Macdonald Research Group

Research

Students

Facilities

Contact Info

Chemistry & Biochemistry Web Site

4th Year Research Projects and Seminars (59-400 and 59-410)

Announcements:

The final presentations will be held in the Oak room of Vanier Hall on April 26th.  I anticipate that we will go all day long starting at 9 AM (6 presentations in the morning and 5 in the afternoon).  The schedule.

Old Announcements:

Those of you who are interested in presenting your work at the 32nd Southwestern Ontario Undergraduate Student Chemistry Conference (SOUSCC) should look at this web site. - Well done guys!

Those of you who are interested in GRADUATE SCHOOL in Chemistry at an Ontario University may wish to attend the 4th annual Graduate Information Session held by the McMaster Undergraduate Chemistry Society.  Most of the schools in the province send a representative who can provide you with lots of information about their institutions.  This will be held on Jan. 17th at McMaster University.

Thesis Style Information:

Your thesis will be written in the "Traditional" style of the Masters Thesis.  The general outline is below and more specific details can be found in this document.

Title Page
Copyright page
Abstract
Dedication (if you want)
Acknowledgements
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Appendices (if applicable)
List of Abbreviations, Symbols, Nomenclature
 

Body of thesis - your chapters should probably include:
- Introduction (background and context)
- Results and Discussion (this can be more than one chapter, as you and your supervisor see fit)
- Experimental (methods, specific descriptions, data, characterization, etc.)

Bibliography (References)
Appendices (where applicable)
Vita Auctoris
 

Class Information:

Although there are no regular classes for this course, we will have meetings periodically to cover certain topics regarding the research projects, the presentations and the theses that you will complete.

The grades for this course will be determined by the supervisor (70%) and an external reader (30%) and will be based on the research that you have accomplished (40%), the thesis that you write (30%) and the presentation that you give (30%).

Presentation Dates: (the dates for the last presentations will be finalized later in the year)

Presentation #1 - Background Information (10 mins. + questions)

November 27th 6:30PM-9PM

Presentation #2 - Proposed Research and Progress to Date (15 mins. + questions)

2 evenings: February 4th and 5th (Wed. and Thurs.) 6PM - 8PM

Final Presentation - Thesis Defense (20 mins. including questions)

April 26th - 9AM to 5PM

All of you are expected to have access (either on your  own computers or on a computer in your lab) to software including: a reasonably modern word processor (Word or WordPerfect), presentation software (PowerPoint or WP Presentations), chemical drawing software (ChemDraw, ChemWindows, Chemintosh, ISIS draw, or something similar), and any other software that is necessary for the clear presentation of your work.  If you do not have access to such software, please let me know.

You must also have access to reference searching programs such as SciFinder, Web of Science and any other specialized searching software (such as ConQuest for single crystal data).  Your presentations and theses must be adequately referenced and databases such as those above will help to ensure that you do not miss anything important.  If your lab uses reference database software such as Endnote, you will find that such programs can save you a huge amount of time and effort when you are writing your thesis - the earlier you learn how to use it, the better.

If anyone would like additional help/training on any of the programs listed above, please let me know.

The current class list and supervisors [and departmental readers] is:

Bonelli - Dr. Loeb - [Dr. Stephan]

Chow - Dr. Cotter (Biology) - [Dr. Pandey]

Gueorguieva - Dr. Macdonald - [Dr. Loeb]

Jolicoeur - Dr. Loeb - [Dr. Johnson]

Keen - Dr. Johnson - [Dr. Stephan]

Lam - Dr. Mutus - [Dr. Gauld]

McCarthy - Dr. Pandey - [Dr. Vacratsis]

Oleynik - Dr. Gauld - [Dr. Ananvoranich]

Shah - Dr. Eichhorn - [Dr. Green]

Taylor - Dr. Gauld - [Dr. Loeb]

Widdifield - Dr. Schurko - [Dr. Macdonald]