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CHEM 2211 Library Resources for Assignments

Assignment: Chemistry Mythbusting

How to ID and analyse chemistry myths in popular media:

The seven deadly sins of health and science reporting
 

Find a popular media story that propagates your chemistry myth to analyse

Try searching Google or MSN News or try limiting your search to the notorious source of poor information below:

Natural News [poor quality health and science reporting found here]
"When Natural News began, it was basically the blog and sales portal of anti-pharmaceutical activist Mike Adams. His basic premise has always been the Big Pharma conspiracy, the idea that the medical industry secretly wants to keep everyone sick, and conspires with the food industry to make people unhealthy, all driven by a massive plot of greed to sell poisonous medicines."

When you are evaluating information you can ask yourself some of the following questions about your source:

  • Accuracy - is the information correct? Does it line up with other sources? Are citations used? Has the information been referred?
  • Authority - Who wrote the information? What are their credentials? What institution are they affiliated with? Is contact information provided?
  • Purpose - What is source's purpose? Entertainment? Advertisement? Neutral information? Persuasion to a particular viewpoint?
  • Objectivity - Does it appear to be objective and impartial? Is the information biased? Are there political, ideological, cultural, religious, institutional or personal biases?
Which is the LEAST authoritative source? Why?
Source 1: 4 votes (12.5%)
Source 2: 23 votes (71.88%)
Source 3: 3 votes (9.38%)
Source 4: 2 votes (6.25%)
Total Votes: 32
What is the MOST authoritative source? Why?
Source 1: 3 votes (10%)
Source 2: 0 votes (0%)
Source 3: 6 votes (20%)
Source 4: 21 votes (70%)
Total Votes: 30

Find authoritative scientific information to "debunk" your myth

  • Find books (print and online), articles and more using the search box on the library homepage
     
  • Use Google to find (high quality, reputable & authoritative) websites
    •   Hint: try adding the word "skeptic" to your search if you are not having luck finding an article

Need more help with infographics? 

The MRU Undergraduate Research Guide has some Tips for Creating & Presenting Infographics

If you are interested in more infographic tools check out this blog post

Assignment: Chemistry at Home

Don't know what chemical to research? Start here!

Consider what products you use in your house. Look them up to find their ingredients and start your research from there. 

You can also check out the Consumer Product Information Database (cpid) 

  • Search by product name, chemical compound, or browse by product type to find out what chemicals are in it.

A few library books of interest:

  1. A consumer's dictionary of household, yard, and office chemicals : complete information about harmful and desirable chemicals found in everyday home products, yard poisons, and office polluters [link to print book - ebook unavailable]
     
  2. Why there's antifreeze in your toothpaste : the chemistry of household ingredients [online ebook version available - login with your MyMRU login to access it]

Find information about your chemical

Reminder: Your assignment requires you to find and use 3 website and 2 books  -at least one of which should be a (print or online) encyclopedia or reference book.

  • Background Sources  - Chemistry encyclopedias and reference books from the Library's collection; 
  • Websites - Find free and authoritative sources of chemistry information websites  (PubChem is a particularly good source on this page), or
  • Books / Videos - Chemistry books and videos from the Library's collection 

Use copyright friendly images in your presentation

  • It is best if you use your own images, public domain images or images licensed under a permissive license, such as Creative Commons licenses.
  • Always provide a citation so the source of the image is known.
  • To find copyright-friendly multimedia to use in your presentation try searching here

Find out more: Copyright guide for students

Presentations & Public Speaking:

Tips for Oral Presentations section of the MRU Undergraduate Research Guide contains some helpful advice on public speaking.

Paraphrasing, Summarizing & Citation

Remember to cite to give credit to original sources of information and ensure your instructor can find your original information source!  

You are allowed to choose your citation style of choice; once you have chosen one, remember to be consistent!

The Chemistry Citation Guide can be a good resource for citation for your labs and assignments and provides Chemistry-specific citation examples  in APA and ACS.

If you require more help with ACS try the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication website. 

To avoid plagiarism when paraphrasing / summarising remember these five important points:

1) Your paraphrased text should be significantly different from the original (i.e. don't just change a few words here and there)

2) You must change the structure of the sentence or paragraph you are paraphrasing, not just the words.

3) If you use anyone else's words verbatim (word for word) you need to put quotation marks around it.Warning: Quotations are rarely used in the sciences

4) Use proper citation methods (in this case use ACS) to give credit for the ideas, opinions or theories you are presenting.

5) Check that you have preserved the original meaning of the text in your paraphrased version.
 

Want more help or practice with paraphrasing?

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