DISCUSSION OF THE PAPER J. L. RIEBSOMER DePauw University, Greemastle, Indiana NOT only should senior research be limited t o the better seniors, but also no senior should be allowed t o take a research course involvine., anv laboratom if he cannot mend a t least eieht clock hours per week a t this work. If the work is to be c o n h e d to reading only, then a shorter weekly period may bc satisfactory. that onlv the better seniors should be allowed If we are aereed " t o take tbis research course not t o~ be~ ~ ~ and if scholastic ~ ~ ~standine ~ ~ is ~ the sole basis of selection then how is i t possible t o determine wisely and justly who shall be chosen? Should only those seniors who plan t o go to graduate school be encouraged? Or is i t equally or more important for the man who plans t o go into a job directly from his undergraduate work? Who is to judge the merits of any given case? Certainly, i t is not wise to insist that every man must have a certain grade record before being allowed t o take senior research. The problem of selecting the proper seniors is not so difficult in the smaller schools such as ours because one or a t mast two men do all the advising of chemistry majors and are usually quite intimately acquainted with the student by the time he is a senior. Furthermore, it is possible t o eliminate almost all of the misfits before their senior year either by persuasion or by failing grades. Accordingly, it is my feeling that in the smaller schools nearly every senior chemistry major who plans t o make a living from his chemistry should take senior research. I n the larger schools this problem may be more difficult. But even in a large department a few people of professorial rank should act as a committee t o keep in touch with the records and work of all majors so that answers t o questions of this type can be had. The problem assigned must be one which the professor has studied carefully and preferably one with which he is quite familiar, not only with the literatim but with the actual laboratory practice. When the student has trouble (which is most of the timel the nrofessor should be adeauatelv t o eive a . nreDared . reasonable hint which will make the work successful; he must be alert to the detailed runditionsof the general reactinno involved so he can quickly spot errors. I n assigning problems it is highly important t o make i t clear t o the student just what significance his work has. Point out t o him the broader nroeram of which his nroblem mav be a small . .. part. Thr broad PrOKranl mud have some rcnlsound significance, so that the student will feel that he is in a position to make an important cuntrihution by his cfforts. There is some question in my mind as to the value of library research for most seniors. I can aeree - that there mieht be some cares in which it would hc appropriate. On the rholc, however, I belirw it rhould he avoided hIy rcaaorl i.; that m y research is not and cannot hc pure lihrary work. I
