In this work, near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (NEXAFS) experiment is done to obtain the chemical and structural information about the occurrence and the average orientation of unoccupied molecular orbitals within the organic films. Amino acid, such as Tyrosine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA), is linked to a thiol through a peptide bond and is adsorbed and self-assembled to polycrystalline gold surfaces. Results from the C k-edge and O k-edge spectra serves as fingerprints to each amino acid analogues. The average orientation of the molecules relative to the gold surface is determined from the polarization effects observed as intensity changes of the peaks in the spectra when the x-ray incidence angle is varied. It is assumed that the average tilt angle of the main molecular axis of amino acid linked to short amidethiol is based on the deduced orientation of the peptide bond. © Physica Scripta 2005.