In his Up Front article "Promoting Undergraduate Science," Eugene Garfield rightly calls for greater participation in research by undergraduates. He points with favor to the British system in which it is common (certainly in chemistry courses) for students in the final year of their three-year degree programs to spend two terms (about 18 weeks) on a small research project. Frequently, when new British chemistry graduates are asked their opinions of the courses they have taken, their project work is the only component for which they express any enthusiasm. It is not unusual for students who have performed poorly or moderately in their first two years to undergo a transformation when they feel the excitement of research. Sometimes they can, by hard work, make up for their previous poor grades and achieve a degree class that enables them to go onto postgraduate work. But often, sadly, it is too...
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