Chemistry 142, Mixon
Clark College
Current events/Annotated bibliography assignment
Chemistry 142
Winter, 2011
1. From the popular press, pick a current events/scientific article that presents
an aspect of science as the central element.
The article can come from any source that you wish. It is from this article that
you will research the “topic” that you have chosen. If you are interested in
global warming, your article can be from a yahoo article that you find about
global warming, or you can journey to Border’s and buy Scientific American
and use an article from that magazine.
I would like you to print out the article that you will be basing your research
off of and I would like you to write a brief summary of at least 3 key points
that you will be thinking about when researching your topic.
For example: if you are researching global warming, you find your article on
yahoo and then assess the article. It is then that you decide that you would
like to focus on
1.) what are the main causes of global warming that scientists have come
up with
2.) who is contributing most to those causes
3.) what has been done to lessen the causes of global warming
4.) what is the fate of the planet if said causes are not controlled in some
manner
Obviously what I have written above is very very very general. Hopefully from
this, you can glean an idea of what is expected. 
A copy of your article and at least 3 key points is due on January 18th, by 4
p.m. You will receive topic approval by Thursday, January 20th. If your topic
is approved, continue onto step 2. If your topic is not approved, see me to
determine what changes need to be made!
2. Compile a list of sources.
Now that you have your topic, imagine that you are embarking upon an
extensive research project in which you wish to learn more about the
chemistry (or science!) discussed in the article that you picked. While you will
not be embarking upon an extensive research project this term (meaning you
will not write any sort of “paper” from the research), you will be responsible
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Annotated Bibliography Assignment(SB/AEM)
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Chemistry 142, Mixon
Clark College
for consulting sources, evaluating their relevance and value for such a project,
and using them to write an annotated bibliography.
You would, of course, start by examining a wide range of sources. You may
use your text to help you narrow your ideas and begin to find resources.
Resources may include web pages, articles in on-line databases, encyclopedia
entries, textbooks, and articles in scientific journals. You must distinguish
articles in on-line databases from web pages (our trip to the library/in-class
discussion will help you with this!). For example, an article from the
EBSCOHost database would not count as a web page source, but the text
from the Environmental Protection Agency web page would count as a web
source. Although you may discover exceptions to this rule, articles in on-line
databases tend to be more reliable than web pages.
After examining a variety of sources, select the eight (8) resources most likely
to help you in the completion of this assignment, and create a Reference List
in using the American Chemical Society (ACS) citation style. You will not be
allowed to use MLA or APA or any other citation style for this assignment.
Citations MUST be in ACS format. Before each reference, you MUST write
the type of reference that you believe it to be. This is done for 2 reasons.
Number 1: it helps ME figure out what the reference is – therefore, I can look
in the style guide and see if you referenced it appropriately! Number 2 – it
helps YOU know what the reference is so YOU can look in the style guide
and reference it appropriately.
Example:
Type of reference: article from an online journal
Schofield, M.H.; Halpern, J. Kinetics and Mechanism of Decomposition of Nickel
Benzyl Complexes and Determination of Nickel-Benzyl Bond Dissociation Energies.
Inorg. Chim. Acta [online] 2003, 345(1), 353-358.
You can find help with the ACS style at these sites:
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/content/dam/psul/up/pams/documents/Q
uickGuideACS.pdf
http://www.williams.edu/library/citing/styles/acs.php
http://chemistry.library.wisc.edu/writing/acs-style-guidelines.html#otheracs-style-sites
Your list of 8 references in ACS format are due on February 17th by 4 p.m.
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Annotated Bibliography Assignment(SB/AEM)
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Chemistry 142, Mixon
Clark College
I will look over this list and give you feedback on your citations. You will
have the ability to correct your citations TWO TIMES at no penalty. (initial
submission, first redo, second redo). However, if the citations are
NOT/NEVER corrected, you will lose points on this portion of the
assignment. If your citations are STILL not correct, you may make
corrections still for your final 4 citations used in the annotation (you will
WANT TO DO THIS) but you will lose credit for not having your 8 citations
correct
3. Write an annotated bibliography for your best research materials.
From your list of 8 potential sources, pick the best/most relevant/most
credible/most informative four (4) sources and compile an annotated
bibliography for those sources.
 You may use no more than one (1) web page as a source and it MAY
NOT be a Wikipedia reference.
 Only one (1) encyclopedia may be used, and then only if it has
chemistry information that is truly relevant. (e.g. if you do a current
events article on acid rain in the Columbia river gorge, the
encyclopedia reference should be about the acid rain, NOT the gorge!)
You have already cited your sources using the ACS style so now you are
ready to craft annotations. An example of an annotated bibliography entry
may be found at the end of this handout. In addition, The Cannell Library
provides an excellent handout about writing an annotated bibliography. This
handout will be your primary guide as you write your annotations.
http://www.clark.edu/Library/Instruction/how_do_i.html
The information needed for this assignment can be found under the Research
tab, and other helpful information is under the Citing/Plagiarism tab. The
emphasis is on finding accurate, reliable sources and providing a clear
summary and evaluation for each source.
Final 4 ACS style references and annotations are due on March 10th by 4 p.m.
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Annotated Bibliography Assignment(SB/AEM)
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Chemistry 142, Mixon
Clark College
Reminder of Important Dates:
January 18th: Hard copy of article due. Staple to the front of
the article are your type-written 3 points you will be
focusing on.
By January 20th: Topic will be approved/denied (check your
email over the weekend!).
February 17th: List of 8 sources, in ACS format, due.
March 10th: Annotated bibliography for 4 best sources due.
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Annotated Bibliography Assignment(SB/AEM)
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Chemistry 142, Mixon
Clark College
Sample annotated bibliography entry: This might be an entry written by someone
whose topic is semiconductor chemistry. This annotation is an example. Your
annotations should NOT be any longer than this! More examples are on the
library website under the “How Do I” link given above from the Cannell Library.
**note: annotations include the following: brief summary of the source.
Summary of content that you would get from the source that relates back to the
3-4 points that you stated you were researching.
Statements about
validity/credibility of source (why it is a good source AND how you know this)
as well as statements about the credibility of the source/author. Note also, no
personal pronouns are used in annotations.
The New Chemistry; Hall, Nina, ed.; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge,
2000.
This book includes seventeen chapters on a variety of contemporary chemistry
topics, each written by an expert in the subfield discussed. Two chapters address
the topic of semiconductors. The first, Chapter 13, titled “Advanced Materials,”
written by Paul Calvert, surveys the chemical make-up and applications of a
variety of new materials, including semiconductors, liquid crystals, and
ceramics. Dr. Calvert has earned a PhD in semiconductor research and has over
30 years experience in the field of semiconductors. The section in this chapter
that introduces the concept of bands and band gaps is especially useful for
understanding the basic operation of a semiconductor. Chapter 14, titled
“Molecular Electronics,” written by Bob Munn, contrasts conductors with
semiconductors and discusses the properties of some organic materials that
allow them to be used as semiconductors. In the second half of the chapter,
Munn provides quite a bit more detail about the organic materials than is easily
accessible to a student with a general chemistry background. Dr Munn earned
his PhD in organic chemistry and has been studying semiconductors and organic
materials for 45 years. He has published 17 papers on those topics. This text is
an excellent resource for someone with an undergraduate science background,
although close reading, and perhaps use of a more basic reference text may be
required to understand all of the finer points.
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