CHEM 242 (All Sections)- Organic Chemistry II Laboratory Syllabus

Fall Semester 2017 (8/25/17 version)

INSTRUCTOR CONTACT INFORMATION

Instructor: Lee Friedman Office Hours: W from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00

CHEM 1130B p.m. and Th from 9:00 a.m.
(301) 405-1846 to 11:00 or if I am in or by
laf2h@umd.edu appointment

Please include your section number and the name of your T.A. with all email
messages. Add my e-mail address to your whitelist/list of preferred senders.
If I am on your whitelist, messages from me will not be blocked. This is
particularly important if your umd address automatically forwards to a free
e-mail account (like gmail, yahoo or hotmail).

NOTE: Anything in this syllabus regarding course policies and

procedures supersedes anything that your TA says to the contrary.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Class Hours: The CHEM 242 laboratory consists of one three-hour

laboratory meeting per week.
While CHEM 242 is a stand-alone course and you will receive a separate
grade for it, this course is related to CHEM 241, Organic Chemistry II, the
lecture course.
Pre-requisite: The pre-requisite for CHEM 242 is CHEM231 and CHEM232
or their equivalent. The corequisite course is CHEM241.
The laboratory exercises in CHEM242, for the most part, are designed to
complement the reactions and mechanisms that you are learning in
CHEM241. There will also be a workshop involving determination of
structures using NMR spectroscopy as well as a lab in which you are given
an unknown solid or liquid, and you must use chemical tests as well as
spectroscopic information to elucidate the structure.

MATERIALS

CHEM242 Organic Chemistry II Lab Manual 2017-18; Hayden-McNeil;

ISBN 978-0-7380-9857-9
Recommended: Making the Connection: A How-To Guide for Organic
Chemistry Lab Techniques, 3rd Edition by Anne B. Padias; Hayden-McNeil;
ISBN: 978-0-738-07436-8
 Laboratory Notebook: a laboratory notebook with all pages secured;
spiral notebooks and three-ring binders are not acceptable. A laboratory
notebook with carbonless copies will work best.
Safety goggles or safety glasses
One laboratory coat
One Master lock, stamped CHEM

Four Chemistry Deposit Cards [4 breakage cards required, $5.00 each]

Ink pen to make entries in your lab notebook and lab manual

CANVAS/ELMS Canvas/ELMS is the online source of information for

CHEM242

Canvas/ELMS is accessed through http://www.elms.umd.edu

The login and password to Canvas/ELMS is the same as to access your
university e-mail account.
CHEM242 announcements will be posted on Canvas/ELMS. You should
configure your Canvas/ELMS account so that you are immediately notified
of any announcements that are posted.
All course documents, such as the syllabus, lab makeup exam schedule,
post lab questions, and any supplemental material will be posted on
Canvas/ELMS.
The CHEM242 gradebook will also be maintained on Canvas/ELMS.

ATTENDANCE POLICIES

Students may only enter the lab when the TA is present.

All students are required to attend and be punctual for all scheduled
laboratory sessions.
You are allowed to be absent from and/or leave uncompleted up to three
of the 11 scheduled labs and still remain in CHEM242 during this
semester.
Regardless of the reasons, if you are absent from and/or leave
uncompleted more than three of the scheduled experiments, you will fail
CHEM242.
Be punctual for all scheduled lab meetings. Lab activities will begin at the
scheduled start time. Students who arrive more than 20 minutes after the
scheduled start time will not be allowed into the lab.
If after you arrive at the laboratory and a teaching assistant, faculty
member, or Dr. Friedman dismisses or excuses you because of a safety
violation and you arrive back at the lab more than 20 minutes after the
scheduled start time for your section, you will not be allowed to do that
days lab.
To complete an exercise, you must (a) attend your scheduled laboratory
section (b) perform the assigned laboratory work (c) complete out the lab

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 worksheet and answer all post-lab questions; and (d) turn in your lab
report, which is based upon the lab work you performed this term as you
enter the lab at the next scheduled lab, which is usually the following
week.
You are allowed to attend only the laboratory section in which you are
registered. If you are absent from one of the scheduled experiments, you
are not allowed to make it up in a different section as you are not
permitted to attend a lab section in which you are not registered.
A student who misses a lab for a University approved reason (e.g. illness,
religious observance, participation in another University sanctioned activity,
death in the family, court appearance or jury duty, military duty, etc.) may
make up a grade for that lab by taking a make-up exam at the scheduled
time, as described on the ELMS page.
If a student knows s/he will miss a lab for religious observance, a
University sponsored activity, etc. it is his/her responsibility to notify
his/her TA BEFORE the absence, and to apply for the make-up exam.
If the University closes for inclement weather, or the department cancels a lab
for some reason, failure to perform that lab will not count against students
absence limit and they will not be required to take a make-up exam to
earn credit for it; rather, the missing grade will be replaced with an average
of the other lab grades. Students will be responsible for the material of
the missed exercise on any exams that are given.

IMPORTANT DATES

August 28 First day of the semester

September 5* First day of labs
September 11 Last day for schedule adjustment
November 6 Last day to W
December 8 Last day of labs
December 13 Lab final exam (7:30 8:20 p.m.;
location TBA/TBD)
*
Consult the schedule and ELMS page regarding Monday sections

LABORATORY PREPARATION

To adequately prepare for each lab, you should read the background
material from the textbook prior to coming to the lab.
You will also write out a brief/bulleted procedure for the experiment that
you will be performing so that you dont have to hunt through the text for
what to do next. A copy of this pre-lab will be handed into your TA at
the beginning of the associated lab. It will be worth 2 points towards
your experiment grade.

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 You will be given a brief, one question written pre-lab quiz at the
beginning of each lab period. This quiz will be worth 1 point towards your
experiment grade.
At the beginning of the day, after taking the quiz, your TA will give a brief
lecture pointing out experimental, waste, and safety considerations.

PRE-LAB QUIZZES

Pre-lab quizzes will be handled differently than in previous semesters.

There will be two components to your pre-lab quiz.

One will be a one-question quiz that will take place upon your arrival to
lab. You will get 2 minutes for this one quiz question.
There will be a three-point pre-lab quiz that will be administered and
graded through the course ELMS page.
Each online quiz will be available at 12:05 a.m. the Monday of the week
before the first week that a lab is done or started, and the unavailable
date will be at 11:55 p.m. of the Sunday before the first Monday that a
lab is done or started. These dates apply to all sections.
For example, if the first day of a lab is Monday, April 15th, the first day
that the quiz will be available will be Monday, April 8th it will close at
11:55 p.m. on Sunday, April 14th.
The online pre-lab quiz is primarily geared towards ensuring that you
have done and paid attention to the background reading and lab
procedure from the lab text.
You will get 10 minutes to complete three multiple choice questions, each
of which is worth one point.
Even if you miss a lab, you are responsible for completing the online pre-
lab quiz.

COURSE GRADES

The grade for each of the labs will be based upon the pre-lab quiz (both
electronic and in-lab), written lab report, and the post-lab questions. Each
lab is worth a total of 30 points (this includes the online quiz)with the
exception of the NMR workshop, which is worth 40 points, and the
unknown lab, which is worth 25 points. NO laboratory grade will be
dropped.
There will be one 20 point syllabus quiz that must be completed within
the first two weeks of the semester.
There will be one mid-term and one final exam, each of which is worth 75
points.
There will be a practical during the second to last full week of the
semester that is worth 50 points.

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 The final course grade in CHEM 242 will be based upon the following:

Syllabus Quiz 20 points

NMR workshop 40 points
Unknown lab 25 points
7 lab reports (30 points each) 210 points
1 lab mid-term exam 75 points
1 lab practical 50 points
1 lab final exam 75 points
Course total 495 points

The University has a webpage explaining your rights as a student as to

how they are covered by University policies. The page is
http://www.ugst.umd.edu/courserelatedpolicies.html.
Please be sure to read the section on Student Conduct. This syllabus,
particularly at the end, has specific information about what is allowed
in regards to the Code of Student Conduct.
I will use +/- grading in this course. The weighting of exams versus
other assessments is described in the table above.

LABORATORY ASSIGNMENTS AND REPORTS

Each student in CHEM 242 lab is required to submit a copy of his/her

prelab for the days experiment upon entering the lab.
Each student in CHEM 242 lab is also required to submit a copy of his/her
laboratory notebook pages, with all entries made in ink, to the TA before
leaving the lab. These data and observations [and only these data and
observations] personally collected during the current lab are to be
used in writing the final lab report.
Associated post-lab questions will be assigned prior to the lab reports
due date. These post-lab questions will be available on ELMS. All
students are required to turn in a lab report for each of the scheduled
labs this semester.
Each lab report must be written on the report sheet available on the ELMS
site. Supporting calculations and your responses to the post-lab questions
may be completed in on notebook paper.
All lab reports and the associated post-lab questions are to be written in
ink. If any part of a lab report and/or its associated post-lab questions is
written in pencil, that lab report may not be regraded. This includes
reports written in-part or totally in pencil then overwritten in ink.
If any part of a lab report and/or its associated post-lab questions is
obscured by using white out or any one of its equivalents, that lab report
will not be regraded under any circumstances.

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 Once a lab report has been submitted to the teaching assistant, the
report cannot be returned to the student for further reconsideration,
reevaluation, or any sort of alteration. If a student removes his or her lab
report after turning it in, the student will receive a grade of incomplete
[No Grade for purposes of calculating final course grades] for that lab.
The student will not be allowed to sign up for and/or take that labs
makeup exam, that lab will count as one of the three
missed/uncompleted labs that a student is allowed and still remain in the
course, and the student will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct
as this is considering cheating since working on a report after it is
submitted is unauthorized.
If a student is absent from lab on the day that a lab report is due, that
student is required to turn the late lab report at the following lab period
s/he attends.
The graded lab report will only be returned to the individual who
submitted it.
If a lab cannot meet for any reason beyond the students control [for
example, the university closes due to snow], the lab report originally due
that day must be turned in with the aforementioned absentee/late lab
report policy (i.e. at the next lab period that the student attends). If the
university closes after the scheduled start time of the lab, you are still
required to have turned in your lab report due that day as you entered
the lab.
All students are required to write each of their lab reports individually
based upon lab work actually performed this semester. You should treat
the writing of a lab report, including the answering of the post-lab
questions, as a take-home examination.

FORGOTTEN LAB REPORTS

Forgotten lab reports will not be accepted under any conditions.

LAB REPORT REGRADES

Graded lab reports will be returned to the students at the next lab after
they were submitted.
If you feel that your lab report was not properly graded for some reason,
consult your lab TA first your lab TA is allowed to perform regrades in
accordance with the regulations below. If your lab TA cannot or will not
resolve the problem to your satisfaction, you can submit the report to Dr.
Friedman for a regrade. If you submit a lab report for a regrade, you
must follow and be aware of these guidelines.

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 #1. You must submit the original lab report within one week after having
it returned to you. Any lab reports submitted after this one-week time
period will not be re-graded.
#2. Only lab reports and post-lab questions written totally in ink may be
considered for a regrade. A lab report and lab questions written totally or
in part [even the smallest part] in pencil may not be accepted for a
regrade. If a lab report is written in pencil then overwritten in ink [in part
or totally] it is not eligible to be regraded.
#3. If any part of a lab report and/or its associated post-lab questions is
obscured by using white out or any one of its equivalents, that lab report
will not be regraded under any circumstances.
#4. You must submit the lab report, the corresponding lab notebook data
sheet(s), the respective pre-lab quiz, and the post-lab question
responses.
#5. You must attach a separate sheet of paper stating what you believe
to be the problem with the original grading of the lab report and why you
want it re-graded. If you write on the original graded report, it will not
be regraded.
#6. Dr. Friedman or your TA may opt to regrade the entire lab report,
including the post-lab questions.
#7. As the result of a regrade, the score on the lab report can remain
unchanged from the original score, or it can increase or it can decrease
with respect to the original score.
#8. Lab regrades are final. There will be no regrades of a regraded lab
report.

MATH ERRORS

If there is a discrepancy between the overall grade for a lab and the
grades for the individual components [the pre-lab quiz, notebook pages,
report sheet, and the post-lab questions], bring this to the attention of
your lab TA or Dr. Friedman. You are expected to bring these math errors
to our attention within one week after the graded lab report is returned.
In these cases, the report will not be regraded but the grade recorded will
be corrected to reflect the correct actual score.

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES GENERAL INFORMATION

Students are required to have the following items to be admitted to the lab
at check-in and for each subsequent lab session:

A current edition laboratory manual or a written or typed sheet (pre-lab

see below) detailing the steps to be performed for the days experiment.

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 A bound laboratory notebook, with alternating carbon-copy tear out
pages; carbon paper if it is not provided with the laboratory notebook
A combination lock stamped CHEM to secure your lab drawer; they are
available at the University Book Center. No other type of lock is
permitted any other type of lock may be cut off your drawer. You will
be held financially responsible for the contents of the drawer while the
drawer remains unlocked.
Acceptable safety goggles
A lab coat
Shoes that cover the tops of the feet; sandals and open-toed shoes are
unacceptable; high heels are strongly discouraged.
Four (4) Chemistry Department breakage cards, which are available at
the cash registers at the University Book Center
A ball-point pen
A calculator
A brief pre-lab. This should be written in your lab notebook using carbon
copy paper prior to coming to lab. You will hand this in prior to doing the
days experiment.

LAB SAFETY

During the check-in process, students are expected to sign and submit a
Safety Contract and Policies and Procedures document (both on ELMS)
indicating that they have read, understood, and agree to follow the safety
rules and policies for the course.
All students must wear safety goggles or approved safety glasses any
time any student is either working on the experiment or cleaning up.
Wearing safety goggles means that the goggles are worn over the eyes or
over glasses. Wearing goggles does not mean on the forehead or on
top of the head or dangling from the neck.
If a student is observed even once not wearing his or her goggles over
the eyes, that student may be dismissed from the lab, even during the
first lab of the semester.
Students must wear their lab coat while in the laboratory performing
experiments.
Students must wear appropriate shoes in the laboratory. Sandals and
open-toed shoes are unacceptable; high heels are strongly discouraged.
Any act of unsafe behavior, including failure to wear safety goggles
whenever anyone is working in the lab, may result in dismissal from the
lab.
Students dismissed from the lab for safety violations or disruptive
behavior will not be eligible to take the make-up exam and can earn no
credit for that lab.

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 In any case, dismissal from the lab counts toward the limit of three
missed and/or uncompleted labs.

MORE ABOUT LAB SAFETY

Any lab is potentially a dangerous place if the equipment and chemicals

are not treated with respect.
If any chemical contacts your skin, you should immediately wash the
affected area with soap and water. If a significant quantity of any
chemical contacts your skin, or if you feel any type of burning, the
affected area should be flushed for at least 15 minutes under running
water. For contact with the face, the eyewash should be used for facial
flushing. In the unlikely event that a chemical splashes behind your
goggles, you should keep your eye(s) open and attempt to look in
different directions while the eyewash flushes your eye(s) to make sure
that running water contacts as much of your eye as possible.
Please note that skin contact isnt always immediately painful, but an
affected area may begin to hurt shortly after chemical contact.
Therefore, it is imperative that you wash your skin immediately after
a chemical contacts it, even if you dont initially feel anything.
In all cases, no matter how innocuous or minor, you should go to the
University Health Center, in Building 140 on Campus Drive, directly
across from the Stamp Student Union, to follow up on your injury and/or
to get it examined by a medical professional.
In any circumstance, it is okay to contact campus police, who can then
contact the proper authorities. Campus police can be contacted by
dialing 911, or by dialing #3333 on a cell phone (this works for AT&T,
Verizon Wireless, and Sprint/Nextel).
While the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry does not have a
policy requiring the wearing of gloves in our undergraduate labs, we
strongly suggest that you wear gloves in lab. Gloves can be purchased
fairly cheaply at the university book center, and are a small investment
that can pay off in a major way should something unfortunate happen.

THREE STRIKES POLICY

The Department has instituted a formal three strikes policy, with the goal
of strictly enforcing rules regarding wearing personal protective equipment
(goggles/safety glasses, lab coats, pants, close toed shoes) during labs. Any
member of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry (Dr. Friedman,
any TA, any faculty member or stockroom personnel) are permitted to
record violations of rules relating to safety attire, which will count as
strikes.

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Safety rules must be followed from the moment that your TA tells you that
the lab activity is underway until you exit the lab (not until you finish your
experiment).

The consequences for lab safety violations will be as follows:

Strike Number One A verbal warning will be given by your TA and

will be recorded on a sheet dedicated to recording lab
safety violations. If the violation is corrected and sufficient time
remains to complete the experiment, you will be allowed to do so
without further penalty.
Strike Number Two A safety violation will again be recorded. Again,
if the violation is corrected and sufficient time remains to complete
the experiment, you will be allowed to do so without further penalty.
If you are unable to correct the violation in time to complete the
experiment, you will be dismissed from lab for the day. You will be
allowed to take a make-up exam or receive sample data, depending
on the policies of the course you are in. The dismissal will count as an
excused absence.
Strike Number Three You will be dismissed from lab for the day and
a safety violation will be recorded. The dismissal will count as an
unexcused absence, meaning you will not be eligible to take the
make-up exam or receive sample data (depending on the course you
are in) and you will receive a zero for the lab that will count towards
your course grade.
Additional safety violations will duplicate the consequences of the third
safety violation.

Please note that in all lab courses offered by the department, more than
three absences, for any reason (including dismissal from lab), results in a
grade of F for the course.

LAB MAKE-UP EXAMS

For most circumstances for missing a laboratory, you are allowed to apply
for and take the lab make-up exam for the lab that you missed. For
example, if you are absent from lab due to illness or for a religious
observance, you would be allowed to apply for the respective laboratory
makeup exam.
The laboratory makeup exam is NOT a substitute for the in-class
participation of conducting and performing the actual experiment, but
ONLY provides a grade for the excused absence. The makeup exams do
not take the place of or replace the missed lab; the missed lab still counts
toward the three that you are allowed to miss and still pass the course.

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 In general, if you physically perform a laboratory, you are not allowed to
take the makeup exam for that particular lab.
Each lab makeup exam is worth the value of the respective missed lab.
If you do miss a lab, you need to apply to take the lab makeup exam. To
apply to take a lab make-up exam, go to the following link:
http://portal.chem.umd.edu/undergradoffice/. The link is also available
by going the ELMS page and clicking the Pages button in the left menu.
The lab make-up exams are given on Friday morning in CHM1402 from
7:15 7:45 a.m. You will have a maximum of 30 minutes to work the lab
make-up exams. Should you come to a lab makeup exam after the 7:15
a.m. start time you will have until 7:45 a.m. to complete the exam. If you
have signed up to take a lab make-up exam and do not take it [i.e. you
are a No Show], you will receive a grade of incomplete (i.e. zero) for
that lab. There are no make-ups for lab make-up exams.
NOTE: If you are in an SEF section, you will take your make-up exam
on Wednesday evening (prior to the Friday listed in the make-up exam
schedule). Contact Dr. Friedman via e-mail at the beginning of the week
of the make-up exam to arrange details.
Sign up for the make-up exams is as follows: You will normally have until
11:55 p.m. on the Monday of the week after the week after the lab you
miss to sign up for the make-up exam for the missed lab; put another
way, this refers to the second Monday after the last week that a lab is
done. For example, if you miss the lab during the week of February 6-10,
you have until 11:55 p.m. on February 20 to sign up for that make-up
exam.
Each lab make-up exam is closed-book. You are not permitted to use
your laboratory manual, laboratory notebook, lecture text, notes, etc. to
work a lab make-up exam. You are permitted and encouraged to bring a
calculator. You may not use a cell phone as a calculator.
CONTENT the content for the lab make-up exams will be similar to the
content of the pre-lab quizzes, the lab reports themselves, and the post-
lab questions. The questions can address any aspect of the lab you
missed: the equipment used to perform the experimental work,
calculations you would have performed to write the lab report or answer
the post-lab questions, the experimental techniques used in the lab,
underlying chemistry and theory, mechanisms, and reagents involved in
the experimental work [solvents, drying agents, catalysts, reactants, test
reagents, and products]; this is not an all-inclusive list.
You are strongly encouraged to bring a calculator to any and all lab
make-up examinations. If you do not bring a calculator to a lab make-up
exam, you will have to work any and all quantitative problems without
one. If you bring a calculator to a lab makeup exam and if it should
become non-functional for any reason, you will have to work any and all
quantitative problems without one.

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 You are strongly advised to bring more than one functional writing
instrument to any and all laboratory makeup exams. If you bring a
writing instrument to a lab makeup exam and it becomes non-functional
for any reason, you will have to make do with the non-functional writing
instruments.
Cell phones All cell phones must be turned off during a lab makeup
exam. You may not use a cell phone as a calculator during a lab makeup
exam.
Proctors the proctor(s) are there to hand out the makeup exams and
then collect the completed lab makeup exams. The proctors will not
provide calculators, writing instruments, erasers, or scratch paper, etc. to
anyone taking a laboratory makeup exam.
NOTE: All students who are have previously submitted ADS
accommodations must make those needs known at that time you apply to
take a lab make-up examination via e-mail to Dr. Friedman.
The material covered in lab is fair game for inclusion on the mid-term
and/or final exam despite the fact that you may have taken a make-up
exam for one or more labs.
NOTE: You are responsible for the online 3-point quiz for all labs that
have them (everything except for the NMR assignment and the unknown
identity lab). Lab make-up exams will be out of 27 for all labs with an
online quiz.

CHECKOUT

Once you have checked into a laboratory section, you must check out
when you leave (i.e. drop the course, change sections, or complete the
course at the end of the semester). If you change sections or drop the
lab before the drop/add date, you must check out of your original drawer
as soon as possible so a new student can use that drawer. If you drop the
lab after the drop/add date, you may check out at any time during the
semester at the regular lab time, but sooner is preferred. All students
completing the course must check out during check-out week at your
regular lab time.
If you have checked into a laboratory section but fail to check out, your
TA will check you out and any expenses for missing, damaged, or
excessively dirty glassware or equipment will be charged to your student
account.

EXAMS

You will be given two written, 75-point exams during the semester. One
of these exams is the final exam. If you require ADS accommodations,
you must make your request known before the mid-term is given. The

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 exams will be multiple choice and short answer examinations that
may/will cover any or all experiments [pre-lab quizzes, lab reports, post-
lab questions, techniques, equipment, etc.] done up to that point in time.
ADS accommodations must be presented to Dr. Friedman. Failure to
discuss ADS accommodations with only your TA and not with Dr.
Friedman will result in you not receiving accommodations.
The exams will consist of multiple choice and short answer questions
involving providing numerical values (e.g. masses, moles) or structures.
The final exam will occur on December 13th and will be a fifty minute
exam. The time and location of the final exam will be communicated via
ELMS by Dr. Friedman and will be posted on ELMS when they are known.
There is also a lab practical that will be administered during the week of
November 27th. Information regarding content/format will be
posted/announced during the semester.
Only university-excused absences will be accepted for missed exams.
Proper documentation is expected. As exams qualify as major grading
events (University policy V-1.00(G)), self-signed notes from the Health
Center page will not be accepted as documentation for an excused
absence. You must contact me within 24 hours of the missed exam.
Failure to meet these requirements will result in a ZERO for the missed
exam.

ACCESSABILITY AND DISABILITY SERVICE [ADS] ACCOMODATIONS

If any student needs ADS accommodation, you must bring your written
documentation to Dr. Friedman as early as possible in the semester.
Dr. Friedman will discuss appropriate accommodations with you and will
notify your TA of any accommodations that need to be made.
Discussing and presenting your ADS accommodations to only your TA will
result in you not receiving accommodations for exams. To receive ADS
accommodations on exams, you must meet with Dr. Friedman in person
as close to the beginning of the semester as possible.
Should you need accommodations for a lab makeup exam, indicate your
accommodations when filling out the online form and follow up by e-
mailing Dr. Friedman.
Accessability and Disability Service contact information is as follows:

1101 Shoemaker Building

4281 Chapel Lane
College Park, Maryland 20742
Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am - 4:30pm
Phone: (301) 314-7682
http://www.counseling.umd.edu/ads/

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TA OFFICE HOURS

The organic laboratory teaching assistants schedule office hours

throughout most of each day of the week in room CHEM3103. Any TA
teaching this course, even though not assigned to your specific section,
should be able to help you during those office hours. Be advised that the
teaching assistants are not there to give you answers; rather they are
there to guide you to the answer and to help you understand the issues
involved in the labs.
Once the office hour schedule for all TAs is known, a document will be
posted on the ELMS page with said schedule.

MORE ABOUT ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The University of Maryland, College Park has a nationally recognized

Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council.
This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all
undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible
for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you
to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and
plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or
the Student Honor Council, please visit
http://osc.umd.edu/OSC/AcademicDishonesty.aspx.

Students are expected to sign the Honor Pledge, which appears on each
lab report, as well as on each exam. Any evidence of academic
dishonesty found by a TA or grader and reported to Dr. Friedman will be
pursued by the Department: examples include, but are not limited to (a)
fabrication of data (defined by the Code of Academic Integrity as
intentional and unauthorized falsification or invention of any
informationin an academic exercise); (b) use of data other than that
submitted to the TA; (c) unauthorized collusion with others including, but
not limited to, communal calculation of experimental results and copying
of pre-lab and post-lab exercises from another student; (d) plagiarism.

The instructional design of this laboratory course encourages student

collaboration and cooperation while in the lab. However, the policies and
procedures specifically dictate that all lab reports are to be completed by
each individual student on his or her own.

To further expound on what constitutes a violation of academic integrity,

here is a specific list of what is permissible and what is not permissible.
Note that the below examples permit discussion of issues related to lab
reports, but that what you hand in must be composed solely by you.

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What is permissible:

Discussing how you will do calculations Note that this includes

discussing, which means communication via in-person conversations
and via e-mail, but not working together (see below), and not by
comparing numbers to make sure you have the same answer.
Discussing the issues involved in discussion questions Note that this,
again, includes discussing but not working together.

What is NOT permissible:

Doing calculations together.

Composing the answers to post-lab questions together, or showing or
e-mailing someone else your answers since this may lead to copying.
This is facilitation and is a violation of section 1(c) of the Code of
Academic Integrity.
Composing answers aloud in a type of conversation (involving talking
and/or listening) with someone or multiple people in a way that results
in identical wording on different lab reports.
Working together in any way on any documents that are submitted as
part of your final lab report.

The following will be considered violations of the Code of Academic Integrity,

and will usually result in referral of all students involved to the Office of
Student Conduct:

Lab reports in which the same peculiar calculations are done

incorrectly and give the same wrong answer(s).
Having the same exact organization of thoughts in a discussion
question or more than one discussion question. This rarely occurs by
chance, is usually an indication that students either worked together
and/or sent a document back and forth and changed some of the
wording, and the TAs have a keen eye for the wording in verbal
explanations.
The use of identical phrases and other notations that are peculiar
and/or unique. This is usually a hallmark for some kind of academic
dishonesty.
The same incorrect calculations that are wrong in the same way.

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