Chemistry 342 poster project

The Chemistry 342 poster project aims to produce a poster about an organic chemical compound, for display at SUNY Potsdam.

Topics

Still to be chosen

Assignment

You will work in pairs to design a small poster, to be presented on Friday April 4th in Stowell Hall. The top two posters will be chosen and presented at the Learning & Research Fair on Thursday, April 17th.* Each poster will describe in detail one chemical product based on organic chemistry, such as a pharmaceutical, a petrochemical or an agrochemical. You may select a product entirely of your own choosing, if you have a particular interest. Alternatively, I can supply a selection of possible subjects for you. Before the break I will meet with every pair to see how you are getting on. I will also assist in your library searches, and Dave Trithart in the library will be able to give you a great amount of help (more than me!).

This wiki, or user-editable website, has been made available for your use. You are not required to use this, rather, this is a tool that many of you will find useful for collaboration. There is a basic introduction on the Chem342 page; since wikis are much simpler than HTML, you should be comfortable with writing on a wiki after about 30 minutes. You can use it to write and design your poster (including pictures) and discuss content, and all drafts are kept by the software (see "History" tab) so you can edit freely without fear of losing something you (or your partner) like. Once the content is ready, you can format for the poster within the wiki, or copy it over into Powerpoint for printing.

The poster should include at least five citations, of which at least three should be from reliable sources (peer-reviewed journals, patents, books, govt. websites). Primary literature references such as patents will typically receive more credit than vague book references. The poster should include the chemical structure of your product, as well as equations showing the chemical processes used for making your product. The text should be concise, and show the uses of the process or product, as well any pros and cons (relative to alternative products) you wish to discuss.

Grading

Poster

60 points. This will reflect how well you researched your topic, as well as the actual finished poster. I will try to balance out for differences in subject difficulty.

Presentation of Poster

40 points. You will need to be present for 50 minutes at 10am on Friday April 4th in order to answer questions from myself, your fellow students, and from passersby.

On the Second Exam

16 points. Please note that the second exam will include a short, very simple question on each poster. There will be a complete set of questions, of which you must answer any two questions. Therefore you should take some notes on two or three other posters besides your own. If you have class conflicts, the posters will be on static display at other times so that you can take notes.

Bonus

20 points. If your poster is one of the four chosen for the Learning & Research Fair on Thursday, April 17th, you will receive an additional 20 points for presenting at the fair for at least one hour.

• Note: This is a change from the original schedule given in the syllabus.