Please keep in mind that these are only general guidelines; always defer to your professor’s specifications for a given assignment. If you have any questions about the content represented here, please contact the Writing Centers so that we can address them for you.
Although beakers and test tubes may be what spring to mind at the mention of chemistry, the discipline involves a significant amount of good old-fashioned writing. Chemists are expected to make presentations, prepare reports, publish results, and submit proposals on a regular basis. A “good” chemistry document will emphasize content, and will present information clearly and concisely. It should be free of grammatical and sentence-level errors, and it should follow the standards of citation as determined by the class instructor. The University of Oregon Chemistry Department offers four key guidelines for producing good chemistry documents:
- Use the correct verb tense.
- Write in the third person.
- Be clear but concise.
- Revise and proofread.
Always be sure to verify these guidelines with your professor. Individual instructors may have alternative strategies they prefer.
Preferred Bibliographic Style
Citation styles can vary widely within the chemistry discipline. The American Chemical Society publishes a style guide that provides guidelines for how to document and cite sources (see below). However, be sure to ask your instructor which citation style s/he prefers.
Common Writing Assignments
Chemistry students can expect to prepare written reports, formulate and publish results, submit proposals, and write term papers. Some projects may combine several of these elements at once. Below are a few resources that can help with these specific assignments :
- Guidelines for Preparing a Research Report. This is from the American Chemical Society and provides step-by-step guidelines for writing research reports.
- Proposal-writing Guidelines (Dickinson). This page provides a specific example for Dickinson’s honors proposal, but it can give you a sense of what will be generally required.
- Guide to Writing a Chemistry Lab Report (Concordia).
- Elements of Laboratory Report Writing (DePaul).
- Guide to Keeping a Lab Notebook (Dartmouth).
Helpful Resources
- The ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information, 3rd ed. Anne M. Coghill and Lorrin R. Garson, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. This is an excellent resource for chemistry students. It describes writing tips, citation guidelines, and conventions for presenting information among many other topics.
- Writing Guide for Chemistry (Oregon State). This guide provides basic information about producing solid writing for chemistry subjects.
- A General Guide to Science Writing. This is a very useful resource for beginners in science writing; it addresses ways to structure papers incorporating subheadings, tables, figures, and diagrams.
- Guidelines for Writing Scientific Reports (UNC). Check out the links on the right-hand side of this page for some other helpful resources.
DePaul Department of Chemistry
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