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Year 12 Chemistry Social Relevance Report
The social relevance report for Year 12 Chemistry requires students to undertake individual research. This page is designed to help students develop a research path or strategy for their own unique topic.

Step 1 - Exploring and defining your topic.
Step 2 - Locating, selecting and recording information on your chosen topic.
Step 3 - Organising, drafting (and re-drafting) and presenting your report.
Step 4 - Evaluation - what have you gained?

Step 1 - Exploring and defining your topic.
If you are not clear on what a social relevance report is, check with your chemistry teacher.
You will need to develop your own driving question for this research and the following strategies will help:
Look at some simple 'questions' here.
Use these question starters based on Blooms Taxonomy. Blooms Taxonomy is a hierarchical arrangement of thinking skills. You should aim to use the higher order thinking skills (analysis, synthesis, evaluation) for this report.
Brainstorm your own ideas using Inspiration - a programme which is installed on some school computers. This ensures your research pathway is organised and makes it a great deal easier when you come to organise and present your final report. There is a quick way to convert your concept map into an essay outline. See Ms Spence for help in using this software tool if needed.
As above but work with a partner from your Year 12 Chemistry class to each develop your individual 'concept maps', key words etc.
Click here for further help on strategies to define your topic.

Step 2 - Locating, selecting and recording information on your chosen topic.
This can be a time-consuming and confusing process unless you are focused and organised.
If you have thought about your topic sufficiently you will have a range of key words and phrases that you can use to search the library catalogue as well as the internet.
Please remember the Internet is not the only source you should be using! Put off using the 'net until after you have checked out these other sources, as they can save you a lot of fruitless searching:

Sources of information:
Library catalogue - this will point you to books, videos and websites. An excellent place to start. Try these subject headings or browse the shelves of any library.

540s Chemistry
574.5 Environmental chemistry
660s Chemistry, applied or chemical engineering
338.4766 Chemical industries
358.34 Chemical warfare
363.179 Chemicals - hazardous materials
363.728 Chemical waste disposal
363.738 Chemical pollution
615.68 Chemotherapy

As you can see there are a wide variety of sources, scattered through the collection. The most efficient way to find resources is to search the library catalogue using your key words. Remember all libraries use this Dewey numbering system.

Library reference materials - even the World Book can provide an overview of your topic. We also have Science encyclopaedias that will provide more in-depth treatment of scientific topics than general encyclopaedias. Science Year books will provide information on the latest research on a scientific topic/issue/event.

R503 Science encyclopaedias and year books

Newstext - this is the archive database for the Adbertiser, The Australian and many other Australian newspapers, to which the school has password protected access. Before you request a search of this database, check this list of previous searches. If your topic is not listed or needs updating, see your friendly teacher librarian.

Other libraries - your local public library, and certainly the State Library, will have materials to help you. The Tea Tree Gully City Library welcomes senior students such as yourself. They can afford to subscribe to databases that we cannot, and make them freely available to you. For example you can search Ebscohost and/or Infotrac. These databases provide access to a much wider range of full-text magazine and newspaper articles than Newstext. When you have located useful articles you can email them to yourself, at no cost, for later more detailed examination. See Ms Spence to learn how you can do this online using your TTG library membership card. Not a member of TTG library - we can organise that for you too!
University libraries also allow Year 12 students to use their collections but restrict borrowing. They provide excellent subject guides and info on their collections:

Barr Smith Library, University of Adelaide
Flinders University library
University of SA Library
TAFE-SA libraries See Other libraries link at the top of this page

Organisations and people - an often overlooked but very useful source of information. If for example you are researching 'cement', why not contact a manufacturer like Brighton Cement?
· The Yellow Pages will point you to related manufacturers. If you check under 'O' for Organisations you will also see a range of industry and business or professional associations/organisations that may provide you with information or give you leads to further sources. Some may have their own specialised libraries. A polite phone request can reap rich rewards!
· Ask a scientist http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem98.htm
Use the Edit - Find on this page function to search this extensive listing of previous requests...or make your own request!
You should also speak to or interview people who may work in a business or industry connected to your chosen topic - ask around your friends and family - its called networking!

Internet - if you need to search the internet there are clever ways to do this....

· Use a metasearch engine that compiles the results of several different search engines for you, and ranks the results for relevance - a real time saver compared to using individual search engines. For example:
http://www.ixquick.com/ [fast, few ads, ranked results, annotations, related searches]
http://www.alltheweb.com/ [fast, no ads, can search in different languages]
http://www.teoma.com/ [fast, no ads, nifty topic folders help quickly narrow search]

· Use a specialist search engine.
http://www.scirus.com is a science search engine that will only find scientific information - a good way to avoid irrelevant sites. Search by your product name + chemistry for useful results e.g. beer chemistry

· Use a chemistry subject directory to quickly narrow your search.

· Search online science journals.

· Search online newspapers & magazines.

Newstext is OK for Australian newspaper articles, but if you want more global information, apart from using the State Library as previously suggested, you can also access a range of online newspapers & magazines listed here.

www.findarticles.com is also worth a try.

don't forget Ebscohost and Infotrac - searchable databases of full text articles - available for free at TTG Library website.

Step 2 contd. - Selecting and recording your information
While the internet can give you quick access to lots of information, you can also spend a great deal of time and frustration trying to decide what's most useful for your specific research topic. This is why it is really important to be clear on what you are looking for.
If you have already worked out your key words and focus questions you can create your own topic template and insert relevant information as you find it, recording your sources as well as copy'n'pasting key points as you go. That template will quickly reveal any gaps in your information, and have it all already organised for you to write up your first draft. You will need to decide which information to copy'n'paste, but even before that, you need to decide if (a) you already have that info and (b) whether this particular source is credible and authoritative.
Topic Template - click the right mouse button on this hyperlink to open the template in another window. You can then copy'n'paste information as appropriate and complete the template (which is based on requirements provided by your Year 12 Chemistry teachers). Save it to your home directory as you go to avoid losing valuable work. AVOID PLAGIARISM !
Bibliography - Note that you will also be recording the data for your required bibliography on this topic template, as you go. If you need help on how to present your bibliography, with the correct layout and punctuation click here, or ask for a brochure from your friendly teacher librarian.
Anyone can publish anything on the 'net, so evaluating your source is important. Click here for advice on how to check the credibility and authority of the information you find on the internet.

Step 3- Organising, drafting (and re-drafting) and presenting your report.
This step will be much easier if you have made use of the topic template, because your information is already organised!
That same template will also clearly show if, and where, there are gaps in your information. Ask your chemistry teacher and your friendly teacher librarian for help in filling those gaps.
Remember communication skills are worth a further 10 marks!
· use the grammar and spell checks available.
· get someone else to read through your work.
· check these useful sites for online help:
Communicating Chemistry: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~pw/teach/cheminfo/comchem/writing/writing.html
Scientific Reports: http://www.wisc.edu/writing/Handbook/ScienceReport.html

Step 4 - Evaluation - what have you gained?
This step is often missed or ignored, but when you have put so much time, effort and angst into your work, why not spend a few more minutes reflecting on what you have gained from the experience? What can you take from this social relevance report into your life beyond school? Hopefully you can take at least some of the following:
· knowledge about your chosen product and how it impacts on your everyday life
· awareness of issues relating to that impact
· some personal opinion on those issues
· maybe even some personal action you can undertake to deal with that issue
· skills in undertaking research - not just finding information but also selecting and using it effectively - these skills will be of value regardless of where/what you do beyond school
· if you are headed for further study those same skills will definitely be useful e.g. you now know how to write a bibliography!
There is much more to gain from this social relevance report
than just a SSABSA score!


  
© S. Spence 2004.