It'd be nice to have a numbered, abbreviated format to follow when posting questions about help needed with a particular situation.
Example guideline:
1. State the tek you followed (and come on people, a person put hard work and much experience into writing a tek for you, at least spell their name correctly; e.g. no more "Norman's tek"!) or briefly summarize your method (ex: 150g shredded MHRB, 1500mL water, 120g NaOH, 200mL vm+p naphtha. basified and mixed 3mins. let sit an hour. put warm naphtha in, mixed 5 minutes, let sit an hour. put naphtha in jar, placed in freezer 3 days.) If tek has option of multiple solvents such as naphtha or heptane, specify. If product was fine and problem is with recrystallizing, wash or other post-extraction procedure, detail may be omitted.
2. State the subject of the problem in 1 or 2 words: (emulsion, evaporation, freeze precipitation, impurities, layer separation, recrystallizing, wash, yield, etc)
3. Describe the problem in detail.
Stating the problem in this organized way makes it easier for a reader to help. Its good to summarize the first part because cluttering the post with unnecessary info makes it longer and more tedious to decipher. It doesn't matter whether a turkey baster or seperatory funnel was used. It doesn't matter if it was mixed in a jar or bucket. I've noticed too many times people are describing their technique mixed in with their description of the problem. This format would keep the two separated and let the reader decide what caused the problem.
Hope this helps Noman, feel free to use this.
