IMPORTANT INFORMATION CONCERNING YEAR 3 WILL BE POSTED ON THE NOTICE BOARD AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE BRUNNER LECTURE THEATRE.
Course Codes | Staff Contacts | Tutorials | Practical Work | Diary Dates
Lecture Timetable | Assessment | Careers or further study
What to do if you have to miss classes or an exam | ... you are having difficulties
Notes:
Your attention is drawn to the important information on plagiarism and collusion in continuously assessed components.
It may be useful to be aware of the members of staff with specific responsibilities for Year 3 students. There is a more complete list of Staff on the Departmental Website (http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/).
Dr David L. Cooper (extn. 43532, dlc@liverpool.ac.uk, Room M06) is Coordinator for Year 3 students. He is responsible for checking on work and progress, and is available for day to day advice if you are having any problems with the course. You should let him know if you have to be absent for more than a few days because of illness, etc.
Dr Martin Volk (extn. 43317, m.volk@liverpool.ac.uk, Room 1.03 Surface Science Research Centre) is Examinations Secretary. You should consult him if you want further information about the examination procedures.
Dr Paul O'Neill is Director of the Chemistry and Pharmacology courses.
Mr P. Harrison is the person in the Careers Service with responsibility for chemistry students.
Prof. A.I. Cooper is Director of Research for the Department of Chemistry and has overall responsibility for research activity including postgraduate recruitment.
Prof. S. Holloway is Head of Department.
All students will be required to take two practical modules, CHEM365 and CHEM366, during the year. Assessment is continuous on the basis of experiments completed and satisfactorily written up (CHEM365) and on the basis of completion of a mini-project and report (CHEM366). Course CHEM365 consists of three four-week laboratory components in Inorganic, Organic and Physical Chemistry. All students must attend in the Physical Chemistry Teaching Laboratory (9.30, Thuesday, Week 1) for timetable assignment, allocation to laboratories, and for the organization of training in the use of advanced equipment such as NMR spectrometers.
As part of module CHEM366 it is planned to include small-group exercises. In addition, everybody will give a short talk on their mini-project towards the end of the project period. This is to give you practice at standing up and speaking in front of an audience (very important interview practice!). For these talks, pens and transparencies for overhead projection can be borrowed from the Year 3 Laboratory (2.36). They must be returned immediately after use. ATTENDANCE AT ALL THESE TALKS IS COMPULSORY
Safety in the Laboratory: It is very important to obey safety instructions laid down by the Department when doing practical work. In particular, never be tempted to carry out practical work without supervision in the laboratory. Instruction in safety matters will be included in CHEM365.
During the year you have to produce one substantial piece of written work; in the last two weeks of the Second Semester you must submit a report on your mini-project. This must be produced on a word processor. It will be assessed for chemical content and presentation and the assessment, together with your laboratory work record and the oral presentation, will form the basis of the mark given for the practical unit CHEM366. There are Departmental computers and other word processors are available in the CAL room and in the University computer classrooms. The deadline for handing in the final version of the report, which must be strictly adhered to, is the last day of the Spring term.
The Chemistry Department has an extensive programme of visits by outside speakers. Research meetings are usually held on Wednesday afternoons in the Brunner Theatre: inorganic/physical at 3 p.m. and organic at 4.15 p.m. These give you the opportunity to learn about recent research and you are expected to attend meetings in your subject area. The Royal Society of Chemistry and ChemSoc also hold regular meetings, normally also on Wednesdays.
Term & Semester dates are listed here.
26 September 2005: Start of First Semester lectures and practical work.
1pm, Monday 26th September 2005: "Introduction to Year 3" in the Muspratt Lecture Theatre.
1pm, Tuesday 27th September 2005: Careers talk in the Gossage Lecture Theatre.
12 December 2005: Final version of Semester 1 Exam Timetables available.
Vacation (17 December 2005 - 08 January 2006): Revision for First Semester examinations.
09 January 2006: First Semester examinations begin.
20 January 2006: First Semester examinations end.
20 January 2006: End of First Semester.
23 January 2006: Start of Second Semester lectures and practical work.
Vacation (1 April 2006 - 23 April 2006): Revision for second Semester examinations.
March/April (tba): Deadline for handing in mini-project reports (CHEM366).
10 April 2006: Final version of Semester 2 Exam Timetables available.
08 May 2006: Second Semester examinations begin.
19 May 2006: Second Semester examinations end.
09 June 2006: End of Second Semester.
14 June 2006: Degree results for BSc students.
[See separate documents for full details]
Written examinations are held at the end of each Semester. Each lecture module will be examined in a three-hour examination. Past exam papers are available. Lecturers may also be able to supply practice questions for you to attempt.
For all students your second year mark is also included in the final assessment total. Further information about various aspects of the assessment will be given during the year; you can also consult Dr Martin Volk.
After all the written papers have been marked the external examiners will come to the Department in early June and, together with the staff, assess the scripts from the examinations in both Semesters.
THERE ARE NO SEPTEMBER RESIT EXAMINATIONS FOR YEAR 3 COURSES
Once the results are known, the Head of the Department of Chemistry, Prof. S. Holloway, and the Director of Research, Prof. A.I. Cooper, will want to talk to you about your future career. [At this time, MChem students will also be interviewed and will be assigned research projects to be undertaken in Year 4.] Those of you finishing your degree course at the end of the session should have made plans by this stage. Mr P. Harrison will give you advice throughout the year, starting with a talk early in the term (1pm, Tuesday 27 September 2005 in the Gossage). All students should attend. He will explain the operation of the "milk round" interviews and other career activities.
If you are planning to seek employment it is very important to prepare yourself properly for interviews. There is a video "Having an interview" available in the Year 3 Laboratory. You will also need a good CV which Mr P. Harrison, your supervisor or Dr David L. Cooper will be pleased to advise you on. Our experience in recent years has been that many people leave it too late to apply for potential jobs and so miss out on good opportunities.
The Department offers opportunities for a wide range of postgraduate work at both Masters and Doctoral level. The Department is moving to a system in which only students with a Masters degree are admitted to the Ph.D. programme. This year, however, students with a good BSc degree (Class 1) will still be eligible for consideration, although strong preference will be given to applicants with a Masters degree. In order to be in a position to compete with well-qualified applicants (e.g. ones having Masters degrees) from other universities, it is important that BSc students signal their desire to stay on as early as possible. They should complete an application form (obtainable from Prof. Holloways secretary) at the earliest opportunity and certainly before Christmas. More detailed information about postgraduate opportunities will be made available during the first weeks of the First Semester. Interested students will be provided with copies of the Departmental Research Brochure and should consult the Departmental Website (http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/), but they will be encouraged to talk to members of the academic staff to explore possibilities and to make provisional arrangements. Final decisions on the allocation of postgraduate studentships are usually made during the two weeks immediately following the publication of the provisional degree results.
MAKE PLANS FOR YOUR FUTURE EARLY AND DO NOT IGNORE INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING STAYING ON FOR POSTGRADUATE WORK
You are expected to attend all lectures in the units detailed above, to do the relevant set work, to attend tutorials and oral presentations, and to attend regularly in the laboratory. If you are unable to do any of these because of illness or for other reasons you must follow these Absence Guidelines. Make sure you obtain a medical certificate from your GP or the hospital, as appropriate. The University's procedures on "Mitigating Circumstances in Relation to Performance in Assessments and Examinations" (and the corresponding Application Form) are available here. There should also be copies of the forms in the Undergraduate Office.
Any student who misses an examination or part of an examination due to illness or other exceptional circumstances, or whose performance was impaired by illness or other exceptional circumstances, should make relevant information available immediately to the Departmental Examinations Representative, Dr Martin Volk. The University's procedures on "Mitigating Circumstances in Relation to Performance in Assessments and Examinations" (and the corresponding Application Form) are available here. Students must report any such circumstances no later than one week before the meeting of the Board of Examiners at which the results of the assessments concerned will be considered.
If you feel that you are not coping with any part of the year's work, you should discuss the matter as soon as possible first with the Module Leader and then with the Year Coordinator (Dr David L. Cooper).