Requirements for Research Independent Study
REQUIREMENTS FOR INDEPENDENT STUDY
Time Committment. A major enrolled in Research Independent Study is treated like a beginning graduate student in a faculty supervisor's research group. Specific requirements concerning the scheduling of time spent in laboratory, participation in research group conferences, and related activities are determined by the research director. However, the amount of time is determined by university guidelines. Chemistry 191B-194 (or equivalent courses in chemistry-related departments) are graded courses and, as such, they are expected to represent at least 25% of the student's academic load. Normally this means about 15 scheduled hours per week in the laboratory at times mutually agreed upon by the major and the research director.
FIRST SEMESTER OF INDEPENDENT STUDY
General Safety Training Required by the University. Prior to beginning laboratory work in the first semester of Independent Study, all majors participating in Independent Study must complete the university's general on-line safety training. Later the major is expected to receive specific safety instruction from the department in which the major is carrying out his/her research project. The following link takes you to the general on-line training area of the OESO web site.
From there, you select:
"All Other Training"
Enter your Unique ID number (it can be found on the back on your Duke Card or there is a search screen available if you do not know it).
Once logged in, you need to read and complete the brief quiz at the end of the following three selections:
"General Chemical Safety Orientation"
"Fire/Life Safety Orientation"
"Laboratory Safety Orientation"
If you will be working with or around lasers, then you should also complete the selection on "Laser Safety (non-clinical)".
If you are doing only computational work rather than work in a lab with chemicals, you can omit the "General Chemical Safety Orientation" unless the computer is located in or adjacent to a working chemical lab.
A permanent record is created when you pass the quizzes and are complete.
Chemistry Department Suggestions for the First Semester of Research Independent Study. Students enrolling in the first semester of independent study should be familiar with: introductions to the use of the chemical and biochemical literature, to keeping a research notebook, to scientific ethics, to safety in the research lab, and writing a progress report at the end of the semester. The easiest way to become familiar with all of these topics is to take Chemistry 295, Introduction to Research Independent Study (half-course, graded or satisfactory/unsatisfactory), concurrently with the first semester of independent study. Chemistry 295 is open to all majors, but is required only for majors who are candidates for an ACS-certified degree and/or are candidates for Graduation with Distinction in Chemistry.
Safety. Information on chemical lab safety can be obtained from the following sites.
*Emergency Information
*Duke Chemistry Laboratory Safety Manual
*SafetyInfoResearch Progress Report. At the end of each semester of research independent study, majors are required to submit a written progress report to Dr. Roy. See http://www.chem.duke.edu/undergraduates/research/ for contents.
FINAL SEMESTER OF INDEPENDENT STUDY
Optional Writing-in-the-Discipline (W) Credit for Senior Thesis
One of the university's graduation requirements is a competency in Writing which involves taking Writing 20 plus two courses coded W for Writing-in-the-Discipline. Most majors are aware that P-chem labs count as 0.5 cc for writing(W) each. Majors may be less familiar with the fact that they can also earn a maximum of an additional 1.0 cc W through participation in independent study.
The procedure for W-credit for Independent Study is as follows. Prior to the end of Drop/Add of your final semester of participation in independent study, you can go to the following URL: http://trinity.duke.edu/academic-requirements, then select "Independent Study (Research), W Coding (form included)" and print a form for requesting W-credit for one Independent Study course. Fill out the form, have your research mentor and DUS sign it, and deliver the completed form to room 011 Allen Building prior to the end of Drop/Add.
Requirements for completing independent study
Requirements for the final semester of independent study include a poster session and a scholarly research report. The easiest way to meet these requirements is to take Chemistry 496, Graduation with Distinction in Chemistry.
Whether a major takes Chemistry 496 or not, s/he must fulfill the following two requirements in order for independent study to count toward fulfilling requirements for a degree in chemistry:
1) Poster Session. The last Friday of the spring semester all students who are completing Independent Study projects (i.e., those students who do not intend to pursue their projects further in any future semester) will present their work at a Poster Session open to the general scientific public (suggestions for preparing and presenting a poster are available here).
2) Research Report (aka senior thesis or thesis). A final research report will be required of all students, with copies to be given to the Coordinator of Independent Study and to the student's research director. The rough draft of the paper, in the style of a technical paper in the scientific literature (guidelines for the preparation of the senior thesis are available here), will be due to the research director on the Monday before the Poster Session. The final copy, which incorporates changes suggested by the research director, will be due the Monday following the Poster Session. (Note: this report is both a department and university requirement and cannot be waived by the research director.)