The point of scientific drawing is generating an accurate and precise 2D model of what you are observing under the microscope. It is a visual observation of your data. Therefore drawing from memory is not as accurate nor precise as drawing bit by bit from the image under the scope or from a photo you took looking through the ocular lens. You are to draw what you actually see, not what you think you remember.
Rules For Scientific Drawing:
- Draw the circle which represents the field of view in the upper left part of your page. Your page must be an unlined sheet of paper.
- Only use pencil for everything.
- Label only structures you can confidently identify.
- Put the title of the specimen centered and underlined above the FOV circle.
- Put the magnification in brackets in the bottom-right just outside of the field of view.
- Labels must be vertically aligned to the right of the drawing.
- Label lines are to be totally horizontal but in some cases a vertical drop-down or extend-up line may be used. These are to be avoided where possible.
- Borders between structures are the most important and are to be drawn with clean, solid lines.
- Stippling is to be used when shading in areas that are darker (just tap it in!). No shading or cross-hatching is allowed.
Here is an example of how not to (picture on the left), and how to (picture on the right) do a proper scientific drawing:
