CHEMISTRY 496 RESEARCH

Transcription

1 CHEMISTRY 496 RESEARCH Catalog Description: Offers a student the opportunity to carry out chemical research in the laboratory, employing all departmental facilities and the experience of writing a Thesis under the direction of a faculty mentor. The student may register for one to three credits. Prerequisite: Chemistry Seminar, CHEM 491, or permission of the Chair (3 credits). Guidelines for 'Research' Chemistry 496 offers students the opportunity to carry out a research project under the direction of one of the department members. This course is not required for the B.A. or B.S. degree, but it required to meet the curriculum requirements of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Professional Training. Chemistry students take this course because of the experience, skill development,and opportunity for professional growth. A faculty member accepts students for this course entirely at his/her discretion. The student selects a thesis committee, including the faculty advisor, of at least three faculty members, two of which must be from the chemistry department. A student may initiate a discussion regarding thesis research with any faculty member whom they so choose. I. Basic Requirements (A) Work A minimum of four (4) hours of work per week per credit hour is required for any research project. For example, if a student registers for 3 credits, a minimum of 12 hours per week must be devoted to the project. At the descretion of the directing professor, a combination of lab-library work hours may be acceptable to meet this requirement. Using the above example, nine (9) hours of laboratory and three (3) hours of library work could be acceptable to meet the minimum requirement for ONE week of CHEM 496. Most likely, students will find that in order to make much progress toward the completion of the problem, they will have to spend more than the minimum amount of time. I t is hoped that students will find the problem interesting enough to spend extra time on the course. A good job on a critical problem can result in a chemical journal publication or a poster presentation at a national meeting of the ACS. (B) Written Record Each student engaged in research project must keep a written record of all work done during the project. Most likely, this will be in the form of a dated and signed laboratory notebook. The student must consult the preceptor for the appropriate format of this written record.

2 (C) Conferences with Advisor and Committee The student must meet with the preceptor at least once a week to discuss results and plan the future experimental course. Once a month, the student should send s outlining the project's process to all committee members. A standing appointment should be made with the preceptor. The student with a valid reason, must inform the preceptor in advance of the necessity to miss the appointment. Naturally, the preceptor should extend the same courtesy toward the student. (D) Thesis At the conclusion of any CHEM 496, a final, typed report must be submitted to the directing instructor and committee members two weeks in advance to the oral defense. For two semester projects, an interim progress report may be required by the preceptor at the end of the first semester. The final, typed report will be in the form of a senior thesis. All notebooks, drawings, graphs, charts, spectra, reprints, etc. must be turned into the directing instructor along with the thesis. See section IVfor thesis format and a sample Title Page. (E) Oral Defense The student must present an oral defense of his or her thesis in front of the thesis committee. The defense will be a 30 minute presentation, and 30 minutes will be reserved for additional questions from committee members. After the defense, the student may make corrections to the thesis based on corrections by committee members. The thesis will not be improved until committee members approve of the oral defense. The student will make arrangements with the departmental secretary to reserve a room for the duration of the defense. (F) Clean-Up Each Student engaged in a research project is responsible for clean-up of his/her work area at project conclusion. Failure to complete this obligation will result in the grade for CHEM 495 or 490 being withheld (not submitted), a grade of "X." II, Grading Policy (A) General Considerations For the purposes of grading, the instructors will treat one credit of CHEM 496 similarly to any other one credit chemistry course (for example, the laboratory portions of Physical Chemistry I or II, Analytical, Instrumental, or Polymer Chemistry, etc). (B) Grade Assignment A grade of at least "C" will be assigned to students who have completely the minimum basic requirements listed above and the quality of their project is acceptable (average). If less

3 than the minimum number of hours were expended, the earned grade will reflect this lower effort, and a grade of "C" or lower can result. (C) "I" Grades A grade of "I" will not be assigned because a student did not have.time to complete the independent study project during the semester(s). University policy clearly states that an "I" grade may only be submitted in the case of personal illness or other unavoidable reason assuming that the work done to date is of passing quality. III. Securitv and Safety Aspects Work done on research projects should be conducted during normal work hours (8:00 AM-5:00PM) in Advanced Technology and Science Hall. Students may not work on a research project in the evenings or on weekends unless the preceptor is present or special permission has been obtained. Students must never work alone on any laboratory project. (B) Key The department chair with the advice of the instructor, will record the issuance of keys. Returning key(s) in a timely fashion represents a portion of Clean-Up. *VI Thesis Format The thesis should be typed, double-spaced, and presented in a folder. It is important that a margin of 1.50 inches remain at the left of a page; all other margins shall be 1.00 inches. The number of each page should be written i n the upper right hand comer. Pages should be numbered consecutively beginning with the first page of text, and include charts, graphs, pictures, literature references, appendices, and bibliography (if appropriate). Tables, graphs, and other illustrations must be prepared and inserted in such a way to permit the margin requirements already mentioned. References should be numbered consecutively as cited in the text. Notation in the text should be make by enclosing the number of the reference in parentheses. The reference section should contain, i n order of encounter, a chronological listing of the references. Examples of citing and listing references are shown below: (in text) *The student may elect to substitute a paper that follows the format of a publication in a refereed journal. "In the periodic decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by the iodine-iodate couple in acid solution, strong pulses i n iodide concentration have recently been discovered by Woodson and Leibhafsky (1) to accompany the pulses in rate of oxygen evolution found about fifty years ago by Bray (2). (in references section)

4 1. Woodson J.H., and Liebhafsky H.A., Nature, (1969), 224, Bray W.C., J. Am. Chern. Soc., (1921), :Q, ,Finally, note that on questions concerning style, abbreviations (also see Chemical Abstracts) etc., the current ''Handbook for Author's" published by the ACS should be consulted. Otherwise, usage consistent an customary within the field of chemistry should prevail. A thesis thus submitted, and approved, becomes wholly the property of the University and its publication in whole or in part by the student is prohibited except upon authorization by the research advisor and the Chair of the Department of Chemistry. (B) Outline of Contents of Thesis The student thesis should contain the following: 1) Title Page (see sample below) 2) Table of Contents 3) Abstract A one or two paragraph summary of the thesis with the major results and conclusions. 4) Introduction and Historical Section Purpose of the research problem (i.e. preparations of compounds, proof of the mechanism of a reaction, measurement of a series of physical or chemical properties, development of an analytical methods, etc.) together with a survey of pertinent literature and previous work in the area. 5) Experimental Section Organization of this section will depend on the type of problem. However, the following information should be included: Methods-plan of attack; Procedure-equipment and techniques used should be described in sufficient detail for easy duplication on any experiments or data-collecting run. 6) Results and Discussion Tables, graphs, diagrams, numerical values, yields, curves, etc. or verbal statements. This section should also include an attempt to correlate and explain the result s of your work, both positive and negative. Other possible procedures and recommendations for further work on the problems or related ones should be included.

5 7) Conclusions Statement of knowledge (positive and negative) or relationships that have been developed as a result of your research. 8) Reference

6 Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry TITLE A Thesis by NAME IN FULL Submitted in partial Fulfillment of the requirements of Chemistry 496 DATE Committee Approval: Directing Professor Committee Member Committee Member Committee Member Grade