Chemical Information Technology 2015-2016

A series of lecture demonstrations by Dr Anna Barnard [email: a.barnard@imperial.ac.uk]

Course Overview

The CIT course is designed to give you an introduction to using information services in your pursuit of your studies and to give you grounding in the tools used by the chemistry sector at large.

New services are being implemented all the time, and new features added to existing services; these pages are to serve as a guide to services, and the Wiki format allows anyone (with an IC login) to edit and update - this allows you to update the pages if you spot a mistake or become aware of a useful resource to share with others. Please do feel free to log in and annotate the pages if you see areas for improvement (though be aware that this cannot be done anonymously!)

As of October 2015 there were:

102,266,018 organic and inorganic molecules and substances (and increasing by the minute!)
66,377,968 biological sequences
undertaking 83,080,273 described reactions
for which there are >2 billion reported experimental properties
described in >1 million scientific articles, 250,000 patents and 4,500 books published each year across 10,000 chemistry journals and databases.

Finding information is less like finding a "needle in a haystack"; more like finding a *specific piece of hay* across 100 haystacks!

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students should:

Recognise the wide availability of chemistry search tools.
Understand the importance of correctly citing information sources.
Identify appropriate search tools for a given task.
Implement searches of the scientific literature to find information.
Employ bibliographic tools to store information.
Demonstrate appropriate citation of information sources.
Generate enthusiasm for chemistry in a wider context through related reading.

Use these learning outcomes as a framework to measure your progress through the course - as you write your report, reflect upon these outcomes and ask yourself if you have achieved them!

Structure of the course

Self Study - Resources for you to use for your self study and exploration
- IT for lecture courses, tutorials and set projects
Coursework classes Run each week in Term 1 as part of the Introduction to Synthesis course.
Assignment

Your CIT skills will be employed throughout your course, and you will be able to use these skills in the following areas amongst others.

IT for laboratories and reports

Workshop slots

You will undertake a workshop as part of the Introduction to Synthesis course, details of group allocations are given on Blackboard. The workshop is mandatory and you should ensure that you sign in at the beginning of the session to ensure your attendance has been recorded.

Lab Coursework

You are encouraged to work through the examples in this course at your own pace.
There is one assignment provided for this course, and details may be found here. There is no 'start time' for this, but all projects must be submitted online using the TurnItIn gateway by the date allocated to your group. You will obtain feedback on your report, and you will be able to see the TurnItIn "Originality report" for your submission. The coursework is entirely formative; this means that it is used solely for feedback and does not contribute to your degree total. However, as discussed during Induction Week, such coursework is vital for developing skills that you will use in the future, and this is your opportunity for gaining feedback.

Course History

This course is heavily based on that delivered by Professor Henry Rzepa from 1995 to 2010; the notes presented for this course are derived from those written by Prof. Rzepa, and much of the content is directly taken from his notes which are still available for reference on this wiki.