FAQ's

Intern Guidelines (Updated!)

Reminder: Every Friday you should send in a report reviewing your activities. Use a bullet format and be brief. Send your reports to: editor@hnn.us.

Helpful Links

Welcome to HNN

READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO POST AN EXCERPT ON HNN FIRST!

This page is for students who have enrolled in HNN's intern program. This page lists websites to be checked by Breaking News and Roundup interns. Some websites are refreshed daily and should be checked daily -- newspapers and online magazines like Slate or the National Review. Others are updated weekly, monthly or quarterly, and should be checked as soon as they are updated. It is vital that HNN keep its readers abreast of the latest developments on these websites.

Once you have decided that a specific article may be of interest to HNN readers, post it in the appropriate department.

ALL INTERNS

HNN is divided into numerous different departments. Please familiarize yourself with each of them. The material you generate will end up in one of them.

The editor will communicate to interns individually by email. All interns will be enrolled into the HNN Yahoo Group. As a member of the group you will receive occasional emails from the editor concerning possible assignments. Hit the reply button and your response will go out to all of the members of the group. This is a great way for interns to communicate with one another and can be a rich source of brainstorming ideas. Please make full use of this simple feature.=

IF YOU ARE SEARCHING FOR HISTORICAL MATERIAL ON THE WEB

This is a tip from an HNN reader on how to surf the web for history-related articles [note that this information may be out of date]:

Searchable texts are a godsend, and there are quite a few to consult on the Internet. Most of the"American Memory" collections of the Library of Congress are searchable, including the potentially useful"Century of Lawmaking" collection that includes proceedings of the Continental Congress and the Congress of the US (up to 1873). But a search for the phrase"ordered liberty" turned up no"hits." Another big collection is the"Making of America" site maintained by the libraries of the University of Michigan and Cornell University. Each library's" contribution" to this gigantic digital collection of 19th-century >books and periodicals is searchable, and a search for"ordered library" on >each does turn up some hits (about 11 on one, and seven on the other).

Internship Positions

Breaking News Intern

Breaking News interns are responsible for updating the Breaking News and Historians in the News sections of HNN by posting excerpts of news stories relating to history and historians. This position requires a great deal of Web surfing and reading news stories, good judgment over what stories are appropriate for inclusion on HNN, what excerpt length is appropriate, which stories should be highlighted, and whether or not stories should be retitled. Interns will develop headline writing skills and a familiarity with modern web design and content aggregation. Click here for further guidelines.

Roundup Intern

Roundup interns are responsible for updating the various Roundup departments on HNN, where we post excerpts from historically-informed commentary from around the web by both historians, other academics, journalists, and even politicians. This position requires a great deal of Web surfing and reading, especially of op-ed pages and opinion magazines, good judgment about whether an article is appropriate for excerpt, what excerpt length is appropriate, etc. Interns will develop critical reading skills and a familiarity with modern web design and content aggregation. Click here for further guidelines.

Social Media Internship

Social media interns are responsible for maintaining and improving HNN's presence on various social media platforms, including (but not limited to) Facebook and Twitter. Interns will be responsible for communicating with other Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. groups and users to increase our brand recognition. This extends beyond just posting advertisements about HNN on other group walls and pages -- it means getting involved in a dialog with other users. Good judgment and a cheerful disposition are essential for success as a social media intern!

Editorial Internship

Editorial interns are responsible for soliciting articles from historians, working with authors to improve articles, copyediting, proofreading, and uploading pieces onto the HNN website. This position requires excellent judgment, strong writing and editing skills, and Web savvy.

Feature Internship

Feature interns are responsible for implementing feature projects, typically two to three per intern. These projects could include profiles of historians, working on the HNN Teacher's Edition, cataloging the historical gaffes of politicians, or writing short factsheets on topics in the news. Good judgment and writing skills are a must!