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Sam Winner

Joshua Smith

WRIT 2 (section 1300)

11 June 2020

The Conventions of Chemistry: An Analysis

Chemistry is an academic discipline that is centered around the development of

knowledge regarding the universe’s elements and their properties. Chemistry not only gives us a

greater understanding of our environment, but also allows us to exercise a greater control over

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our surroundings.1 When individuals within the chemistry discipline publish papers, there are

specific conventions that they follow in order to make their research replicable, straight forward,

detailed, and informative. This paper will outline a variety of the conventions integral to the

chemistry world, elaborate on the reasons behind the literary practices themselves, and speak

about the reasons why chemists need to communicate with one another.

To begin, chemistry papers are written in the passive voice, rather than communicating

from a first-person perspective [4]. Upon my inspection of a variety of academic articles within

the chemistry field, every one of them adhered to this principle [1-3]. One example of this

literary practice can be seen within this excerpt from an abstract, “The boehmite samples were

calcined at 350 and 600 °C to form the semi-crystalline high surface area -Al2O3” [1]. Instead of

writing in this way, the researchers could have said that “we calcined the samples at…”, but

instead they chose to use the passive voice. To understand why use of the passive voice is so

1
This is the definition of chemistry that I have formulated from my experiences in the chemistry series at UCSB
thus far (courses 1A-1C)
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important within chemistry discourse communities, it is important to understand the values of the

field. The chemistry field, like many other scientific fields, greatly values replicability and

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objectivity.2 By writing with a passive point of view, authors are able to stick to objective facts

and the article's central focus moves away from the researcher and to the subject matter itself. If

the research was subjective at all, it would hinder the replicability of the experiment, so the

passive voice is used in order to remove the researchers from their results. The reason why these

values are so important within this discipline is because without replicability and objectivity,

experiments are not valid and do not reflect accurate information.

Although the research seeks to remain unbiased, researchers still play the crucial role of

having discovered the information at hand. Their importance can be seen through the prominence

of their names within research articles [1-3]. In every article examined for the purpose of this

paper, the researchers' names can be found directly under the title of the article, and in the case of

sources one and three, the researcher’s names are in bold. The front and center placement of

researcher names showcases the importance of researchers within the chemistry field. Although

researchers receive credit in this way, having no additional author references throughout the

paper allows for the maintenance of an objective perspective.

Along with the researchers themselves, the endorsement of research facilities also plays a

key role in maintaining academic progress within chemistry discourse communities. The

importance of these facilities can be found in department references often located directly

underneath the researcher’s names.3 Without the support of these universities and their scientific

2
​These are values I have noticed from the Chem 1A-1C series at USCB.
3​
This was true for articles one and two. Article three instead referenced a publishing agency in this place.
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facilities, new advancements in the field would be severely diminished and discourse

communities would cease to flourish as they do now.

Sticking to the trend of giving credit to different people/organizations, the citation style

within chemistry papers quickly and effectively provides sources to the original founders of

information. All of the articles I have analyzed utilize a references section at the end of the

article and cite sources throughout the article according to their number. Because of the

extremely high volume of references, this citation style serves to make paragraphs much more

readable and cleaner.4 When looking at the actual articles referenced, many of them are ten to

twenty years old. By always citing the original sources of information, rather than citing

duplicate studies, credit is given to the original discoverers of the information. People within the

chemistry discipline devote large parts of their lives to these studies and making sure that credit

is given to researchers where it is due is important.

All academic articles within the chemistry field begin with some form of introduction,

and in most cases this introduction takes form as an abstract [1-3]. Taking a look at a specific

abstract would be beneficial for our understanding of some of the key literary conventions of

chemistry. In source 2, for example, the abstract itself is chock full of scientific jargon, and is

difficult for the lay public to understand. The inclusion of words and phrases such as “lattice

oxygen exchange” serve to reference different ideas that should already be familiar to individuals

within the chemistry discourse community. By having a specific vocabulary tied to the chemistry

discipline, researchers can more easily and universally understand one another. This shared

4​
Source 1: 40 references, source 2: 69 references, and source 3: 25 references
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vocabulary facilitates information exchange between researchers and aids advancements in the

field.

Following the abstract, in order to give fellow researchers an idea of what jargon is

important for a specific paper, there is often a list of keywords that relate to the article [1,3].

These keywords represent the main points within the paper, and highlight specific topics that the

audience should have an understanding of prior to reading the article. This section of a chemistry

article functions to prepare the reader for what is to come, and also serves as a quick way for

individuals to find articles relating to certain topics. By increasing the efficiency at which

individuals can glean information from such studies, advancements across disciplines are once

again promoted.

One skill that researchers have refined is their ability to use the molecular compound

abbreviations from the periodic table. Because of this, molecular abbreviations are extremely

common throughout chemistry articles. For example, in the abstract of source one, the

compound, sulfuric acid, is simply referenced as H2SO4. Without an understanding of the

elements of the periodic table, understanding these compound abbreviations would be nearly

impossible. In this way, peer reviewed articles within the chemistry field are written for people

who have internalized the names of chemical elements and molecules. This simplification of

reactions and complexes is very important to discussions within the chemistry field, allowing for

easier transmission of ideas from individual to individual. One goal of research is applications in

new fields. A universal compound naming system allows for the transfer of ideas across

traditional language barriers. Transcending these barriers, scientists can collaborate about

chemistry ideas and share their findings with other fields in their respective areas.
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Every article that I analyzed was split into four distinct sections: an introduction, a

computational details/experimental section, a discussion section, and then a conclusion section.

Although the content of these sections differed across articles, every article contained the same

type of supportive evidence: computer-generated 3D molecule diagrams, comparative line

graphs, bar graphs, chemical equations for the observed pathways, and two-dimensional

mechanism diagrams [1-3]. The use of all of these methodized data interpretations calls attention

to the idea that the field of chemistry is very data driven, and the support for all arguments is

rooted in experimental findings and calculations. The reason for all of these interpretation

methods however is to exhibit complex findings in a condensed, easy to understand way. Once

again, chemists can be seen taking steps to make their work easier to understand, this time

through the use of visuals. More easily understandable articles have a higher chance of future

application as well as a greater impact on other projects, a central goal of chemistry researchers.

In conclusion, in order to facilitate effective communication within the field of chemistry,

there are a variety of widely used interdisciplinary literary conventions. Whether it's speaking in

the passive voice, utilizing graphs and reaction equations, or abbreviating compounds, the goal is

always to make information precise, experiments easily replicable, and articles informative and

concise. Without conforming to the conventions of the chemistry discourse community, an

individual will not effectively communicate chemistry research, and will ineffectively

communicate with colleagues in the field.

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References

[1]:Effect of NaNO2, HNO3 and H2SO4 on the structure and reactivity of y-alumina -Abdol

Hossein Dabbagh, Marzie Naderi, Mehdi Zamanib

URL:​http://ijc.iaush.ac.ir/article_669794_d10004c06f0c40d737a7894efb7a45e2.pdf

[2]: CO Oxidation over Ce1−xPdxO2−δ Takes Place via Vacancy Hopping -Phanikumar

Pentyala and Parag A. Deshpande

URL:​https://pubs-acs-org.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.iecr.9b00734

[3]: Mechanism analysis of transient ligand-induced β-C–H arylation of ​α​-methyl pentanone

-Caihua Zhou, Tao Yang, Guang Fan

URL:​https://link-springer-com.proxy.library.ucsb.edu:9443/content/pdf/10.1007/s00214-019-25

23-1.pdf

[4]: Discussion Writing Guidelines Chem 1CL -UCSB Chemistry Department

URL:​https://gauchospace.ucsb.edu/courses/pluginfile.php/6416791/mod_resource/content/7/Disc

ussion%20Writing%20Guidelines%20Final%20S17.pdf