Chemistry 500 Reports

An integral part of graduate education is provided by seminars.  During the first year of graduate study every student is asked to write short reports on a small subset of attended seminars.  These reports are intended to accomplish three main goals:

1. help develop critical judgment concerning research presented by others
2. practice and thereby improve writing skills
3. institute regular attendance and participation in departmental seminars

Writing workshops will be offered as part of the CHEM 500 report assignment.  The first workshop will be held during or shortly after orientation.  The second will take place during fall semester and the last two during spring semester.  These workshops are designed to provide additional guidance in scientific writing.  The schedule will be posted on ANGEL (see below).

A total of four reports are required.  The first is initiated during the first workshop and completed in the first few weeks of the semester.  Detailed instructions will be provided during orientation.  Completion of a second report during the 1st semester is highly recommended.  The remainder must be completed by the end of the 2nd semester of residence.  Standard course policies apply to the CHEM 500 reports.  Failure to complete the requirement will result in having to retake the course (writing 3 reports) during the 3rd semester in residence.  Extension beyond the 3rd semester in residence will require petitioning the GACC.

You may report on seminars by outside speakers only (i.e., not a PSU student or a PSU Chemistry Faculty member) in any of the departmental area seminar series, the departmental colloquium series, and seminars in other departments as judged appropriate by your preceptor.

CHEM 500 reports are submitted and processed through with class site ANGEL (https://cms.psu.edu/).  Instructions and dedicated cover sheets are posted on ANGEL and on the Chemistry Department web site.

Report 2 will be graded by Prof. Karl Mueller and reports 3 through 4 will be graded by your preceptor.  The guidelines for these reports are as follows:

1. Choose a seminar that you are interested in summarizing; consult with your preceptor for approval as he or she may work with you on the report.
2. Within one week of the seminar, submit to ANGEL (CHEM 500 course, in a drop box with your name, report number and version) an electronic draft of your report with cover sheet.  Notify your preceptor (and copy Tasha at tme119@psu.edu) that you have submitted a draft and follow his or her preferences for draft inspection.  Many preceptors will use ANGEL; some may ask that you e-mail your document or print a copy for them.  After examination of your draft, your preceptor may require that you work with a writing tutor.  For information on this service, see the Graduate Program Office staff.
3. As soon as you have submitted your draft, begin working with your preceptor on improving your report.  You should feel free to go through as much iteration as acceptable to both of you.
4. Within three weeks of the seminar date, submit your final report to ANGEL (CHEM 500 course, in a drop box with your name, report number and version).  Use the electronic cover sheet available on the site.  Please be advised that the drop box will not be available after the three-week deadline (5 pm).  Notify your preceptor (and copy Tasha at tme119@psu.edu) that you have submitted the final draft.  Grade and comments will be returned to you directly or via ANGEL.  The evaluation will be based on scientific accuracy, organization and writing quality (see sample grading sheet).  Your overall grade for 1 credit of CHEM 500 will be assigned at the end of the spring semester.  It will be a qualitative grade (A, A-, …, F) based on the average of the report grades received.

Reports should be no more than three double-spaced pages in length (12-point font, 1” margins).  An additional page may be used for references, descriptions of molecular structures, or figures if needed.

The use of ANGEL and the submission of draft and final versions are required for departmental record keeping and are not optional.  Late submissions will be accepted with a grade deduction related to the delay.

A summary of suggested report contents follows:

Introduction

• Introduce the speaker by name and title.
• Efficiently set the scientific context for the talk, establishing the problem being studied and summarizing current knowledge about the problem.
• State the speaker’s expressed research objective.

Body

• Summarize the methods applied to the research problem.
• Describe the research results and interpretation offered by the speaker.
• Summarize the methods applied to the research problem.
• Provide critical commentary on the research through the use of sources, figures, tables, or equations, scrupulously citing any sources you use with a superscripted number.
• Consider the use of section headings to organize the body of the report, using organizing principles of either the various facets of the research problem or the speaker’s methods, results, and interpretation.

Conclusion and Critical Commentary

• Briefly summarize the conclusions drawn by the speaker.
• Offer your opinions and insights into the speaker’s work, paying particular attention to the quality of the data or analysis and the significance of the research.
• Provide brief commentary on the actual or potential applications of the research.
• Append any figures, tables, or equations used, and provide complete bibliographic information for any sources cited.

References

To write an effective report you will find it helpful to refer to sources other than the notes you take during the seminar.  It is recommended that you obtain one or two key references pertaining to the speaker’s work and review these papers in order to increase your understanding of the topic.  It is also recommended that you peruse the material before the talk, since this will enable you to get more out of the presentation and take an active part in the questioning afterward.

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