An Effective Four-Semester, Junior–Senior Approach to a Chemistry Seminar Curriculum

Abstract

Many institutions use a two-semester seminar approach to teach upper-level chemistry majors skills such as literature searching and giving oral presentations. A successful four-semester approach is described in which seminar students present their work in three different presentation formats. Following American Chemical Society guidelines, students prepare and present posters, short talks (�20 minutes), and longer talks (�40 minutes). The goal of this approach is to gradually develop the abilities of upper-level chemistry majors to search the literature, give presentations, and critically evaluate the work of others so they can effectively perform these tasks after graduation.