Course Topics	Assignments	Final Project & Presentation
Online Resources	Grading

Class:	M,W 1100, Wood 2722
Online practice sessions:	TBA
Prerequisites:	24 hours of Chemistry
Text:	Maizell, How to Find Chemical Information, 3rd edition

Instructor

Dr. John B. Miller Office Hours Office: Wood 3156, 387-2871 T,W,R 1600-1700 Lab: Haenicke 4450, 387-2951 john.b.miller@wmich.edu or by appointment

Course Topics:

Topic Reading Introduction Ch. 1-3 Search Strategies Primary Literature Ch 12.7-12.19 Review Literature Ch 12.1-12.2 Handbooks & Tables Ch 12.3-12.6 Physical & Spectral Data Ch. 15, 18 WMU Resources --- Current Awareness Ch. 4, 5 Abstracts & Indices Ch. 8 Chemical Abstracts Ch. 6 CAS Online  with hands-on practice Ch. 7 Other Online Databases Ch. 10.1-10.14, 10.16-10.18 Other Internet Resources Ch. 10.15 Specialized Resources Ch. 9, 14, 16, 17 Intellectual Property Ch. 13 Student Presentations

Four brief assignments will be given. The tasks involved will typically require locating a particular set of information or sources from the chemical literature. Where possible, these will be linked to the student's research interests.

Late Work Policy
Late assignments and final projects will be assessed a penalty of 10% per week.
Assignments more than three weeks late will not be accepted.
Final projects more than two weeks late will not be accepted.

The student will select a topic to search, as if preparing a research proposal or writing a comprehensive review. The topic should be broad enough to be interesting, but narrow enough to be finite. It should also make use of several (>5) different types of literature resources. The topic should be discussed with and approved by Dr. Miller by 11 February. To maximize the benefit of this exercise for the student, the topic should be related to ongoing or planned research, or similar work activity. The project will be completed by 7 April. A 2-3 page (at least) synopsis of the information found during the search will be prepared and handed in, as will a complete bibliography. To be certain the student is on track, there will be an interim review of the search strategy, topic breadth, and search results about the middle of March.

Presentation
The student will give a brief presentation describing:

Why the search topic was selected

The sources used (and why)

What the most productive search technique(s) were, and why

How the search could have been improved

Online computer resources will be used extensively in this course. Most resources can be accessed via the World-Wide Web. You may use the class URL http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~millerj/chem505/chem505.htm as a portal.

Computer facilities are available in the basement of the Bernhard Center, in the UCC labs, and in McCracken 5160. Dialup connections via the University modem pool (387-2040) may also be used (contact the UCS help desk for detailed information about dialup). Instruction in the basic use of these online resources will be provided as required.

Assignments	80 (4@20) points	40%
Student Presentations	20 points	10%
Final Project	100 points	50%
TOTAL	200 points

The following approximate grading scale will be used:

	A	180-200
	BA	170-179
	B	160-169
	CB	150-159
	C	140-149
	DC	130-139
	D	120-129
	E	0-119

Current individual scores will be posted on the class web site (http://unix.cc.wmich.edu/~millerj/chem505/grades.htm).

Absence Policy
Attendance in class is important, as material is often covered in lecture that is complementary to the text.