Information for All Students Attending Seminars

1. Attendance. Attend the minimum number of seminars throughout the semester (this number, usually 10 or 11, will be given to you at the start of the semester). Seminars are Mondays at 4 pm. At least two seminars are scheduled on most days - attend the one that most interests you - check the departmental calendar for seminar topics. Sign the attendance log, located outside of Room 2102/2104, each week immediately before seminar. Signing into a seminar and then not listening to the speaker (because, for example, you have decided to grade lab reports, read a textbook, sleep, or not even attend), is considered academic dishonesty and a violation of the honor code, and will result in disciplinary action. 
2. Yellow Booklet Questions. On the cover page, write your name and your advisor's name in the appropriate spot, and checkmark the section you are enrolled in. Fill in the appropriate box inside this book each week you attend seminar including writing down one scientifically relevant question per seminar (different than a question asked by faculty or other students) that you have for the speaker. The completed yellow booklet is due in the cabinets (~ across from the undergrad lab stockroom) on the last day of seminars.
3. Ask a Question. Ask a minimum of one of your yellow book questions during the semester, during the student question session of one of the seminars. Within 24 hours, ie. before 5 pm on the Tuesday immediately following your question, send an email to the address given in your yellow booklet with the following information:
        1) your name
        2) the speaker’s name
        3) the question you asked, and
        4) a summary of the answer you received
   You must ask the question during the student question session. Questions at other times/places will not be credited. If your forget to send this email, simply ask another question at a future seminar and then send an email. Do not report a question which you did not ask during the student question section.
   
4. You must pass four semesters of Chem 681 to satisfy the departmental seminar requirement for a Ph.D. If you fail a semester by not performing all of the above requirements, you will be required to enroll in additional semesters of 681 until you pass a total of four.

Thoughtful commentary and critical analysis of the seminars on the provided anonymous student feedback forms is always appreciated.

Information for Students Who are Also Presenting Seminars

Underlying Philosophy

The purpose of the student seminar is to allow you to develop the necessary skills for the preparation and delivery of a professional presentation. During your second year of study, you are required to present a literature seminar to all interested members of the Department. The skills learned will assist you in making future presentations at ACS meetings, preliminary exam presentations, job interviews, etc. Some of the skills and things to be learned during preparation for your seminar include the following: 

1. In searching for a topic, you are likely to discover some of the most interesting and exciting developments in your field and related fields. These of course make some of the best topics for a seminar because they would include current trends and come from the current literature; however, seminar topics are not necessarily limited to these areas.
2. In researching a topic, you will gain further experience in the use of the library resources (including on-line resources) available at Texas A&M. 
3. In reading the literature pertinent to the topic, you will be exposed to a variety of scientific writing styles and be able to develop your own writing style as you prepare the abstract for the seminar.
4. You should develop the skills needed to organize and develop a coherent, informative, and professional presentation. These are skills that will be required for most, if not all, careers. While this is more difficult then presenting your own research, as it is chemistry that you have not actually done, being able to present other researcher's work helps you to understand it completely, critique and analyze other researcher's data, and learn how to extract the most interesting aspects of a large body of data. If you can present other researchers' work in a clear and coherent fashion, you should do extremely well presenting your own research.
5. You will learn how to prepare high quality visual aids (powerpoint, transparencies, slides, and/or chalkboard) that are easily read and followed. Again, this is a skill that will be required throughout your graduate career and beyond.
6. The more presentations you make in front of an audience, the more comfortable you will become at giving such presentations. The seminar provides the opportunity to control and master the nervousness which is inevitable when speaking publicly. Everyone gets nervous to some extent when speaking in front of people, especially a learned audience. This is something that must be minimized in order to make a clear presentation and is best done by knowing the subject well and repeatedly practicing the delivery.
7. A necessary skill to be learned while in graduate school is answering questions "on your feet". The seminar question and answer session gives you such an opportunity.
8. When you complete their seminar, you should analyze the feedback from the faculty and student evaluations and use it to help you improve your skills for future presentations.
9. For tips on seminar preparation see the Seminar Preparation Page.