Tips and hints for success
CH110 is not an independent class, rather it is the continuation course of CH109. You have already learned basic lab techniques (glassware, solution preparation), the fundamentals of spectroscopy, and some statistical methods; in CH110 we will use these tools and continue to develop new skills. If you find yourself struggling with some of these concepts, please come see us in office hours immediately – our sincere goal is that all of our students succeed and develop the necessary tools for quantitative scientific exploration.
In the past, students have best been able to manage their workload with good time management. Students should be reading the textbook and lab manual before their lecture on Wednesday. Pre-lab assignments, and notebook pages, are best completed soon after lecture in order be prepared for lab. Break-up working on the post-lab assignment: consider doing the data analysis immediately after data collection (with the time remaining in the lab, later that day, or the following day), and then polishing/completing the assignment (sometimes with help at office hours) later in the week.
Note: there are no weekend office hours in CH110, so it is imperative that you work earlier in the week.
An important note about getting answers to your questions: e-mail is not a replacement for office hours. While instructors will certainly respond to personal, private, and urgent matters by email, they will not be regularly answering content-related questions by email. To get answers from instructors, please attend any of the office hours.
Course learning resources
Concept videos
Lectures are generally recorded and posted on the EchoCenter (access through the course BlackBoard site).
In addition to the recorded lectures, a series of short videos have been recorded and posted online (click here). These videos are arranged by topic category (lab fundamentals, spectroscopy, general chemistry concepts, etc.) and are available for your use in reviewing concepts and extending your understanding. Also, suggestions of videos that are useful for specific labs are give on the course schedule.
Lab Research Notebooks
Proper academic and industrial lab practices require that all work in labs be done directly from a lab research notebook. To begin developing these skills, all lab work for this course will be done in a research notebook, and the duplicate pages are submitted to your instructor before leaving the lab. Consequently, use of this lab manual will not be permitted in class during the experiment, but you can refer to it during the analysis at the end of labs.
A detailed guide to preparing lab research notebooks can be found at the beginning of your lab manual or here
Post-lab Assignments
After completing an experiment, you will be expected to complete and submit a post-lab assignment. These assignments will generally be either (a) a series of questions related to the lab and your data, or (b) a scholarly paper. Post-lab assignments are individual work only and will generally be due before the start of the next lab period. Exact due dates will be announced.
A detailed guide to preparing high-quality post-lab assignments can be found at the beginning of your lab manual or here. Also, lab 1 in your manual covers many details of good practices for preparing these assignments.