🔠 Capitalization & Punctuation Mastery
2nd Year BAC Sciences de la Vie et la Terre SVT
📌 Introduction
Proper capitalization and punctuation are essential for clear scientific communication. This lesson focuses on rules particularly important for lab reports and research papers.
Key Capitalization Rules
- First word of sentences
- Proper nouns
- Scientific names (genus)
- Titles of works
Essential Punctuation
- Periods (full stops)
- Commas
- Semicolons
- Colons
Science Tip: “85% of exam errors in scientific writing involve incorrect capitalization or punctuation.”
🔠 Capitalization in Science
When to Capitalize:
| Rule | Example |
| Scientific names (genus only) | Escherichia coli |
| Titles before names | Professor Smith |
| First word after colon if complete sentence | “Conclusion: The experiment confirmed…” |
| Specific equipment names | Bunsen burner |
🎯 Exercise: Capitalization Correction
Edit these sentences with proper capitalization:
1. “the results matched our hypothesis about staphylococcus aureus.”
Corrected:
2. “we used a bunsen burner and petri dishes in dr. jones’ lab.”
Corrected:
🔤 Scientific Punctuation
Commas
- After introductory phrases
- Between list items
- Before conjunctions
“After centrifuging, we observed…”
Semicolons
- Join related independent clauses
- Separate complex list items
“The pH was acidic; the color changed.”
✏️ Exercise: Punctuation Edit
Add missing punctuation to these lab notes:
1. “We used HCl NaOH and distilled water”
Corrected:
2. “The temperature rose consequently the reaction accelerated”
Corrected:
⚠️ Special Cases in Science
Capitalization Exceptions
Don’t Capitalize:
- Generic equipment: test tube
- Chemical formulas: nacl
- Seasons: spring, summer
Punctuation Notes:
- No comma before units: 10 mL
- Periods in abbreviations: Fig. 1
- Spaces after punctuation
🔍 Exercise: Identify Errors
Find and correct 3 errors in this passage:
“in our Experiment, we mixed 5ml of h2so4 with 2g of sodium Chloride. The mixture was heated to 50°c”
1.
2.
3.
🧪 Lab Report Application
Common Lab Report Sections
- Title: “Effects of Temperature on Enzyme Activity”
- Methods: “First, 5 mL of solution was…”
- Results: “As shown in Figure 2; the…”
📝 Exercise: Report Editing
Edit this lab report excerpt with proper capitalization and punctuation:
✏️ Comprehensive Test
🎯 Final Challenge
Identify and correct all errors in this scientific abstract:
“this Study examined e.coli growth at 37°c. results showed that After 24 h, colonies Measured 2.5mm; control samples were smaller”
