Guidelines for Chem 111 Formal Report

(Pages 67-69 in the Chem 111 Student Packet)

The purpose of this paper is to convey the information from your

Experiment 10 The Chemistry of Natural Waters lab in a clear and
concise manner. To effectively achieve this, consider these three
aspects:
1. Content what information are you trying to convey and what
are the implications of your data?

2. Structure how is the information organized within the paper,

is it easy to follow and logical?
3. Style the way in which the content is presented: appearance
of data and figures; language and sentence structure;
aesthetics.
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Your Paper Should Contain the Following Sections:

1.

Title Page (5 points)

2.

Introduction (20 points) ~ 2 pages long

3.

Procedure (10 points) ~ 1 page long

4.

Results (20 points) ~ 2 pages long

5.

Discussion (25 points) ~ 2 pages long

6.

Conclusions (5 points) ~ 0.5 pages long

7.

References (10 points) ~ 1 page long

8.

Miscellaneous (5 points)

The point values tell you the relative importance of each section.
~ 10 pages total
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Title Page (5 points)

Name, date, title, course, section, group
members, and TA.

Introduction (20 points)

This section should be written at the level that addresses
someone with an intermediate level of chemistry, but without a
background in the specific topics being addressed.

What is water hardness?

Why is it important?
How do we measure water hardness?
Provide a brief summary of EDTA and AA methods, how they work,
what is different about them, why two separate methods are used.
Information about water softening if applicable to your project.
What is your project about? What samples are involved?
What is your hypothesis? What is the basis for it? (References)
Note: the best introductions make effective use of outside references.

Procedure (10 points)

Cite PSU Chemtrek, provide explicit comments
regarding how is was used. Was it followed
exactly, or were there deviations from the
published procedure?

Give a brief description of the procedure. The

goal is to enable the reader to get the gist of the
experimental details so that he/she can follow
the main points of your paper without obtaining
a copy of PSU Chemtrek.
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Procedure (10 points)

The following information should be given for the
water samples of your group:

The person who ran the sample (with a reference)

The type of water
The origin (location) of the water
If the sample was diluted for AA
If the sample was diluted for EDTA

State whether any samples were filtered.

Bring up the kind of commercial water-conditioning
agent that was used.
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Results (20 points)

Cite all lab notebooks.
Present data in clear tables and graphs. Number
each table and graph and use a descriptive title.
Include two AA calibration graphs (one for Ca and one
for Mg).

Include sample calculations for each unique

calculation using your data.
Keep these clear and easy to follow.
Label each calculation and identify each variable.

Include water softening data.

Typical Student Table:

Sample

Observation

Distilled

Nothing

1 x 10-3 M CaCl2

White ring

Bills

White ring

Marys

White ring

Sues

White ring

Johns

White ring

A More Professional Table:

Table 1. Comparison of TDS residue after water evaporation from one drop of sample
Sample

Observation

Distilled Water5

No residue

1 x 10-3 M CaCl2 (reference) 5

Faint ring

Brita water6

Visible ring, slightly less compared to

reference

Fountain water7

Similar to reference

PSU tap water8

Heavier ring compared to reference

Nestle bottle water9

Faint ring compared to reference

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Do not use (0,0) as

a data point!

Absorbance Value at 422.7 nm

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3

y = 0.00937x + 0.01323
R = 0.99844

0.2
0.1
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Calcium Concentration (ppm)

Figure 1: Calibration of Ca2+ for AA analysis of water hardness for Calcium content,
measured at 422.7 nm

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Discussion (25 points)

This section should evaluate the data, offering explanations for why the
results came out the way they did. This is the heart of the report. Note: There
is nothing wrong with an incorrect hypothesis. It actually makes for an
interesting report, but you must explain why it was incorrect if this is the
case.
Explain your results.
How do these relate to your hypothesis?
Compare the data from the different techniques.
Provide some consideration of accuracy and precision. Which technique is
more accurate, which is more precise, and how do you know?
Compare your data to outside sources. For example, if you used tap water,
what does the local water authority say about the source of local water,
and how it is treated?
The best Discussion Sections make effective use of outside references.

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Compare data from the two

techniques
What does EDTA measure?
The total divalent cation concentration all 2+ ions in
solution.
What other divalent cations can be present in your sample?
Can you determine this based on the location from which
you obtained your water?

What does AA measure?

Only the cations you are specifically interested in (you shine a
light of a specific wavelength that only one type of ion in
your sample will absorb).

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Precision of EDTA
Precision is how close measurements of the same sample
are to one another. Need multiple measurements.
Did you reach the endpoint with the same number of EDTA
drops each time you performed a duplicate analysis?
Use calculation in Q6 to discuss how off the value would
be if you were off by one drop.
Keep in mind that if you used a diluted sample, this value gets
amplified. For example, if you used a 1:1 dilution, your value would
be multiplied by 2 (e.g. 20 ppm CaCO3 would become 40 ppm
CaCO3).

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Accuracy of EDTA
Accuracy is how close the measurement is to the actual
value.
You should discuss this by bringing in the percent errors
you calculated from Q4 (you should have calculated the
% errors for both the measurement in Q2 and the
measurement in Q3).
These percent errors will give you an estimate of how
much error you can expect in your water hardness values
determined by EDTA. This is why it is important to discuss
Section C in your report.
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Accuracy of AA
This can be discussed by bringing in the check standards
column of your AA calibration data.
The check standards tell you how close the AA reading is to
the actual concentration.
You can calculate the % error for each check standard:
If the actual concentration is 1.000
ppm and the check standard reads
1.06 ppm, then the error is 0.06 ppm.

% error =

= 6%

Do this for all concentrations for Mg

and Ca.
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Conclusions (5 points)
Summarize and emphasize your main findings.
You may repeat your values and state whether
you agreed or disagreed with your original
hypothesis.
You will repeat your most important points for
emphasis. New information should not be
presented in this section.

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References (10 points)

Cite your lab notebook, your partners lab notebooks, PSU
Chemtrek, and your chemistry lecture text (if used).
You must have a minimum of 6 unbiased outside sources (i.e.,
other than those listed above).
Commercial websites may be used, but they DO NOT count
towards the minimum of 6 unbiased outside sources. All .edu,
.gov, .org sites will be considered to be unbiased sources for
the purpose of this paper.
You must have at least 1 source that is a book.
Be sure to cite your references within your paper.
You must explain your information from referenced sources in
your own words. Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
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References
The method used for referencing in chemical journals is given below.
Cite references IN THE TEXT, either with a superscript1 or
parenthetically (2).
Any information that is not common knowledge should be
referenced.
The first reference that comes up in your paper should be listed as
number one. Additional references should be consecutively
numbered throughout your paper.
List the references at the end of your paper, in a separate section in
numerical order.
See your Student Packet (pg. 69) for examples of how to cite a book
and journal article, with appropriate abbreviations and punctuations.
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Miscellaneous (5 points)
Your report should be typed, and any graphs should be done in Excel
or some other graphing program.
Be sure to proofread, staple, number pages, double space, label all
sections of the paper (Introduction, Procedure, etc.).
Note: third person, past tense, passive voice (3ppp) is a style that is
often used in scientific writing e.g., the temperature was
measured. This is done to convey the sense that it shouldnt matter
who recorded the data, the values should come out the same. But,
for the purposes of this paper, 3ppp is not required. You may write
in first person if you wish. The emphasis will be on clear and
accurate presentation of your data.

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Some Final Comments

This assignment is a challenging one for most students. You
should get started early, and consult your TA, or other Chem
111 TAs in the Chemistry Resource Room (rm. 211 Whitmore)
as you work through each stage of this project.
When you write your paper, you should aim for quality, not
quantity. There is no minimum page requirement. A short
well-written paper that includes all required information is
better than a long, redundant paper that has no content. A
typical paper is around 10 pages long.
Reports will be graded on a holistic basis i.e., the final
grade will be based primarily on the overall quality of the
report, as opposed to deducting points for individual mistakes.
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Plagiarism is Academic Dishonesty

Deliberate plagiarism
Copying of others data
Copying of others words/not stating things in your own words
Presenting others work as your own

Accidental plagiarism
Reworking words, data, or ideas without proper reference
Failure to reference illustrations or pictures

You can avoid plagiarism

If in doubt - reference
Do not send digital copies of your work to others

Papers will be submitted to Turnitin

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Some Final Comments

If you want your TA to review your report, you can submit it to
him/her NO LATER THAN March 30th or 31st.
The final paper is due during your regularly scheduled lab
class on April 6th or 7th. You must submit a hard copy.
You will also submit your paper to Turnitin.com. We will
provide instructions on how to do this at a later time.
Be aware there is a Chem 110 exam on Monday April 6th! Plan
accordingly.
Reports turned in late will lose 5% per day.

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