CHEMISTRY 442

INSTRUMENTAL METHODS OF ANALYSIS

Fall 2002

Instructor:	Dr. Kim Schrum	Office Sci 306	Phone: ext. 4451
			Home: 909-623-4683

Texts:	1. Principles of Instrumental Analysis, 5th Edition by Skoog, Holler and Nieman
	2. A lab notebook

Course Meetings:	Lecture Sci 301 MWF 10:00-10:50 AM
	Laboratories will be arranged each week with instructor

Course Goals:	1. Develop a solid base for understanding the theoretical underpinnings of spectrochemical analysis
	2. Gain an understanding of the theory behind as well as applications of the standard instrumental methods of analysis
	3. Become comfortable with the instrumentation available in the department
	4. Apply knowledge gained in class to understand other applications or instrumental methods not discussed
	5. Gain experience in presenting technical material in written form

Evaluation:	Exams	30 %
	Laboratory	30 %
	Article Summaries	10 %
	Proposal Project	20 %
	Final	10 %

Lectures:

We are scheduled to meet three times per week. Lectures will generally be most useful to you if you take time to read/look over the material in the book before coming to class. The lectures will be fairly interactive so it is important that you come to class on-time and ready to participate. It is in your best interest to attend lecture even though it is not required.

Exams:

Three exams will take place during the course of the semester. Exams will take place out of class, in the evening and will generally be 2-3 hours long.

Homework Assignments:

Suggested homework problems will be assigned for each chapter. Working homework problems thoroughly and diligently will markedly increase the efficiency of learning and decrease the amount of work you need to do to prepare for the exam. Analytical chemistry, although different in many ways, does require practice just like the other subdisciplines of chemistry.

Article Summaries:

As an important part of becoming acquainted with the range of topics and experiments which fall into the broad category of instrumental analysis, you will be asked to read the current literature and write summaries discussing the significance of the work. The summary should have the title and reference followed by a 1-2 page summary of the main points of the work as well as its significance. Also, please note limits of detection, sensitivity and other figures of merit if mentioned in the article. You will be asked to turn in one article summary for 4 of instrumental methods covered in class.

Your summaries need to be from a variety of sources. The following is a list of possible journals from which to find articles: Analytical Chemistry, Applied Spectroscopy, J. of Chemical Education (no more than 1 article from this source), Nature, Science, American Laboratory. Other journals may be used with approval of the instructor. See the instructor for information about electronic journal subscriptions.

Proposal Project

In an effort to help you learn about an instrumental method in depth, you will be involved in writing a proposal to acquire a piece of instrumentation for the college. You will be involved in the entire process from getting information and contacting the program officer to searching the appropriate literature to writing and submitting the proposal. Not only will you gain detailed familiarity with a particular instrument and how it is used for teaching and research, you will also develop technical writing skills. The following is an approximate timeline for the project.

The proposal you will be writing is to the National Science Foundation program titled "Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Innovation" in the Division of Undergraduate Education under Education and Human Resources Directorate. There are three tracks for this type of proposal and you will be writing an Adaptation and Implementation (A&I) proposal.

Deadline	Portion of Proposal
9/19	Download and read proposal guidelines
10/15	Finish literature searching and reading
10/26	Outline of proposal
11/19	Initial draft of proposal
12/3	Final draft of proposal
12/5	Submission of proposal via Fastlane

Policies Regarding Late Assignments and Academic Dishonesty:

In order for you to truly learn the material in this class, it is critical that you complete your own work in a timely fashion. Policies for late assignments and academic dishonesty are designed to help you and to be fair to the other individuals in the class. Assignments must be turned in before the deadline. A late policy of 10% per day (24 hour period) will be assessed for assignments turned in after the deadline. If the answer key has been posted or graded assignments returned, late assignments will not be accepted for any reason. Remember that assignments can always be turned in early.

Being honest about your academic work is the foundation of your education. For this reason, cases of academic dishonesty will be regarded with the utmost seriousness whether this means copying someone else's homework, doctoring lab results or cheating on an exam as examples. The first minor incidence of academic dishonesty will result in a zero for that assignment. The second minor or first major incident will result in an F for the course.

It is critically important to use the work of others responsibly. If you unsure about how to cite other scientist’s work or the distinction between paraphrasing and quoting, please seek clarification from the instructor. Failure to cite or paraphrasing too closely are both examples of plagiarism. Remember that copying word-for-word without quotation marks is considered plagiarism regardless of whether you cite it or not.