1. Move the decimal point to the right until you have a number between 1 and 10. In this case, we move it two places to the right: 9.7

2. Count the number of places you moved the decimal. We moved it two places to the right, so our exponent will be -2.

3. Write the number in the form of a x 10^b where 'a' is the number between 1 and 10 and 'b' is the exponent you calculated.

Therefore, 0.097 in scientific notation is 9.7 x 10^-2.