Chemistry Seminar

Chemistry 491

Syllabus – Fall 2005

 

Instructor:         Dr. Nooshin Hashemzadeh                                           Office Hours:

                        Science 309                                         Tuesday           10-11 PM

                        Ext. 4499                                             Wednesday      10-11 AM

                        mhashemz@Whittier.edu                      Friday              11-12 AM

 

            The goals of this course are to learn how to do a literature search on a particular topic of interest, to summarize the appropriate information from that search, to develop and propose a novel research idea, to learn how to convey that information in an oral presentation, and to further develop your scientific writing skills.  In addition, we will focus on writing a job resume and examine scientific ethics. 

            Because this course centers on your class participation, attendance is mandatory.  Each missed class is a one-third grade deduction from the final course grade. 

            Assignments are due at 11:00 AM at the beginning of the class.  Late assignments will be penalized 5% for the first 24 hours that they are late and an additional 5% for each extra day it is late. 

            Plagiarism is a serious offense.  It is important to recognize the work of others and to cite them properly.  Please see the instructor if you have questions on when or how to cite an article.  The first minor infraction for improperly citing an article will result in a one grade deduction on the assignment.  The second minor infraction will result in a 0 grade for that assignment.  A third minor or first major infraction will result in an automatic F for the course and a report sent to the Dean of Students. 

 

 

 

Course Schedule

 

Date                 Topic                                       Assignment

 

9/13                 Introduction/Resume                 Write a resume

 

9/20                 Ethics case studies                    Ethics essay

 

9/27                 Thinking about a research         Select a topic/literature search

                        project/ Literature Search

 

10/4                 Giving Oral presentations          Prepare an oral presentation on an article

                                                                        from the search

 

10/11               1st group - Oral presentation     Prepare oral presentation on literature

                        on article (7-10 minutes)           search

 

10/18               2nd group –Oral presentation     Prepare oral presentation on literature

                        on article (7-10 minutes)           search

 

10/25               1st group -Oral presentation on

background information from

literature search  (12-15 minutes)

2-3 page paper due

 

11/1                 2nd group -Oral presentation on

background information from

literature search (12-15 minutes)

2-3 page paper due

 

11/8                 Designing a research proposal               get more articles

 

11/15               Individual meetings to discuss                read more literature

                        research proposals

 

11/22               Peer group discussions of                                  write rough draft

                        research proposals

 

11/29               Rough draft of research proposal due

 

12/6                 Rough drafts returned

           

12/15               Oral presentation on                                         10:00 AM – 1:00 PM

                        research proposal (15-20 minutes).

Final written draft of research

                        proposal due

 

 

Grading

 

Resume                          5%

Ethics Essay                   5%

1st Oral                         10%

1st paper                       10%

2nd Oral                        20%

Research Oral              20%

Research Paper            30%