CH228 Syllabus
General Chemistry Laboratory
Winter Term 2010

Instructor
Dr. Deborah Exton
Office: Room 176 Onyx
346-4629
email: dexton @ uoregon.edu

Office Hours

    Mon. 12:30 - 1:30 pm Rm. 171 Onyx
    Tue. 1:00 - 2:00 pm Rm. 171 Onyx
    Wed. 12:00 - 1:00 pm, Rm. 171 or 176 Onyx

GTF Office Hours
Chemistry Resource Center: Rooms 127-128 Klamath
Hours to be posted and announced by GTFs.

Required Materials
text: Exton, D.B., General Chemistry in the Laboratory (2008)
A scientific calculator (graphing calculator recommended).
Bound laboratory notebook with perforated duplicate pages.

Computer Usage
Laboratory reports for CH 228 must be typewritten or word processed. In addition, computer access may be required for completion of some laboratory assignments. As the campus has several excellent computer labs, it is not necessary that you own a personal computer. However, you should familiarize yourself with the campus computer facilities as soon as possible.
CH 227 web page: http://chemlabs.uoregon.edu/classes/exton/ch228/CH228.html

Course Content
This is the second course of the three term general chemistry laboratory sequence. In general, course content will correspond with material covered in the general chemistry lecture sequence (CH 222). Please note that CH 222 is a course co/prerequisites. Students will have the opportunity to perform experiments which illustrate and verify the chemical principals which have been learned. However, be forewarned that at times the lecture and laboratory courses will come "unstuck", with one course moving ahead of the other. At other times, the laboratory may cover material which is important to the practice of experimental chemistry but which will not be covered at all in your general chemistry lecture course.

Lab Lecture:
Mon 15:00 - 15:50 Rm.150 COL
There are two components to this course Ð the laboratory lecture and the actual laboratory. The lab lecture will address the relevance and theory behind each of the experiments. Attendance at the laboratory lecture is necessary to ensure that you understand the underlying concepts, calculations and procedures associated with each lab. You are expected to have read over the upcoming lab before attending the lecture.
Laboratory:
All laboratory sections meet in Rm. B63 Klamath (basement of Klamath Hall). There are eight laboratory exercises scheduled this term. See the winter term laboratory schedule for a complete listing of experiments.

Laboratry Notebook, Reports, Grades, and Procedures
Notebook and Pre-lab: Refer to the laboratory text for laboratory notebook and pre-lab guidelines. Unless otherwise instructed, the pre-lab write-up must be written in ink in your notebook before attending lab. If you fail to complete the pre-lab preparation before attending lab you will be considered unsafe and will have to leave the laboratory until the pre-lab is completed. No additional time will be granted to complete the experiment. Your laboratory GTF will check for completion of the pre-lab at the beginning of the lab section. After recording data, observations and results in your notebook, you will turn in carbon copies of your notebook pages before leaving the lab.

Lab Reports: Lab reports are due at the beginning of the lab period the week following the experiment. Reports may be submitted up to 7 days late with a 30% penalty. A lab report that is more than 7 days late will be given a grade of zero. Each report is worth 100 points. Reports must be typed or word processed. Guidelines for writing a lab report can be found on the course web page as well as the laboratory text.

SafeAssign: In addition to the written lab report, all reports must be electronically submitted to SafeAssign to check for plagiarism. Reports must be uploaded to SafeAssign by the beginning of lab one week after the experiment was performed. If you submit a late lab report, the report must be uploaded to SafeAssign on the same day the report is turned in. Failure to upload your lab report to SafeAssign will result in a score of 0 for that lab.

To Upload a Document to Safeassign:

  • Open your browser. (Avoid using Safari or Internet Explorer due to compatability issues.)
  • Log in to Blackboard
  • Go to your the CRN for your lab section, NOT the lecture section
  • Go to Course Information
  • Select SafeAssign
  • Scroll down to the specific report
  • Click on View/Complete
  • Upload your document (This is done like an email attachment, using Browse, select) Documents must be in the .doc or .docx format. Be sure that the file extension is included with the file name. Files in the pdf format are not acceptable.
  • You may only upload once per assignment.
  • PLEASE NOTE: After submission to SafeAssign you will see a screen indicating that your submission was successful. If you do not see this screen your report has not been received and you should re-submit.
Reading Questions: Questions based on the pre-laboratory reading will be posted weekly on the web. It is your responsibility to access these questions before the weekly lab lecture and turn in the answers when you attend the lab lecture. Question sets will be accepted only during the first 5 minutes of lecture or within 5 minutes after the lecture has been completed. No late assignments will be accepted and questions may not be submitted in lab. Because we do not accept late assignments, we drop your lowest score, allowing you to miss one question set without penalty. Please adhere to the following guidelines when submitting papers:

  • Answers may be hand-written. Be sure that your handwriting is legible. If we are unable to read it, it may not be graded.
  • All submissions should be on a full page of paper. Please tear off all ragged edges from tearing paper out of a spiral notebook
  • At the top of the page, include your name, your TA name, and the date and time of your lab section.

Grading: All disputes involving grading must be discussed with your GTF within two weeks after the question set or lab report has been returned to you. Final grades for this class are assigned on a curve based on each GTF's average. In other words, students with a given GTF will not be graded in comparison with students with a different GTF.

Final point totals will be based on the following:

  Laboratory Reports (8)       800 pts
  Question Sets                100 pts
  ------------------------------------
    Total score possible       900 pts
	

Academic Dishonesty
Academic dishonesty in any guise, including plagiarism, fabrication, and cheating, will not be tolerated. All work submitted under your name must be your own and produced exclusively for this course. The use of sources (ideas, quotations, paraphrases) must be properly acknowledged and documented. Because one of the best ways to fully learn a subject is to try and teach it to another person, collaborative and group work are very much encouraged. However, the laboratory report that you submit must be your own work. Copying ANY PART of another student's lab report, reading questions or exam, or allowing another student to copy ANY PART of your lab report, reading questions or exam is cheating. The minimum penalty for plagiarism in this course will be an automatic zero on the assignment. In extreme cases, instances of plagiarism will result in a failing grade in the class.

Make-up Labs
If a situation arises in which you must miss lab, you may attend another section that same week to make up the lab if there is space available. Please note that this requires written authorization. If you need to attend another section, obtain an authorization form from the instructor, check in at the stockroom window, and give the authorization form to the GTF in the lab. Lab reports must still be turned in at the usual time (i.e. your next lab session). If you are unable to make any other arrangements, you have the option to do a make-up lab during the last week of the term. The make up is intended for only those students who have missed a lab for a legitimate purpose, not those who attended lab but didn't turn in a lab report or received a poor grade. Make-up labs this term are scheduled for Monday, Mar. 8 at 3:00 pm and Tuesday, Mar. 9 at 11:00 am. Sign up for the make-up lab during the week of Mar. 1. There will be no lab lecture accompanying the make-up lab.

Safety
Safety in the laboratory is our #1 priority and safety rules will be strictly enforced. Safety awareness, attitude, and knowledge are all required to ensure a safe environment for yourself and others in the lab. Read the safety section of the lab manual before attending the first lab session. Further safety guidelines will be presented as needed at the beginning of each laboratory experiment.

Goggles. Goggles will be provided by the chemistry department. Most violations of laboratory safety involve the improper use of safety goggles. Anytime you are in the laboratory, you must have on your safety goggles. This includes times when you are working on data analysis or cleaning up at the end of the experiment. Your goggles must be covering your eyes. Goggles provide no eye protection when they rest on the top of your head. Tampering with the goggles may result in expulsion from the lab with no extra time granted to complete the experiment.

Shoes. Shoes must have fully closed toes and heels. Open-toe shoes, sandals and traditional open-heel clogs are not permitted in the laboratory.

Clothing. Clothing ust completely cover the body from the shoulders to the feet. Shorts, short skirts, and camisole tops are not allowed.

Students wearing improper attire will not be allowed to remain in the laboratory after the initial discussion period. Any student who receives two warnings in one laboratory period regarding the improper use of safety goggles or other safety procedures will receive a 5 point penalty for each subsequent infraction and may be asked to leave the laboratory. There will be no opportunity to make up the missed laboratory time.

Students with Disabilities
The University of Oregon is working to create inclusive learning environments. Please notify me if there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in disability related barriers to your participation. You may also wish to contact Disability Services in 164 Oregon Hall.

Inclement Weather Policy
In the event that a class must be cancelled due to inclement weather, an announcement will be made on the CH 228 Blackboard web site and an email will be sent to all students.

E-mail Policy: Email is a very handy method for communicating with people, whether around the world or across campus. In some situations email protocol is not as formal as paper communications. In others, (academics, jobs, etc.) there are some expectations of protocol. I ask that when communicating with me (or any faculty member) by email, you adhere to the following guidelines:
  • The subject line should indicate the course number and the nature and topic of the email.
  • Spell correctly and use appropriate punctuation.
  • Acceptable forms of salutation: Dear Dr. Exton or Dear Professor Exton . Unacceptable forms of salutation: Hey Exton , Dear Mrs. Exton , or just Deb .
  • Always sign your messages with first and last name. I won't respond to unsigned messages.
I also request that you refer to your syllabus and/or the course web site for answers to your questions before sending me an email. If you do not receive a response from me it is because the answer is readily available from one of those sources.