Exams

Midterm exams, quizzes, a lab practical, and/or a final exam will be administered. See the grading section of this syllabus or the lab schedule web page for specifics.  Nomographs, spectral tables, etc., will be provided as needed.

Safety

• Safety Test - You must pass the safety test by Sep 8, to continue doing lab work. Review material and the actual test are available in the "Prelab Quizzes" section of WebCT.

• Pregnancy - Women who are pregnant of who become pregnant during the semester MUST have written approval from the Student Health Service to continue in the class. Submit a copy or the approval paperwork to the course instructor.

• Chronic illness - Students who have a chronic illness MUST have written approval from the Student Health Service to continue in the class. Submit a copy or the approval paperwork to the course instructor.

The Laboratory Notebook

For those of you whose intent is to become a scientist, doctor, or health science professional, it is essential to know how to keep a clear, accurate record of your work. In this course, you will learn the basics of keeping a laboratory notebook.

Your chemistry laboratory notebook documents everything you do with respect to a given laboratory experiment. From pre-lab preparation to observations to calculations to final conclusions, it should all be recorded your lab notebook. It should be detailed enough such that another chemist could successfully repeat your work and obtain comparable results.

You will undoubtedly discover that keeping a good lab notebook is a lot of work. There is great attention given to detail and prescribed formats. So much so that you may question the necessity of it all. But for now you'll just have to trust us. It's important. In fact, in the scientific academic and professional arenas, the lab notebook is a legal document, often signed each day by the scientist and a knowledgeable witness. Although we won't be taking it to that extreme, you do need to accord the notebook its due significance and give it the time and attention it deserves.

You must have certain portions of your notebook prepared before coming to lab. If you forget your notebook, you will need to go get it before starting lab. If your laboratory notebook is not sufficiently prepared in the estimation of your instructor, as a minimum you will lose a significant amount of points for the experiment. Worst case, you will not be allowed to perform the lab, resulting in a score of zero. When you actually perform the experiment, you will not have your lab text to rely on. What you will have is what you prepared beforehand in your notebook.

Lab notebooks may be used during the midterms exams. So keeping a good notebook is also advantageous in this regard.

For details about maintaining your lab notebook, click on this link.  For an example, click here.
 

• A formatted report form or datasheet is provided for most experiments. These datasheets will generally be typed.

• You will be required to enter molecular structures using a chemical software drawing program such as ChemSketch, ChemDraw, or Chem3D.

• These programs are installed on the computers in SCI 242. A free download of ChemSketch is available at http://www.acdlabs.com.  (PC only).

• Datasheets forms are usually linked to the experiments on the schedule web page. Some datasheets will be handed out during the lab.

• From UCCS's Academic Principles:   

"Students, as responsible members of the academic community, are obligated to maintain basic standards of integrity, and are expected to take an active role in encouraging other members to respect these standards. If students suspect a violation has been committed, they a responsibility to discuss their suspicion with a member of the faculty or university administration. Students should make themselves familiar with the basic tenets of the Honor Code." (1)

"Faculty members have the responsibility to preserve and transmit academic values in the learning environment and in the example they provide to students. To this end, they are expected to instill in their students a respect for integrity and a desire to behave honestly; they must also take measures to discourage student academic dishonesty. To meet these responsibilities, faculty members must follow the policies and procedures stated in the UCCS Academic Honor Code." (1)

• "The essence of science is the pursuit and transmission of knowledge, an endeavor that depends upon honesty, objectivity, intellectual freedom, and trust over generations, across disciplines, and across national borders. As every researcher depends on the validity of others' previous work, and because no single individual can master every dimension of any field, the practical demands of science reinforce an inherently moral social contract among researchers"— from "The Ethical Dimensions of the Biological Sciences"(2).
  
   

• Conduct your affairs with integrity and all will be well. Translation: all work submitted must be your own. Work that is copied from another student will receive no credit (for either student).  The determination of academic misconduct will be made by the lab instructor and lab lecturer. Depending upon the infraction, sanctions may range from partial or total loss of points to a failing grade in the class. All infractions are reported to the department head / LAS dean as appropriate. Additionally, the student may be referred for disciplinary action. Clearly, it's not worth it.  For more information about forms of academic dishonesty, click on this link. (Covers plagiarism, cheating, fabrication and falsification, and complicity in academic dishonesty.)
   

• The following are examples of academic misconduct we will not tolerate. (3).

• Modifying data to conform to an expected outcome
• Copying another student's data into your own notebook or report
• Using another student's interpretation and presenting it as your own
• Copying previously interpreted data or graded reports from this lab course
• Providing your data or graded lab reports to another student who presents it as their own
• Presenting data collected in prior semesters for credit in the present semester

 

• Scores and grades will be posted on WebCT.

(1) http://www.uccs.edu/~dos/studentconduct/academicprinciples.html, accessed Aug 12, 2009

(2) The Roots of Honor and Integrity in Science. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, U.K.; Bulger, R.E.; Heitman, E.: Reiser, S.J.; 1993; p. 41.

(3) http://spinner.cofc.edu/~chem/advising/integrity.html?referrer=webcluster&, accessed Aug 17, 2009.