Using the ACS journals search to validate assumptions about writing in chemistry and improve chemistry writing instruction

In validating assumptions about writing in chemistry and improve chemistry writing instruction, the American Chemical Society (ACS) Journals Search at the ACS Web site were used. It is a ready-made corpus, a discipline that specializes in investigating language empirically through computer-based analyses of large collections of texts. The ACS Journal Search employs three databases, namely, the 1879-1995 Legacy Archives, the 1996-to-Current Issue, and the ASAP-Articles, which are continuously updated and accessible to faculty and students. It can be searched collectively or individually for science content, as well as for words, phrases, grammatical constructions, and other common writing practices in chemistry.