CHEM 450, Research in Chemistry, is the capstone course for
chemistry majors. It is also the writing intensive course for the chemistry
major. The student, with the guidance of
a faculty advisor or internship mentor, will plan and execute a research
project. The student will have the
opportunity to work on a long-term project that if successful could lead to a
presentation at a scientific meeting or a publication in a scientific journal.
All chemistry majors in the traditional, biochemical and
environmental tracks need to take at least four credits of CHEM 450, Research
in Chemistry. These four credits should
be spread over at least 2 semesters. The
student should ideally start this project in his or her junior year.
The requirements for this course may be met with an approved
external internship. See your advisor
for details.
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OFFICE HOURS
MWF
10-11, MW 3-4 T 4-5 F 1-12 or by appointment
Byrd Center 315 304-876-5430 ddilella@shepherd.edu
web page: http://WEBPAGES.SHEPHERD.EDU/DDILELLA/
PREREQUISITES
CHEM
207, 207L, 209, 209L, 315, 315L, 316, 316L or approval of department
Approval
of the Chemistry Department is required for enrollment in this course
Students may do their research
projects either at Shepherd or at an external laboratory. If a project is to be done in an external lab
it must be pre-approved by the Chemistry Department.
The topic of the research will be
agreed on in advance by the student and advisor. Several students may work on the same project
but all reports and presentations are done on an individual basis.
You will be expected to work 3 hrs/
week per credit. That is, if you sign up
for 1 credit hour you will be expected to be in the lab 3 hrs per week. The
class hours will be scheduled on an individual basis. However, you may NEVER work alone in the lab
or on any experiment that your advisor has not approved. You should meet with your advisor every week
so that he/she can provide guidance.
If your project is not done at Shepherd University you and
your external mentor will determine your hours.
If you choose to do your research at an external lab you must first
arrange for a mentor at that lab who can coordinate with your research advisor
at Shepherd. The project must be
approved by your research advisor before you start working. You should regularly report on your progress
to your advisor at Shepherd.
SAFETY
The experiments
that you will be doing will often be unfamiliar to you so you should be
especially careful to determine possible dangers before starting. Read all MSDS sheets for the materials that
you will use. Do not do a new experiment
without first checking it out with your advisor. Be sure that you understand the hazards associated
with your equipment before you start an experiment. Do not be afraid to ask questions. SAFETY GOGGLES OR GLASSES MUST BE WORN AT ALL
TIMES.
If you work in an
external laboratory you are expected to follow all of the rules that apply in
that lab.
As part of your
reports you must list and discuss all of the safety hazards associated with
your research. You must also discuss the
proper disposal of the chemicals that you use.
This information can usually be found on the MSDS sheets.
NOTEBOOKS
A student working in an external
laboratory will follow the rules for notebooks at that lab.
The following guidelines apply to
students working at Shepherd.
A lab notebook should be a complete record of the
work done in the lab. All data, even
for experiments that failed, are important.
The notebook is a record of what you did written in enough detail so
that someone else could repeat it.
Reference to a written procedure is OK as long as you make note of the
source and record all observations.
Every page of a notebook should be dated and signed. All
data should be recorded directly in the notebook. Plan ahead so that numerical data can be
entered in carefully labeled tables.
All notebook entries should be clearly labeled
Notebooks may seem unimportant but
they are a record of the work that was done and in many businesses and
organizations they are required proof of invention, etc.
Your notebook should include the names disk file used. Important plots can be pasted or taped into
your notebook.
Remember that, anyone should be able to reconstruct your
work based on the notebook.
A good notebook will make your job
much easier when it is time to write up your progress and final reports.
Your
notebook must be reviewed periodically by your research advisor i and will be used in the determination of
your grade. The evaluation will be done either by your
advisor at Shepherd, or by your external mentor, if you work at a lab outside
of Shepherd.
Students may choose any project that can be done in our
laboratories and for which a faculty member agrees to be a mentor. In the case of an internship in an external
lab the project must be pre-approved by the Shepherd Chemistry faculty. If the research is done at an external lab,
the mentor in the outside lab must agree to assist in guiding the student in
the research. Students are encouraged to
work together in group projects but all students in a group must have clearly
identified tasks. Students will normally
be expected to select a topic related to their area of specialization
(traditional chemistry, biochemistry or environmental chemistry). All reports will be done on an individual
basis.
PROGRESS REPORTS
A progress report is due at midterm.
REPORTS
All
students will be expected to submit a written report twice each semester. One report is due at midterm and the other at
the beginning of Final's Week. Initially
you will not have many experimental results but you can describe the goals and
approach for the project. You should also
discuss all of the safety issues associated with your research in an
appendix. Also include instructions for
proper disposal of the chemicals that you use.
You can also begin to include some of the graphics that will be in the
final report. Each report after the
first should build on previous reports.
You should be treating each report as if it is a draft of the final
report that you will submit at the end of the project.
The report should include the
following sections.
1.
Abstract – 50 to 100 words
2.
Introduction - Describe the goals of the project. Discuss important background information on
the topic. Appropriate figures of important reactions, molecules and instrumentation
should be included. This section should include many references to appropriate
literature. Use a standard method for
citing literature. See your mentor to
learn how to find and cite literature references.
3.
Experimental - give details about each experiment. These should be complete enough so that
someone could reproduce your work. The
Experimental section should include descriptions of all experiments even if
they were not successful. All
experimental apparatus should be completely described and pictures and block
diagrams should be included when possible. All data collected should be
included either in hardcopy or disk form.
For students working in an external lab, the data and details submitted
will have to be approved for release by your mentor.
4.
Results - This section includes tables of data, spectra, chromatograms,
photographs, etc., and a discussion of how they should be interpreted. Appropriate statistical tools should be
used whenever possible for data analysis.
See your advisor or mentor for advice.
5.
Conclusions - This section is a summary of the results with general
conclusions.
6. References - All appropriate references should be
cited. Use a format similar to that used
in a scientific journal. See your
advisor or mentor for details.
7. Appendix I – List
and discuss all of the safety hazards associated with the reagents, instruments
and equipment that you use in the research
Midterm
Reports submitted late will be penalized one letter grade for the semester.
Final Reports
submitted late will be penalized one letter grade for the semester.
FINAL ORAL REPORT
At the end of each project the
student will be required to give an oral presentation of his or her
results. This presentation should last
about 15 minutes and will be followed by questions from the faculty. The presentation should be prepared in
Powerpoint format. A preliminary version
of the presentation must be provided to your advisor six weeks before the presentation. The preliminary version can be very sketchy
but should include proposed slides for all of the topics that you will include
in the presentation.
The final version of the
presentation must be provided to your advisor at least one weak before your
presentation. Failure to meet any of these dealines will result will result in the
loss of one letter grade.
The presentation of a paper or
poster at an approved scientific meeting may be used as a substitute for the
final oral presentation.
FINAL WRITTEN REPORT
The final written report will follow
the same guidelines given above for other reports. You should submit a detailed outline of the
final presentation to your advisor six weeks before it is due. The
final presentation is due one week before the final oral presentation. Reports submitted late will be penalized one
letter grade.
Grades will be based on the
following criteria.
For midterm and reports other
than the final report.
1.
Amount and quality of the work done.
2. Clarity of and
completeness of preliminary written reports.
See above for guidelines.
3.
Clarity and completeness of the notebook.
For final written reports
1.
Amount and quality of the work done.
2. Clarity of and
completeness of written reports and notebooks.
See above for guidelines.
3. Completeness of
literature references
4. Appropriate use of
statistical methods
5. Presentation of
plots, graphs, tables, pictures, diagrams,
etc.
For final oral presentation
1. Clarity of oral
presentation
2. Completeness of
oral presentation
3. Demonstrated
understanding of material presented
4. Ability to answer
questions related to the oral presentation.