This document discusses techniques for elucidating organic molecular structures using spectroscopy. It introduces spectroscopy as a technique that determines structure without destroying much sample by measuring light absorption. It describes the electromagnetic spectrum and how different spectroscopic techniques work, including infrared spectroscopy for functional groups, mass spectrometry for molecular fragmentation, nuclear magnetic resonance for distinguishing hydrogen environments, and ultraviolet spectroscopy for electron transitions. It provides examples of using these techniques to determine the lowest energy conformations of a molecule.