Sarah+Shim+Log


 * // Sarah Shim Log Page //

SWS Assignments

__September 24, 2009__ ** First class. Learned about research databases and websites.

__ **September 30, 2009** __ Was wondering if I could write my paper on the current research I'm doing. (Inorganic Chemistry under Dr. Papish - synthesis and characterization of bis-ligand transition metal complexes using the Ttz^Ph,Me ligand) But I don't know what aspect of my research I could, well, further research and write a paper on. **[Maybe you could start with a substructure search of the ligands on SciFinder and Beilstein and see if synthetic strategies or applications interests you JCB]

__October 5, 2009__ ** Thinking about doing my research paper on something more interesting like...CHOCOLATE!! Something like "Is Chocolate Really Addicting?" But I think that topic may be too general. So, I did a primary search on what some researchers think makes chocolate so addicting. I learned that the answer isn't so short and simple.

Found article on ScienceDirect: //"Chocolate: Food or Drug?"//

**"Most likely, a combination of chocolate's sensory characteristics, nutrient composition, and psychoactive ingredients, compounded with monthly hormonal fluctuations and mood swings among women, will ultimately form the model of chocolate cravings."**  KRISTEN BRUINSMA, DOUGLAS L. TAREN, Chocolate: Food or Drug?, Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Volume 99, Issue 10, October 1999, Pages 1249-1256, ISSN 0002-8223, DOI

However, analyzing all of those components would be too much information and would probably lead to a general paper. The same article talks about biologically active constituents that "could potentially cause abnormal behaviors and pscychological sensations that parallel those of other additive substances" (Bruinsma and Taren). So, I think I want to research some of these components. The article does briefly talk about phenylethylamines and methylxanthines, and I was thinking I could research these and if they comtributed to the overall addictiveness of chocolate. => Would this topic still be too general? Should I focus on just one of these substances instead of both??

I looked at another book written by Astrid Nehlig (two Ph.D. degrees in physiology and functional neurochemistry) called __Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, and the Brain__. In her book, she talks about certain drug-like substances in chocolate, such as phenylethylamine and methylxanthines. It seems really interesting and I would like to look over it, too. __**October 28, 2009**__ Made an SWS Assignments page. (link to Assignments page on top of this page under heading)
 * [This would make for a very interesting report - if you can resolve the conflicting reports about phenylethylamine by carefully reading the primary literature JCB]**

**__November 28, 2009__** Finished the last assignment.

Finding the rest of the resources I need for the paper.

Trying to use RefWorks for my citations. Continuing to find the rest of the sources I need and finding the information I need. Starting a outline of my paper.
 * __ December 1, 2009 __**

**__December 2, 2009__** Need to manually add some of my references into RefWorks. Will divide paper up into sections (i.e. Abstract, Intro, Results/Discussion, Conclusion) Skimming and reading my references. Started writing my paper. [There is not always an actual "DOI" but there is always a way to link to the abstract with a fairly short url JCB]//
 * //Question: What to do if the article is available through the library but there is no DOI (with ProQuest)? Then using the document URL is okay (when providing link to article)??

__ December 4, 2009 __** Finished writing my paper and uploaded onto research page. One slight problem with source (9). Although there was a DOI on the website, when I tried to open the document with that DOI, it did not work. Therefore, I made a link with the website URL (I couldn't find a shorter one).