COMMENTS ABOUT GRADED LAB REPORTS September 26, 2009, October 3, 2009, October 10,2009 New Notes Added October 10, 2009 1. Drawer 52 was left open on Tuesday, Oct 6th. Please be sure your drawer is securely locked before you leave the lab. 2. Each report section and each paragraph should have an introductory sentence. Do not just jump in and give data when you begin the Results section. All paragraphs and the report must have a logical flow. 3. Significant data from your experiments must appear in the Abstract section. Specific percent recoveries and all melting point data must be in the Abstract section. 4. All data shown in your report must be the actual experimental data or data that is derived from experimental data. If the data is not actual experimental data, you must clearly show the calculations that lead to the result you give. 5. For all future reports, chemical structures and chemical reactions that are an important part of the experiment must appear near the beginning of the Introduction section. Points will be lost if these are omitted. 6. The word that is most often mispelled in reports I have seen is "separate". Word processors auto correct that mistake so I do not see that error any more. However, separatory was often mispelled in the reports this past week. 7. Be sure to include msds data and references in the safety section of your report. Do not simply copy NFPA numbers from the appendix of the manual. Describe the specific safety hazard for each hazardous substance used in that experiment. 8. Please show tables in the text where you are referring to them. Please use a cut and paste technique to place the table where it should be in the report. Do not refer to your submitted data sheet in the report. The lab data sheet stands apart from the report. New Notes Added October 3, 2009 1. Do not give me your original data sheet as part of your report and do not refer to the data sheet you submitted in your report. The submitted data sheet is used only to confirm that the data you include in your report is the same as you observed in the lab. This past week, three students attached their original data sheets as part of their report. 2. I grade the reports in three sections (1. abstract, 2. introduction, safety, and experimental, 3. results, discussion, conclusion, references). So, as far as I am concerned, when I grade your results and discussion sections, I have no memory of what you placed in your abstract. I do not grade your report from beginning to end at one time. I grade everyone's abstract before I grade to remainder of the report. Keep this in mind as you write your report. 3. Drawer 16 was unlocked and the melting point apparatus was left plugged in. Drawer 51 left the melting point appatatus plugged in. Please be sure your drawer is securely locked and all electrical equipment is unplugged before you leave lab. Also, all equipment must be left in the condition and location where you found it at the beginning of the lab. Bob Shine Older Notes: I just finished grading the melting point lab reports and would like to make the following comments so you will be better informed about my grading concerns: 1. Please place your name, experiment title and section day (Tuesday or Wednesday) in the upper right hand corner of the first page. Doing so makes it easier for me to sort the reports. 2. Starting with lab three (extraction lab), be sure your have the drawing of the important structures near the beginning of the Introduction section. You may copy and paste those structures from the on line lab manual or draw them by hand if you wish but they must appear in the report. 3. You should cite references for any material you borrow from other sources. This would occur mostly in the Introduction and Safety sections of the report. References should be complete at the end of the report in the Reference section. A notation should appear in your text where that reference material is used. If we adopt this practice, it should be easier for me to grade lab reports fairly across the class. 4. When reporting a melting or boiling point, include the accepted or literature value right after in parentheses. Be sure to include the word literature or accepted with the value given. Also note, do not use the word literal or literary in place of literature. 5. Your lab report format generally follows accepted practice for writing scientific papers that appear in Chemistry journals. Accepted practices change over time. Currently, scientific writing uses third person passive voice. I would like you to avoid the first or second person in your writing if possible. Generally, this will not affect your lab grade seriously unless you overuse the first or second person. For example, use "the melting point of urea was 132-133 degrees C (literature value is 133-133.5 degrees C)" instead of "I got a melting point of 132-133 degrees C for urea". 6. Please use your own wording if you borrow ideas from the lab manual. Do not cut and paste sections from the lab manual in your reports. Doing so will lower your grade. 7. In the Safety section be sure to give specific hazards (health and/or fire) for each chemical. This data can be found in msds reports which you should be reading now. Do not simply give NFPA data from the appendix. 8. Please single space your report text to save paper. Be sure to clearly should section separation by using line space, text bolding or font size changes. 9. When you have a lot of data to report, please use tables and place the tables near the text that refers to it. All tables and graphs should be neatly and clearly presented. They should also have a descriptive title. 10. Always proofread your report before you submit it. You may make any needed corrections by handwriting them where needed in the report. You do not have to reprint the entire report unless many corrections are needed. Robert Shine September 26, 2009 P.S. Here are a few other comments I would like to make at this time. 1. You MUST have eye goggles in lab. There may be one loaner pair of goggles that will be given to the first person who makes the request. If a loaner pair is not available, you will not be able to work in the lab. 2. For safety reasons, please wear clothing that covers as much exposed skin as possible. Short pants and open toe shoes should not be worn in the lab. 3. Be sure your lab grade is securely locked before leaving the lab. Use the key to lock it and then pull the drawer handle to be sure the lock is set. During the week of September 21st, drawers 16 and 165 were not fully locked. 4. If you need accomodations for this lab, please see me. It is my aim to help you as much as possible and treat all students as fairly as possible.