are you are going to make quite a lot of mistakes. So read your own report a few times and get rid of the mistakes you noticed. Then, have a native speaker read your report to make sure there are no mistakes left. The proofreading stage will also allow you to add in some little details you didn’t think about when your were still in the writing process.
• And finally, if you’re eligible for the Concours du Meilleur Rapport de Stage de la Région Alsace, go ahead and send your report! You’ve got nothing to lose after all.

Good luck!

 …… and from all of us, Good Luck to Céline for her future life and career and many thanks for taking the time to offer words of proven wisdom! T