Recebido em 22/9/09; aceito em 17/5/10, publicado na web em 21/9/10 UNDERGRADUATE CHEMISTRY STUDENTS' SCIENTIFIC WRITING: ANALYSIS OF LABORATORY REPORTS. The purpose of this study was to analyze written arguments found within laboratory reports by undergraduate students in a practical inorganic chemistry course. The quality of students' argumentation was analyzed based on the argumentation model developed by Kelly and Takao. Students presented scientific arguments grounded in data and building

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... oward theoretical assertions. This indicates that students have some understanding of the rhetorical power of data in their explanations. The findings of this study also support the idea that Kelly and Takao's model is effective in other disciplines and in other rhetorical tasks distinct from those originally analyzed by them in their domain of oceanography.