Chemistry, writing skills

Understand how the textbook is organized and the approach it takes to help you improve your chemistry writing skills... 

Make a list of basic skills useful in analytical chemistry, such as public speaking, writing skills, statistics, electronics, and computer science. Determine where each analyst is strong or weak, and make a commitment to further training. Reserve several hours each week for special training in basic skills. Presentation by junior analysts of a published paper to a group of peers is one useful format. 

Write Like a Chemist is designed to be used as a textbook in upper division and graduate-level university chemistry classes and as a resource hook by chemistry students, postdocs, faculty, and other professionals who want to perfect their chemistry-specihc writing skills. To this end. Write Like a Chemist focuses on four types of writing ... 

Section 2 of Write Like a Chemist includes three chapters that focus on skills that run across different types of chemistry writing. These chapters guide writers in formatting and finalizing their written work ... 

In discussing physical chemistry curriculum revision we voiced many of the same concerns that are detailed in the New Traditions Physical Chemistry Curriculum Planning Session Report (7). Our new curriculum attempts to address specifically the concerns regarding math preparation, course content, active learning, writing skills, and appropriate utilization of the laboratory course to enhance learning. 

In the laboratory course we are developing a rubric to assess the formal papers. The first and last papers will be scored according to this rubric to measure the degree to which writing skills have improved during the course. The poster presentations are assessed by chemistry faculty members outside of the physical chemistry division and those assessments are currently being evaluated by our department assessment committee. 

The word processor has facilitated writing because of the ease of revising text. Word processing is a transferable skill valuable beyond the immediate requirements of your chemistry course. Using a word processor should improve your writing skills and speed because you can create, check and change your text on the screen before printing it as hard copy on paper. Once entered and saved, multiple uses can be made of a piece of text with little effort. 

Tilstra L (2001) Using journal articles to teach writing skills for laboratory reports in general chemistry. J Chem Ed 78 762-764... 

Carothers might well have been awarded the Nobel Prize for his outstanding contributions to chemistry. In less than ten years, he had established synthetic polymer science and had discovered neoprene rubber and polyesters, as well as nylon. He had numerous interests, including politics, mn-sic, and sports, and he also prided himself on his writing skills. Unfortunately, Carothers had been troubled since youth with more and more frequent bouts of depression. After the discovoy of nylon, he went into a severe depression, feeling a failure as a scientist. On April 29, 1937, he committed suicide by drinking lemonade containing potassium cyanide. His death was a tremendous loss. 

One very important resource has been the Voluntary Industry Skill Standards for entry-level chemistry laboratory technicians published by the American Chemical Society in 1997. These standards consist of a large number of competencies that such technicians should acquire in their educational program prior to employment as technicians. While many of these competencies were fortuitously addressed in previous editions, many others were not. It was a resource that I consulted time and time again as the writing proceeded. 

The main reason for you to use this book is as a preparation for the AP Chemistry exam. However, this book is capable of filling other roles. It can broaden your study of Chemistry, help your analytical skills, and aid you scientific writing abilities. These will aid you in a college course in Chemistry. 

Barton, D. H. R. Beaton, J. M. Geller, L. E. Pechet, M. M. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1960, 82, 2640. In 1960, Derek Barton took a vacation in Cambridge, Massachusetts he worked in a small research institute called the Research Institute for Medicine and Chemistry. In order to make the adrenocortical hormone aldosterol. Barton invented the Barton nitrite photolysis by simply writing down on a piece of paper what he thought would be an ideal process. His skilled collaborator. Dr. John Beaton, was able to reduce it to practice. They were able to make 40 to 50 g of aldosterol at a time when the total world supply was only about 10 mg. Barton considered it his most satisfying piece of work. 

Writing, more than any other skill developed as a chemistry student, has enabled me to advance my career — James B. Weissman, Pfizer Pharmaceutical Marketing... 

Fresh from college with a chemistry degree, I thought I had all the skills to excel in an entry-level position in the analytical chemistry lab of a pharmaceutical com<< ax i. But I soon discovered that I would be spending significant time writing reports. .. 

Only the skilled adept could make sense out of the maze of strange pictures and symbols which filled the writings of early chemistry. The alchemists had couched their ideas in an obscure sign language. Perhaps it did not require omniscience to understand that a group of dots arranged in a heap represented sand. Maybe the connoiseur of wine knew that this... 

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