It:assignment-2011
Go to Introduction | Go to Lectures | Go to Coursework | Go to Assignment | List of Software | List of Searches
Contents
CIT Assignment 2012
The CIT assignment is an exercise which is designed to help you gain experience in gathering information on a given molecule. This is something which you will need to be able to do in order to do well in coursework while studying Chemistry, and in a wider context, is a skill which will be invaluable to you should you decide to take up a career in research.
There is no 'start time' for this assignment, but you must present your poster at the presentation session at the time below:
- Friday 9th November 2012, 2pm
You are free to start your assignment as soon as you wish, and can work on it any time up to the deadline.
You should work in your chosen groups of 6 students (you will sign up to your groups on Blackboard) to prepare your poster. You will be provided with a poster board on which you can mount printouts, drawings, models, anything! The only limit is your own creativity!
You will form into groups in your second CIT workshop; molecules will then be drawn from a hat and assigned to groups.
Presentation
Your presentation will be made in the Perkin Laboratory from 2-5pm on Friday 9th November. You must make sure that your poster is ready to be assessed by 2pm; you will be able to get into the lab at 1pm to commence setting up your poster.
A sample poster board will be made available to you for a guide to size in the second CIT workshop you attend.
Details of the assignment
Your task is to produce a poster with your group on your assigned molecule. You should aim to describe what makes it interesting and an introduction to its chemistry. All information should be appropriately cited from a creditable primary or secondary resource. You will most likely turn up a wealth of information on most of the molecules shown below; part of the task is deciding what is relevant information.
Structure of poster
Your poster should include an introduction to the molecule of interest, explaining why it is of interest. Further information Any synthetic route for making the molecule, if included, should include a brief discussion on the starting materials, where they are sourced (if they are natural products etc.). Any schemes should be large enough to be readable.
Physical data should be relevant to the 'story' and not just included for the sake of including it, going some way towards backing up the statement of 'interest' made in the introduction.
Above all, your poster should be engaging and interesting to read; you should be writing in language intended for a general chemistry audience, rather than a technical discussion on the preparation of the molecule.
You will be provided with a poster board on which to mount your materials - you should bring the materials with you to the presentation and mount them to the board from 1pm. Your poster should be ready for presentation by 2pm on the 9th November.
A Book You Might Find Useful...
Study and Communication Skills for the Chemical Sciences, Overton, Johnson and Scott - Oxford University Press, 2011.
The whole book is useful, but for this assignment, particularly chapters 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10 which relate to the finding of information, writing essays and preparing reports.
Publisher's price is £20.99, you may be able to do better online. Or check in the Library (bear in mind though that there are 150 of you, and there probably won't be 150 copies in the library!)
List of molecules
Choose one of the following molecules on which to base your report. Be sure to study a different molecule from those around you - it would be awfully dull reading if everyone does the same molecule! Alternatively, if there is another molecule which is of interest to you, please feel free to add it to this list and submit a report on that.
- Thyroxine
- Quinine
- Ramipril
- Acetyl salicylic acid
- Minoxidil
- Riboflavin
- Aspartame
- Serotonin
- Capsaicin
- Ascorbic acid
- Sodium laureth sulfate
- Phenylalanine
- Sorbitol
- Methyl salicylate
- Methylene blue
- Warfarin
- Trimethyl arsenic
- DDT
- zinc dithiophosphate
- formic acid
- Betamethasone
- Carvone
- Fullerenes
- Adrenaline
Assessment criteria and Feedback
In this assignment, you will be graded on the clarity of your message, the chemistry content, your editorial skill, and your use of CIT resources. You are free to compile your poster in whatever manner you see fit, and the absence of a framework for the poster is intended to stimulate your creativity!
This assignment is a formative assignment; this means the assessment is not formal and does not contribute towards of honours. It does mean that you will be given feedback which you should expect to use in the preparation of lab reports and other assignments.
Above all else, you must cite all your information sources, and all text must be written in your own words; any words which are not your own should be in quotation marks with appropriate citation.
Go to Introduction | Go to Lectures | Go to Coursework | Go to Assignment | List of Software | List of Searches
