Chemistry 440
Inorganic Chemistry

Fall 2006

Paper Topic and Presentation Instructions

Something useful to do before you start (if you've never done this before) is to read A short guide to writing about Chemistry that's on reserve. I suggest reading Chapters 5, 6 and 8.

I. Topic Choice and Content

To ensure that your paper topic does indeed focus on Inorganic Chemistry, and since each of you will have your own independent topic (that doesn't substantially overlap with someone else in class), I strongly suggest discussing possible topics with me clearly before the proposal is due in final form. You are welcome to come by my office or send me e-mail. Our discussion will be more productive if you have a topic in mind, a few sentences about why you chose it, and at least one reference. If your topic substantially overlaps that of another student, you will receive no credit for the proposal, and I will ask you to pick another paper topic. You are also not allowed to pick a topic closely aligned with any current research. Pick something new and different!

A broad suggestion of topics and potential places to start looking can be found in Sections V and VI below.

The content of your paper should use mainly primary sources, i.e., scientific journal articles. You should choose something relatively new and interesting to inorganic chemists. Hence, the majority of your references should be from 2000-2006. Do NOT paraphrase reviews and/or textbooks. One of the goals of the paper is for you to learn how to dig into the primary literature. While internet sources can be useful, they are unrefereed, and hence there can be junk mixed in with the good. Thus, I expect most of the material for your paper to come from primary published literature. Books and review articles are helpful in gaining some familiarity with the topic so it can be useful to track down some of the references in the journal articles to better understand it. Try to avoid topics that require hard-to-get documents (patents, obscure journals, government reports).

Do NOT plagiarize. You might just get zero credit.

II. Proposal
Due in Final Form: Friday, 17 Nov, before class begins.
Attach copies of main references with your proposal.

The point of the proposal is to briefly tell me what the topic is about and what you will focus on in your paper.

Length: one page text including your name, proposed title, and 1-3 main references (please not any more than that!)
   1. Word processed, 12-point font, double spaced, 1-1.5" margins.
   2. Should read like an abstract. (See journal articles for examples.)
Rough Drafts: I will read and comment on rough drafts given to me by Tuesday, 14 Nov, noon.

III. Presentations
You must sign up for time slots for your presentations at the latest, Monday, 04 Dec, in class.

All presentations must be in PowerPoint. You are responsible for making sure your presentation can be downloaded on the classroom computer quickly and efficiently.

The Soundbyte Presentation will have a maximum length of two minutes and four PowerPoint slides. You need to succintly pitch to your peers why the topic you chose is interesting, and why they might actually want to pay attention when you give your Feature Presentation.

The Feature Presentation should be around 12-15 minutes (no longer; I will cut you off so practice beforehand). An additional 3-5 minutes after each presentation will be alloted to field questions and for your peers to fill in their critical evaluations. Treat this as giving a mini-seminar directed at your peers, keeping in mind that your goal is to teach us something new (and hopefully interesting too)!

Class participation involves filling out a quick, yet critical, evaluation on the Feature Presentations. You have to do at least five. You will be given a checklist and room to write brief comments.

IV. Paper
Due in Final Form: Monday, 18 Dec, 1:25pm.
Attach your graded proposal to the paper.

The paper should be a critical review of your chosen topic. See in particular Chapter 5 of A short guide to writing about Chemistry that's on reserve.

Length: 5-8 pages text including your name, paper title, and cited references. (You don't need to attach the references, just cite them.)
Format:
   1. Word processed, 12-point font, double spaced, 1-1.5" margins.
   2. Style of the paper should be a critical review (see Chem. Rev. or Adv. Inorg. Chem.) format.
   3. References should be cited in J. Am. Chem. Soc. format.
Rough Drafts: I will read and comment on rough drafts given to me by Wednesday, 13 Dec, in class.

V. Broad areas (not exhaustive)

A list of potential broad areas is listed below. You must narrow down the area to a more specific topic. This list is not exhaustive so feel free to propose your own interests.
The emphasis should be on chemistry in any of these topics, and in particular recent advances.

VI. Related Journals (not exhaustive, there are lots more!)

Some potential scientific journals that are geared towards inorganic chemistry research.
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Organometallics
  • Journal of Organometallic Chemistry
  • Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions
  • Inorganica Chimica Acta
  • Chemistry of Materials
    •
    and some good general purpose ones that have some inorganic chemistry too...
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • Chemical Communications
    •
    All these journals can be found in our library (electronically too!).


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    Last modified: 18 August 2006