Start this project TONIGHT. It will take a lot of time to compile all of the required information. You may also find that you do not understand some of the terminology, and you need to ask questions.
Write a 10 - 20 page report about the production of polystyrene that covers the issues below.
Use the reference section at Alden Library as well as the World Wide Web. Encyclopedias and handbooks can be helpful; not only the general encyclopedias that you may have used before such as the Encyclopedia Britannica, but also encyclopedias specifically for engineering, science, and technology. The encyclopedia and handbook entries will include references to the primary literature: books, journals, etc. Be prepared to consult these as well. Also consider trade papers and journals (for example, Chemical Marketing Reporter, Chemical and Engineering News, Chemical Engineering Progress). You may search the World Wide Web, but make sure that you distinguish between quality sources accessible via the web, and informal websites that are of dubious quality. Use the reference librarians; they can help you locate high-quality resources AND help you assess the quality of resources that you find. You may ask me or any other member of the faculty to explain terminology or explain how a particular piece of equipment or part of a process works. You may also ask faculty members to suggest references for information you are missing.
Your report should include references, not just a bibliography. In other words, you must identify the specific source of each piece of information that would not be common knowledge for an engineering freshman. See the Guidelines for Technical Writing. References should be your sources of information, not your sources of verbiage. Plagiarism, if detected, will result in a grade of zero for the project. If you are unsure of whether something you have written constitutes plagiarism, come by and we can discuss it. If you copy something from someone else's writing, even if you don't copy it exactly word-for-word, even if you give a reference, it is still plagiarism unless you make it absolutely clear that you are quoting your source. A report consisting largely of quotations is not acceptable.
You are not allowed to reproduce an existing process diagram by photocopying, scanning, cutting-and-pasting, downloading, or similar methods. You must draw one. Obviously, it will be based heavily on one you find in the literature. Your figure legend should make this clear.
Your report should be a unified work, not separate mini reports stapled together. Writing something as a group will be a new experience for many of you, but you will be required to do it many times in your career. No time like the present to begin.
Follow the Guidelines for Technical Writing here: http://www.ent.ohiou.edu/~valy/techwrite.html . I also recommend consulting the grading rubric.
· Send mail to Dr. Young: valy@bobcat.ent.ohiou.edu.
· Return to ChE 201 home page.
(Last modified on 01/02/05)