Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1

Independent Project Proposal

The research proposal assignment is the second in a series of sequenced assignments for your
independent project in this course. This assignment consists of five sections: the title, the
introduction, the literature review, the methodology, and the references. The purpose of this
assignment is to provide you with the experience of identifying an issue in organic chemistry,
conducting a scientific literature review, and designing a small research study to answer your
research question.
Your audience for this research proposal is the OLOLC Deans of ASHP, Science Department
Chairperson, Senior Chemistry Faculty Members, and Chemistry Laboratory Coordinator. These
individuals will constitute a hypothetical chemistry research review board, and will either
approve or deny your research proposal. Your goal for this proposal is to justify the use of the
Colleges time and resources for research on an issue in organic chemistry that you think is
important. Your job is to convince the review board that your issue is significant and worth
investigating by presenting a well-written, professional, and scientific proposal.
A research proposal explains why and how a study will be conducted. It is useful for planning a
study and receiving critical feedback before undertaking a project. As you design your study, you
will be guided in part by your review of the literature, and will continue to receive relevant
content and writing feedback from your instructor as necessary.
Requirements:
1. This assignment is due on February 27, 2015 at 8:00am. Assignments must be submitted
via the Moodle link in week 7s content. Late assignments will result in a deduction of 5
points per day, starting at 8:01am on 02/27/2015.
2. This assignment must be typed in Times New Roman, 12-point font. With the exception
of the title page, the assignment must be double-spaced. The title page must be singlespaced and reflect American Chemical Society (ACS) formatting style (an example is
provided on the next page). Hand-written assignments will not be accepted.
3. The proposal must include five sections: the title, the introduction, the literature review,
the methodology & procedure, and the references. Each section must address the required
points and must meet the length requirements as stated in this assignment. This
assignment requires a significant amount of planning, drafting, and revision. Please see
the tips for planning a scientific assignment located in the following sections.
4. The independent project must reflect original thought on an issue in organic chemistry.
Students are not allowed to work in partnersall students must work individually.
Plagiarism (direct or indirect) or presentation of unoriginal ideas will result in a zero.
5. Students are prohibited from using human participants, human medical records, or human
samples in the independent project, as this requires IRB approval.

Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1

6. Students must verify OLOLC supplies, chemical inventory, and instrumentation abilities
with Mrs. Oldendorf on the Topic Selection Form before formulating the experimental
plan.
7. Students are required to use one of the following analytical instruments in the
independent project: GC/MS, FTIR, UV-Vis, or the Polarimeter may be used for
analytical analysis.
8. Although scientific research must reflect original thoughts and ideas, research must build
on other research. Students must include a references section to demonstrate scholarship
to their audiences. The proposal and proposal references are to be written using
professional American Chemical Society (ACS) style.
9. Each student must visit the Writing Center before February 27th to simulate the thorough
peer-review process that scientific papers must pass for conference presentation and
publication. The Writing Center is located on the second floor of the Library Commons
on Didesse Drive. The peer-reviewer will sign and date the draft. This draft is due with
the final draft on February 27, 2014. Failure to provide this draft with the appropriate
date/signature will result in a 10-point deduction from the proposal grade. Forging
signatures and dates will result in a zero.
10. Recurrent writing, spelling, and grammatical errors will result in point deductions.
11. Students in advanced chemistry courses at Our Lady of the Lake College are expected to
present scientific projects in a professional manner. Unprofessional writing,
unprofessional formatting, and excessive use of unnecessary jargon will result in a point
deduction.

Grading Rubric

Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1

Title Page
5 Points

Problem Statement
20 Points

LiteratureReview
20Points

Methodology&
Procedure
40Points

References/Grammar
15Points

5points
The title page contains all of the
required elements: project title,
name, course/semester/year,
department & school, due date, and
origin.
20 points
The section includes a researchable
problem statement that is relevant
to organic chemistry, background
information on the problem, and a
brief explanation of what has been
done to address the problem. The
proposal demonstrates original
thought. 1 page in length.
20 points
Information is gathered from
multiple, research-based sources.
The section is well organized,
and demonstrates logical
sequencing and structure.
Detailed conclusions are reached
from the evidence offered.
Information is cited appropriately
and in ACS format. 2 pages in
length.
40points
The student has considered
the key issues for
the project and understands
the scope of the
challenges they are likely
to face. A well thought-out, safe
experimental procedure is
presented, and the correct
methodology is detailed. The
experimental procedure accounts
for OLOLC chemical & supply
inventory, and instrument
capabilities. 2 pages in length.
15points
All references and citations are
correctly written and present. The
proposal is free from grammatical
and writing errors.

34points
The title page most of the required
elements: project title, name,
course/semester/year, department &
school, due date, and origin.

02points
The title page contains little-to-none of the
required elements: project title, name,
course/semester/year, department &
school, due date, and origin.

12-19 points
The section includes a researchable
problem statement that may be distantly
relevant to organic chemistry,
background information on the problem,
and a brief explanation of what has been
done to address the problem. The
proposal demonstrates some original
thought. Less than 1 page in length or
exceeds 1 page in length.
12-19 points
Information is gathered from multiple
sources. The section is well organized,
but demonstrates illogical sequencing
or structure. Conclusions are reached
from the evidence offered. Information
is cited in ACS format, but with some
errors. Less than 2 pages in length or
exceeds 2 pages in length.

0-11 points
The section includes a researchable
problem statement that is irrelevant to
organic chemistry, no background
information on the problem, and no
explanation of what has been done to
address the problem. The proposal
demonstrates little-to-no original thought.
Significantly less than 1 page in length or
significantly exceeds 1 page in length.
0-11 points
Information is gathered from a limited
number of sources. Weakly organized
with no logical sequencing or structure.
There is some indication of conclusions
from the evidence offered. Information is
cited, but has many errors. Significantly
less than 2 pages in length or
significantly more than 2 pages in length.

2039points
The student has considered
some key issues for
the project and understands
the scope of the
challenges they are likely
to face. A safe experimental procedure
is presented, and the methodology is
presented in some detail. The
experimental procedure accounts for
OLOLC chemical & supply inventory,
and instrument capabilities. Less than 2
pages in length or exceeds 2 pages in
length.

019points
The student has not considered
key issues for
the project and does not understand
the scope of the
challenges they are likely
to face. An unsafe experimental
procedure is presented, and the
methodology is presented in little detail.
The experimental procedure does not
account for OLOLC chemical & supply
inventory, and instrument capabilities.
Significantly less than 2 pages in length
or significantly more than 2 pages in
length.
07points
Reference, citation, grammatical, and
writing errors detract significantly from
the proposal.

814points
Some references or citations are missing
or incorrectly written. The proposal
contains some grammatical and writing
errors.

Constructing the Proposal

Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1

Section 1: Title Page (5 points)

Per American Chemical Society guidelines (ACS), the title should reflect the content and
emphasis of the project. It should be as short as possible and include essential key words (center
spaced, Times New Roman font):
Title of Your Proposed Independent Project
Your Name
The Full Title of Your Course, Semester, & Year
Department, School
The Due Date
Origin of the Project

Illegally Marketed 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone Bath Salts Versus Legally Marketed

Epsom Bath Salts: An Organic Analysis and Analytical Interpretation
Daphne M. Oldendorf
Organic Chemistry II Laboratory: Spring 2015
Department of Science, Our Lady of the Lake College
February 27, 2015
In Partial Fulfillment of the Independent Project Component

Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1

Section 2: Problem Statement (1 page in length, 20 points)

A good introduction is a clear statement of the problem or project and the reasons for studying
it. (The ACS Style Guide. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 2006.)
This section will serve as the introduction to the independent project proposal. The nature of the
problem and why it is of interest should be conveyed in the opening paragraph. This section
should describe clearly but briefly the background information on the problem and what has been
done before to address the problem (with the appropriate citations in ACS format). The presented
problem must be a researchable problem. A clear relationship between the current problem and
the scope and limitations of earlier work should be made so that the reasons for the project and
the approach used will be understood by your audience of OLOLC academic leaders.
The problem statement should include the following points to give the OLOLC review panel an
excellent understanding of your proposed project:
Problem statement that is relevant to organic chemistry
Brief background information on the problem
Brief explanation of the research to-date that has been done to address the problem
Brief explanation of an identified gap in the literature review
Section 3: Literature Review (2 pages in length, 20 points)
The proposed research problem must be situated within a context of other scholarship in
chemistry so that the OLOLC review panel can observe a clear gap in the literature review that
addresses why your research is necessary. The literature review presents a discussion of the most
important research and theoretical work relating to the research problem. It addresses the
following types of questions: What have others said about this problem? What theories address it
and what do these say? What research has been done (or not done) previously? Are there
consistent findings or do past studies disagree? Are there flaws or gaps in the previous research
that your study will seek to remedy?
The literature review should include the following points:
At least two previous peer-reviewed research studies from scholarly journals addressing
the problem
A clearly identified gap in the literature
A clear connection between your research topic and the literature
Section 4: Methodology & Procedure (2 pages in length, 40 points)
This section describes how you will conduct your study. Regardless of the type of research you
plan to do (qualitative or quantitative), you need to indicate how you will carry out your study so
that the OLOLC review board may judge its viability and worth. For example, research involving
analytical instrumentation should include a brief description of the instruments theory.
Measurements, the data-collection methods, and analysis/analyses should also be included in this
section.

Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1

The Methodology & Procedure should include the following points:

The independent projects hypothesis
The type of research that you are conducting: Qualitative vs. Quantitative
Applicable chemical equations and hypothesized mechanisms
Data collection methods
A plan for interpreting results
A safe, experimental, reasonable procedure to be executed in the laboratory (1 class
period, 3 hours)
Section 5: References (5 points)
Include a reference page for all sources cited in the research proposal. Double check your
references against the proposal to make sure that all sources appear in both places. References
must be cited in ACS format, and must be scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
Tips for Planning a Scientific Writing Assignment:
1. Start with the assignment.
Read the assignment carefully to make sure that you understand all of its requirements. Make a
note on your questions and ask your Instructor for clarification ahead of time. Chemistry Faculty
and Staff can be reached via email, office phone, pre-scheduled appointments, during office
hours, and during class time.

2. Plan your time.

Be realistic with the amount of time that this assignment will take you to complete. Research
proposal writing is different than writing laboratory reports. Do not underestimate the amount of
time that research, drafting, revision, meeting with the Writing Center, and finalizing your paper
will take.

3. Take time to think.

Original research requires thinking. Think about your topic and your planned experiment.
Generate possible problems (ex: low percent yield, instrument malfunction, non-reproducible
data, experiments that do not work), and think about solutions ahead of time.

4. Draft the assignments structure.

This assignment requires multiple sections that address specific topics in the research planning
process. To ensure that you meet all of the stated requirements, draft the assignments body
paragraphs and headings before writing to avoid missing any critical areas of the proposal.

5. Use the first, middle, and final draft approach.

Successful writing requires review. The draft that is brought to your Writing Center appointment
should be the final draft of your research proposal. Although it is not required, you may visit the
Writing Center on multiple occasions and have your peers review your research proposal drafts.
The Writing Center accepts appointments on a first-come-first-served basis, so make your
appointments through the Writing Centers website (ololcollege.net.org/wcenter) early to ensure
that you meet the draft requirements.

6. Make the draft corrections.

Oldendorf, Spring 2015

CHEM 2311L-1
Take all feedback into account and make adjustments to your proposal as necessary. If you are
having trouble correcting grammatical, global, and structural errors in your paper, please make an
appointment at the Writing Center for additional tutoring.