1. Created by Katherine N. Crowder, University of Mary Washington and posted on VIPEr ( on May 8, Copyright Katherine N. Crowder This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike License. To view a copy of this license visit

2. Abstract What is included?
Overview of what they did, focused on results and major findings
Synthesized compounds are given with long names, abbreviations are defined the first time used, acronyms are established; Numerical assignments to complexes (in bold whenever used, 1)
IMPORTANT: Numerical results, percent yields, spectroscopic values, visual/qualitative observations (colors), structures, brief discussion of why this was observed (theory)
6-8 sentences, less than 10 for sure – most professional abstracts have a word limit
Figures count for 75 words
What is NOT included?
Background info, context
Procedural details, raw data, error analysis
Not all numerical or spectral data – just the important, key stuff
No references
No references to figures, data tables, etc.
What is the tone, audience, verb tense?
Passive, third person, not I, not we, not you
Pick a tense, but be consistent
Formal, concise, sophisticated, neutral (unbiased), very direct
Upper level audience, not dumbed down

3. Experimental Section – for inorganic lab reports only
What is included?
Procedure – step by step, reagents given with grams and mmol or concentrations, very thorough, everything you would need to know to re-create the results - general procedure, reaction conditions (temp, time, atmosphere, stirring, etc.), purification
Qualitative observations – color, texture
Percent yield
Spectral data – IR, NMR, UV/Vis – spectroscopic characterizations – chemical shifts, splitting, integration, attribution to component responsible; lambda max; wavenumbers
Include references for specialized techniques
What is NOT included?
Specifics on glassware – unless specialized
No analysis of results, discussion of error, etc.
No explanation of common techniques (ex: refluxing)
What is the format?
Paragraphs for each synthesis – heading with compound name
General information paragraph – info on instrumentation (brand and model number) and parameters of analyses done (number of scans, resolution, wavenumber or wavelength range, etc.), suppliers of chemicals and purity/grade, basics of the experiment, computer software, etc.