labgrades

Organic Chemistry I
Laboratory Assignments and Grading

The laboratory will contribute 25% to your overall grade in the Organic Chemistry I course. A passing grade in both the laboratory and the lecture portion of the course is required to pass the course (>60). The laboratory grade will be determined based on your performance on pre-lab assignments, lab technique, notebook records, post-lab assignments, and quizzes for each experiment. The percentages that each of these assignments contributes to the overall laboratory grade, details about the expectations for each lab assignment type, and the methods for grading are summarized in the table below.

Students will receive a grade for each experiment that will be determined based on a weighted average of pre-labs, technique, notebook, post-labs and quizzes. Individual grades on each of these lab assignments will be returned to students with the assignment. Overall experiment grades will be posted on the Blackboard website.

Pre-Labs (10%)
Students are required to complete a pre-lab assignment for each week a laboratory experiment is run. The purpose of the pre-lab assignment is to familiarize students with the experiment prior to coming to the laboratory. The pre-lab assignment for a given week/experiment can be obtained on the specific experiment webpage through the lab syllabus. Pre-lab assignments are in Journal Writer format and can be downloaded and completed using your tablet PC. These assignments can be submitted electronically and are due at 5:00pm the day before your scheduled lab period. Students who fail to submit pre-lab assignmments by this deadline will not be permited to do the experiment and will receive no credit for that experiment. Prelab assignments from all experiments will contribute 10% to your overall lab grade. Pre-labs will be graded on a three point scale using a pre-lab rubric.

Lab Technique (10%)
The lab technique grade will be determined based on students' ability to work independently, preparedness, adherence to safety protocols, neatness, effort and effectiveness in completing the experiments accurately and in a timely fashion. Your lab instructor will evaluate you during each lab period on these points using a technique rubric.

Notebook (10%)
Notebooks will be checked by instructors during each lab period to ensure students are keeping proper records of their experiments. A notebook grade will be assigned for each experiment using the criteria outlined on the notebook guideline page of the website and following basic guidelines in the notebook rubric.

Post-Lab Assignments (50%)
Students are required to complete one or more post-lab assignments after the completion of each laboratory experiment. In addition to the required post-lab assignment, recording the experiment in the lab notebook is requred for all experiments. The purpose of the post-lab assignment is to evaluate the student's understanding of the laboratory experiment. There are different types of post-lab assignments that will be graded: 1) the abstract, 2) the worksheet/datasheet and 3) the formal report. For each experiment, the post-lab assignment can be obtained by clicking on the specific experiment, accessible from the lab syllabus page. Worksheets and datasheets are available in Journal Writer format and can be submitted electronically. Required post-lab assignments are due at 6:00pm one week after the experiment is completed. Abstracts and formal report post-lab assignments will be graded using an abstract rubric and a formal report rubric.

Quizzes (20%)
Students will be required to complete a quiz for each experiment. Quiz material will be taken from pre-lab and post lab assignments for experiments. Quizzes will be given at the beginning of the lab period and will focus on the experiment scheduled for that day or an experiment that was completed in a previous lab session. Students who miss or are late to a regularly scheduled lab period when a quiz is given will not be allowed to make up the quiz.