Chemistry 140
Inorganic Chemistry

Fall 2003

Proposal and Paper Instructions

I. Proposal
Due in Final Form: Monday, 13 Oct 2003, before class begins.
Length: one page text including your name, proposed title, and between 1-3 main references. Attach the reference with your proposal.
Format:
   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 Thursday, 09 Oct, 2pm.

II. Paper
Due in Final Form: Monday, 08 Dec 2003, before class begins.
Attach your graded proposal to the paper.
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 whould follow a review (see Chem. Rev. or Adv. Inorg. Chem.) format.
   3. References should be cited in J. Am. Chem. Soc. format.
   4. Your opinion about the topic is encouraged. In some instances you will have the opportunity to evaluate the results, conclusions, or significance of the researchers. Engaging in critical thinking is encouraged!
Rough Drafts: I will read and comment on rough drafts given to me by Wednesday, 03 Dec, 10am.

III. Topic Choice and Content
Since each student will have their own independent topic, to prevent overlap 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.

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 1996-2003. 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.

IV. 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.

V. Related Journals (not exhaustive)
Some potential scientific journals that have inorganic chemistry research.
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Organometallics
  • Journal of Organometallic Chemistry
  • Journal of the Chemical Society, Dalton Transactions
  • Inorganica Chimica Acta
    •  and some general purpose ones that have some inorganic chemistry too...
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society
  • Science
    •
    VI. Quick Summary
    If all that still sounds confusing, think of the paper assignment as a 'book report' on a recent article in inorganic chemistry.


    Back to Chem140 Administrative Information
    Last modified: 06 August 2003