Standard syllabus
Thesis / research support · Graduate · Chemistry
Topics
Research project development
- Identifying a viable thesis research question
- Literature review strategies and gap identification
- Experimental design and hypothesis testing
- Risk assessment for long-term research projects
- Pivoting when initial hypotheses fail
- Scope management: enough work for a thesis, not a lifetime
- Timeline planning: year-by-year thesis milestones
- Collaboration and co-authorship norms
- Intellectual property and invention disclosure
- Research ethics: data integrity, authorship, conflicts
Laboratory and computational research skills
- Advanced technique training in your subdiscipline
- Instrumentation independence and troubleshooting
- Reproducibility and rigorous documentation
- Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELN) and data management
- Computational workflow management and version control
- Statistical analysis for research data
- Safety for novel and high-risk experiments
- Core facility utilization and grant writing for instrument time
- International research collaborations and sample shipping
- Open science practices and data sharing policies
Scientific writing
- Thesis chapter structure and narrative arc
- Writing journal articles from thesis chapters
- Abstract, introduction, and literature review craft
- Methods sections for experimental and computational work
- Results presentation: figures, tables, and statistical reporting
- Discussion: interpreting results and acknowledging limitations
- Responding to advisor and committee feedback
- Avoiding plagiarism and proper citation practices
- Writing for multiple audiences: specialists and committee outsiders
- Productivity strategies: daily writing, Pomodoro, writing retreats
Defense and career transition
- Thesis committee selection and meeting preparation
- Pre-defense seminars and practice talks
- Preparing the thesis document: formatting and submission
- Defense presentation structure and timing
- Handling committee questions confidently
- Revisions after defense and final submission
- Publishing thesis work before and after graduation
- Academic job market: postdocs, faculty applications
- Industry transition: resume, interviews, transferable skills
- Non-traditional careers: science policy, patent law, consulting
Pricing
Graduate-level rates are set on consultation. See the pricing page for K–12 and undergraduate rates.