We present an alternative to a traditional first-year chemistry laboratory experiment. This experiment has four key features: students utilize stoichiometry, learn and apply principles of green chemistry, engage in authentic scientific inquiry, and discover why each part of a scientific lab report is necessary. The importance and essential qualities of written and verbal communication between scientists are discovered by students as they experiment by attempting to replicate different sample lab reports, each lacking some essential information. Experimenting in this way meets several general chemistry goals simultaneously: completion of an experiment on mass-mole relationships in a chemical reaction, demonstration of green chemistry ideas in action, and, most importantly, instruction on how and why scientists communicate in a standard written format. In fact, students invent these standards themselves as they discover this critical process skill through inquiry.