Chemistry 4205 Research Project
This project is an in-depth investigation of the chemical and clinical aspects of a disease, condition, abnormality or disorder of your choice. The project consists of a paper and presentation, and will address the following questions:
1. What is the chemical basis of the disease?
2. What is the pharmaceutical treatment?
3. How do the disease and treatment affect the patient socially, emotionally, mentally, physically?
Each student will research a unique topic for this assignment. Examples of some appropriate topics are:
Depression
Parkinson's disease
Hypertension
Diabetes
HIV/AIDS
Your topic must be approved before you begin your research. A proposal (no more than one page) outlining the topic you plan to investigate is due on January 23, 2008.
You should consider the following questions as you research your topic:
What is the disease? What causes it?
Who is at risk?
What are the symptoms?
How is it diagnosed?
What is the pharmaceutical treatment?
How was the drug discovered?
How does the drug work?
How much does the drug cost?
What is the dosage? How long is the treatment administered?
How is the drug administered?
Does the treatment cure the disease?
What are the side effects? Why do they occur?
How are the side effects treated?
What other forms (non-pharmaceutical) of treatment exist, if any?
How is the patient affected physically?
What other effects does the disease have on the patient?
References/Sources
Most of your information should come from research articles and scientific journals. You must reference at least two recent articles from the primary chemical and medical literature. It may be necessary to make use of interlibrary loan or visit another college library to obtain many important literature references, so you need to plan accordingly.
Web sites should be cited (and used with caution).
You must use an interview as one of your sources. This allows you to explore other areas to get a complete picture of your topic. For example, you could interview a doctor with an appropriate specialty, contact a support group applicable to your topic, etc.
Each student will give a 15-minute presentation on his or her research in class March 10-24, 2008. You must use a PowerPoint presentation, which will be submitted to Dr. Clower via email no later than noon on the morning of your presentation. You will sign up for a presentation time on the sheet available in Dr. Clower’s office. The presentation should cover as much of your research as possible in the time allowed. The goals are to educate the class about the disease and treatment, and organize your research in preparation for writing your paper.
Presentations will be evaluated by the instructor and your classmates. Evaluations will assess both the quality and content of the presentation, and should include suggestions for the student to consider when writing the paper. You will be graded on the evaluations you write.
Quiz questions:
Each student will submit three quiz questions (to Dr. Clower) before class on the date of your presentation. These questions may be of any format (multiple choice, short answer, etc.) and should cover the material from your presentation. You must provide complete answers with your quiz questions. Selected questions from each presenter will be used as part of the quiz on March 26, 2008.
The final paper is due before 6:00 pm on April 28, 2008, and should incorporate comments and suggestions made by your classmates in their evaluations. The final paper should be at least 10-15 pages in length.
This project is worth 150 points, and will be calculated as follows:
Presentation /evaluations 50 points
Final paper 100 points