Replacing the Traditional Graduate Chemistry Literature Seminar with a Chemical Research Literacy Course

Scalfani, Vincent F.; Frantom, Patrick A.; Woski, Stephen A.

doi:10.1021/acs.jchemed.5b00512

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…4 On the other hand, instruction that is too cursory can lead to student understanding that is simplistic, passive, or shallow. 15 An important consideration for any form of teaching is the students' ability to retain information over time. Despite the importance of information literacy in undergraduate education, studies regarding the lasting effects of instruction in the subject are uncommon.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking Information Literacy in Science Students: A Longitudinal Case Study of Skill Retention from General Chemistry to Biochemistry

et al. 2021

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Does early exposure to information literacy promote long-term student success? This paper describes a longitudinal case study testing the hypothesis that students who engage with scientific literature and develop information literacy early in their undergraduate studies will achieve higher grades on literature-based assignments in future coursework. We reasoned that students with previous experience in the scientific literature will develop more efficient and effective strategies to search and evaluate the literature and will ultimately favor higher-quality journals. To test these hypotheses, student performance data were collected during scientific literature-based assignments in two upper-division undergraduate lecture courses, Biochemistry 1 and Biochemistry 2. Data were analyzed from two student populations: students with prior information literacy instruction and critical practice from an Honors General Chemistry course sequence, and those students who had not undergone this training. The results indicate that, in Biochemistry 1, students with this prior information literacy training tend to use more professional, expert-like tools for exploring scientific literature and earn statistically higher scores on literature-based projects. However, by Biochemistry 2, the gaps close in both the exploration of the scientific literature and grade performance. This indicates that once students develop a foundation in information literacy, their sophistication in finding information and their performance on subsequent literature-based tasks improve. There was a small and statistically insignificant tendency for groups containing more students with prior information literacy training to cite more articles from the primary literature. However, the quality of the citations, as measured by journal impact factors, did not differ between the populations. The results of this interdisciplinary case study suggest that teaching information literacy to science students has both immediate and longlasting benefits.

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Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking Information Literacy in Science Students: A Longitudinal Case Study of Skill Retention from General Chemistry to Biochemistry

et al. 2021

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“…Fourth, with respect to discoverability, in recent years several articles have shown that training in these products has led to improved quantity and quality of their usage, − and the question that arises, as a result of the understanding of the similarities and differences between Reaxys and SciFinder presented in this article, relates to what current teaching may need to change. A major difference that needs to be taught relates to searching by text terms, and most specifically relating to the text search functions of Search Reaxys (where the actual searches are displayable through the function called Edit in Query Builder) and Explore by Research Topic (where the actual searches are not displayable).…”

Section: Search Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Understanding Similarities and Differences between Two Prominent Web-Based Chemical Information and Data Retrieval Tools: Comments on Searches for Research Topics, Substances, and Reactions

Mutton

Ridley

2019

J. Chem. Educ.

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Overall, the major chemical information retrieval products Reaxys and SciFinder have several similarities such as numbers of document records, numbers of characterized substances (counting the PubChem Compounds integrated in Reaxys), and, possibly, numbers of different chemical reactions. Reaxys has well over 100 times the number of experimental property data points, all of which may be displayed, and most may be searched, which opens unique and important opportunities, particularly to connect substances with their properties in a precise way. The products have similar structure search capabilities for substances and reactions, but they differ extensively in their approach to text search functionality; SciFinder offers algorithmic interpretation of natural language queries (NLQs) for text entries, while Reaxys offers users the choice of algorithmic NLQ interpretation and of user-controlled searches through graphic user interfaces called querylets. The NLQ interpretations are displayable in Reaxys through the function Edit in Query Builder, but the interpretations in SciFinder are not available. The NLQ algorithms in Reaxys may direct users to document, substance (including specific property information), reaction records, and (protein) targets, and, thus, are much more extensive than those in SciFinder. In addition to comparing content and functionality we provide updates and explanations of search comparisons published previously, and finally we suggest some of the issues that educators in the field of chemical information retrieval may need to consider when preparing their coursepacks.

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“…Most of the recommendations that are focused on the mentoring and training of graduate students were identified as high priorities by all stakeholder groups and include providing greater oversight over the progress and opportunities of individual graduate students (Figure S2), active diagnosis and remediation of deficiencies in the preparation of first-year students − (especially strongly supported by first-year students and faculty, Figures and S3), incorporation of additional professional skills into graduate curricula − (albeit less supported by faculty, Figures and S4 and vide infra), and the use of Individual Development Plans (IDPs) in the graduate-student-mentoring process (particularly supported by administrators, Figure S7). …”

Section: Consensus High-priority Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consensus, Division, and the Future of Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences

Ashby

2019

J. Chem. Educ.

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A panel comprising expert members of the chemistry academy, chemical industry, and the government produced a report in 2012 with 32 recommendations to advance graduate education in the chemical sciences. Until now, the target recipients of the study, students, faculty, and administrators, have not been asked if they agree with the recommendations. A survey of the beneficiaries of the 2012 ACS study reveals areas of consensus but also sharp differences in opinion regarding some of the recommendations. Many of these differences in opinion may be attributed to the natural needs and values of the different stakeholder groups. Some of the divisive issues could represent impediments to improving graduate education. The results of the survey are detailed and interpretation is provided. A path forward to advancing graduate education in the chemical sciences is also outlined.

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Replacing the Traditional Graduate Chemistry Literature Seminar with a Chemical Research Literacy Course

Cited by 13 publications

References 39 publications

Tracking Information Literacy in Science Students: A Longitudinal Case Study of Skill Retention from General Chemistry to Biochemistry

Tracking Information Literacy in Science Students: A Longitudinal Case Study of Skill Retention from General Chemistry to Biochemistry

Understanding Similarities and Differences between Two Prominent Web-Based Chemical Information and Data Retrieval Tools: Comments on Searches for Research Topics, Substances, and Reactions

Consensus, Division, and the Future of Graduate Education in the Chemical Sciences

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