Scientists are being called upon to communicate more clearly, strategically, and frequently with the public. An understudied, but influential, outreach method is writing newspaper op-ed commentaries. Using speech act theory as a framework, this qualitative analysis of the objectives and strategies scientists enact when writing op-eds found that writers focus on informing, defending, and exciting about science through personal stories, accessible descriptions of research, and references to history and popular culture. This study’s application of speech act theory to empirically derived objectives expressed by scientists and enacted in a specific mode of communication helps advance science communication beyond deficit-oriented models toward styles of outreach that take the audience’s interpretive agency into account.