Question: I've just soldered a SOIC-16 am26c32 on to a breakout board.

The datasheet shows the orientation of the chip by means of a semi circle at one end (<http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/am26c32.pdf>). However, on the actual device, there is no such semi circle to be found - only the name of the chip.

Am I to assume that pin 1 is the bottom left, when the chip shows the writing the right way up?

Answer: 
Some SOIC type of packages don't have a dot or semi-circle. The first row is designated by a bevel,

[![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/S9OcD.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/S9OcD.png)
[![Mechanical Drawing](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Q9nl.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Q9nl.png)

As Olin said, and as you can see from the mechanical drawing, one side should have a bevel.

Also, in practice, TI prints/etches/lasers a pretty clear bar onto the left hand side (in above drawing), something like:

[![soic](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Wd3oq.jpg)](https://uk.farnell.com/texas-instruments/sn74hc595d/8-bit-sipo-shift-register-soic/dp/2144926)