CH301 Rules for Reports and Exams

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Writing a Report | Rules for Exam| Final Exam Sample

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Important Information

1) e-mails :

2) telephone: 816-584-6416

3) fax: 816-741-4911

4) If everything above fails: mail your report to: Dr. Sapna Gupta, Box 56 Department of Chemistry Park College 8700 NW River Park Dr. Parkville, MO 64152

Please let me know if you have any questions about the instructions.

Writing a Report (top)

Report writing is an integral part of this course.  There is an informative or opinion report ( 600 -700 words long) due every week. Besides that there is the final research paper.

Any report can be broken into four major portions:

1) Indicate the problem or issue in the beginning.

2) The middle portion of the report generally should give information about the topic. If it is an informative report then you need to give the info and if it is an opinion paper then you should defend your opinion using different supporting facts.  This is the major portion of your paper.

3) At the end of the report there should be a conclusion which is more or less your opinion (even in cases of informative paper). You should have an opinion about the information you presented or about the issue you were addressing.

4) Lastly the references. Without these your paper has no basis. Very rarely in opinion papers you may not be able to give as many references as you would like to, but in most cases you should be able to come up with at least five references.

  • Even when you are writing an opinion report you MUST have references. Without them you cannot justify your opinion.
  • Personal communication can be counted as a reference if you are obtaining information and you must cite it. In this case you should provide the address and phone number of your referee to be verified.
  • One reference is never enough for any report. It indicates that the information is not studied by a variety of people. The information can also be biased in such cases.
  • You cannot have more than one reference of a book or encyclopedia in informative/opinion reports and two for the final research paper.
  • You should also indicated in the report which information you got from which reference. For example you can number all your references and number the sentence or paragraph taken from that reference (the chemistry way of referencing).

Points are usually taken off for

1) no title of the report,
2) incorrect or no references ,
3) not addressing the main issue ,
4) not giving any solutions, and
5) keeping report too vague, i.e. not giving any concrete information.

Rules for Exam (top)

Please read the following rules:

1) Finish the exam in two hours tops, excluding any breaks.

2) You cannot use any book or notes or any other documents during the exam.

3) Please do not make a research paper of this exam. These are short questions supposed to be answered in short and sweet answers. Don't make me read more than 250 words for any answer.

4) Please stick to the point. In opinion questions it is very important for you to convince me. If I am not convinced me, there is something missing in your answer.

5) all answers should be based on scientific evidence/facts and not hearsay.

6) defend your answers logically ie scientifically. You are not using any references here hence you have to be able to convince me with your logic and reasoning without any references to back you up. This is especially true for the opinion questions.

7) there are no second chances for the exam, hence make sure you do it right the first time.

Final Exam Sample (top)

1) Write an essay stating whether or not "animal rights" arguments should also apply to bacterial studies; defend your statement. (8 pts)

2) Identify the following as elements/compounds or mixtures and homogenous or heterogeneous a) snow: the new fluffy kind b) air c) diamond d) orange juice (8 pts)

3) What are the primary reasons for ozone formation ? Give two recommendations you can give to public for decreasing ozone production. Explain briefly the harmful effects of ozone. (10 pts)

4) Explain the cleansing action of soap at molecular level. If you were chosen as a consumer to test out five new detergents how would you decided which are the best ?(8 pts)

5) Give three advantages and three disadvantages of using coal as an energy source. What would be your ideal source of energy , justify your answer. (12 pts)

6) Sometime early next century a planet "x" is discovered. The inhabitants (yes aliens) have not heard about water but sure could use some. You are our salesperson from the earth going to sell water to these inhabitants. How would you convince them that they need water and why they should have it. (Hint: need to talk about the wonderful properties of water, both chemical and physical) (10 pts)

7) List five questions you would like to ask the CEO of a utility company planning to build a nuclear plant in your neighborhood for providing electricity. (10 pts)

9) List the answers to the five questions in the previous question that the CEO might reply. (10 pts)

10) Consider the following scenario: You are stranded on an island (for God knows how long!), with only your handbag - which has a few things for your immediate needs: small appliances ( e.g. your CD player, electric shaver, a small traveling heater), a few clothes and fortunately you were carrying that fragile dinner set you bought for home. The island has only vegetation to its credit, there are no river or lakes. One day while walking on the beach you come across a magic lamp, you eagerly rub it and you are relieved to see a genie come out of it. The genie however is retired and has only two wishes to offer from a limited choice which are : some solar cells, a reverse osmosis apparatus, an ion exchanger and all the material required to build your own personal nuclear plant. You can chose only two from the above list, what would be your choices; justify with reason (remember returning home is not one of the wishes!!)

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