CHEM 112 Technical Abstract Instructions, Fall 2014

Instructions for the Technical Abstract, Experiment 19

CHEM 112 Fall 2014

The postlab assignment for experiment 19 (Transition Metal Chemistry and Paper

Chromatography) will be a technical abstract. This assignment is due the week of October 20, 2014,

which is the week after completing this experiment.

During lab, take notes and record detailed observations in your lab notebook during the lab; the

more you write down, the easier the technical abstract will be to write. On page xviii of your lab manual,

there is information regarding the technical abstract that we will refer you to. THE INSTRUCTIONS

THAT WE ARE GIVING YOU IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THE BASIS FOR THE GRADING

RUBRIC. We are asking you to write this technical abstract for two reasons. The first reason is as

 practice for the full paper that you will write on the project towards the end of the semester. The second

reason is to expose you to scientific writing in order to help prepare you for future classes and careers.

General Guidelines and Formatting

The technical abstract should be an original, typed document presenting what you did for

Experiment 19. Each student is responsible for submitting their own technical abstract. While students

are encouraged to work together, you CANNOT simply copy and paste your partner’s report. This is

never acceptable; this is plagiarism, even if you do change a few words here and there. All plagiarism

violations will result in a grade of zero for the assignment and a report will be filed the Aggie Honor

System Office Be as concise as possible; a longer paper is not necessarily a better  paper.

The technical abstract must be a typed document, with 1 inch margins, 1.5 line spacing and the

font cannot be larger than 12 point. Do not write any part of this abstract as a numbered or bulleted list;

it should be written in paragraph form. Data should be presented in embedded tables or figures

(embedded meaning in the body of the technical abstract, not stapled to the end). Figures and tables

should also have a caption (as shown in the example on page xvii –  this figure is embedded). The entire

report should be written in past tense   and in third person passive voice. (“The solution was added

dropwise” instead of “We added the solution dropwise”). The abstract should be written using justified

text (a text alignment that fills the entire page margin to margin, like these instructions).

The abstract should be clearly divided into sections which are described below. Each section

should have a header, much like this document. It does not matter if you bold, underline, or italicize the

headers, just be consistent. The document should be no more than 4 pages total (figures and spacing

included). Again, be concise and organized.

 

CHEM 112 Technical Abstract Instructions, Fall 2014

Title and Authors

On page xviii of your manual, instructions are given regarding the title and authors. In addition

to these instructions, when you use an asterisk (*) to indicate the primary author, you should also define

the asterisk in your paper (i.e. * - Primary Author), typically as a footnote on the first page.

Furthermore, the title should be descriptive of the content  –  do not  call it “Experiment 19 Technical

Abstract” or simply “Transition Metals and Chromatography.”

Introduction

Reference page xviii of your manual. This section should only be 3 or 4 sentences  long. The

 purpose of the introduction is to convey a quick what and how to the reader. The introduction does not

have to give any real details, only a description of what you did and why you did it.

If asked to write an introduction for the colligative properties experiment, one could write, “A

topic of interest to many scientists is the investigation of the use of freezing point depression in cold

tolerant animals.1 The molecular weight and identity of an unknown sample were determined by using

the colligative property, freezing point depression.” The superscript 1 (1) refers to a reference list that

would be included at the end of the technical abstract.

Materials and Methods

At this point, you should have realized to keep page xviii of your manual open. T he purpose of

this section is to allow another student to exactly duplicate what you and your partner did in lab. Note,

this is not necessarily exactly what the lab manual says you should have done. This section should only

 be 1 or 2 paragraphs in length. Just like the rest of the technical abstract, this section should be written

in your own words. DO NOT write this section in the form of a numbered or bulleted list; it should be

written in paragraph form using the past tense , remember that in this paper you are reporting what

you have already done, not what you are doing or will do. Another common mistake is to copy the text

from the lab manual and simply change a few words. This is not acceptable; it is plagiarism. Another

mistake is leaving out critical information such as masses and volumes of chemicals used (these are to

be exact), as well as equipment used. The key to this section is to be concise, only report pertinent

information. You may assume the reader is a reasonably smart general chemistry student who is

familiar with basic general chemistry concepts and lab techniques, e.g . do not report steps such as how

to weigh out solids, measure liquids, clean up and write observations. These do not need to be explained

anywhere in the technical abstract.

Results and Discussion

 

CHEM 112 Technical Abstract Instructions, Fall 2014

This is the most important section of the technical abstract and thus should be the longest. The

 purpose of this section is to present the data collected, the results obtained and how they were obtained.

This section will be similar to a written summary of the DRA. As mentioned above, data should be

 presented in a well formatted table or graph in this section. Discuss what conclusions can be drawn from

the data, these should include the identity of the five metal solutions and the identity of the components

of your mixture, and how these conclusions were determined. (Hint: Look at the questions in the DRA.)

In addition to these conclusions, incorporate the following discussion topics into your results and

discussion.

  In a hypothetical situation where two different metal ions exhibit the same R f  value how could

they be distinguished?

  Would tests, such as the spot plate tests, be able to reveal the identity of the metal cations in a

mixture of metals? Why?

  The lab manual discusses that the color observed for transition metal ions is due to the d to d

transitions, where an electron is excited from a full d orbital to a half-filled or empty one. Of the

3d transition metals (Sc through Zn), which one could be expected to be colorless. Why? Does

this match the observations made in lab?

The last thing to include in the results and discussion section are any possible sources of error (do not

 just claim “human error”; provide specific examples) or any errors that did occur.

Conclusions

This section is a summary of the entire technical abstract and like the introduction will only be 2

to 3 sentences. In the conclusion, restate the purpose of the experiment, state your final answer to that

 purpose and whether or not the experiment was successful. Going back to the colligative properties

experiment, a  possible conclusion could read. “Freezing point depression was successfully used to

determine the molecular weight of an unknown sample. The molecular weight led to identification of the

unknown as sucrose which was confirmed by the physical properties.” 

Some Final Instructions

You are expected to use correct grammar in your writing. A minimum of 10% of your grade

on this assignment will be based on correct use of grammar . Although this assignment will not be

graded by an English teacher, it should be carefully proof-read. Points will be deducted for things

including (but not limited to) excessive typos or spelling errors, incoherent or incomplete sentences, and

use of informal abbreviations or slang in your writing.

 

CHEM 112 Technical Abstract Instructions, Fall 2014

We realize this is a long set of instructions. We have included as much detail in these

instructions as possible in order to make the assignment as clear as possible. If you have any questions

on the writing of the technical abstract, please contact your TA; please do not contact one of the

IAs unless you have already spoken to your TA. Also, for all emails remember to provide your full

name and section number.