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Guidelines for Keeping a Laboratory Record
The notebook is your record of work done in the laboratory and should be recorded in the first person. It does not require glamorous penmanship but legibility is paramount and a modicum of organization is helpful. With experience you will begin to predict the types of data generated by various experiments and to set up your record-keeping accordingly. For example, a table or chart prepared before the data are collected, when appropriate, greatly simplifies recording, interpreting, and analyzing the results. Unfortunately, a complete and well-organized notebook comes only with experience and hard work. Hopefully, in this course you can develop good record keeping habits so that later the task of record keeping will not detract from the focus of the experiment.
These guidelines are written to help you keep notebooks that would be acceptable in an ACADEMIC research setting. (Standards for INDUSTRY may differ: e.g., b/c of PATENT process, notebooks may contain ONLY procedures and raw data; data analysis and interpretation must be done elsewhere.)
- See Guidelines for Keeping a Laboratory Record on Dr. Caprette's Experimental Biosciences website.
- Recall that the page number and date go in the UPPER
RIGHT corner of each page; if your pages are prenumbered,
you do not have to "renumber" them.
- Each page should contain only ONE date (i.e., do not put multiple dates on the same page; start a new page for a new date).
- The Table of Contents must be kept current (i.e., you must
update it before lab each week)
- Please carefully read my Honor
Code Policy BEFORE the first day of lab.
- It is required that the experiments be recorded in a bound,
gridded notebook with consecutively numbered pages
and carbonless copy pages.
- A supervisor will initial the notebooks at the end of each
lab session; the date and time will be noted
- You must place the copy notebook pages
for each lab session in your folder BEFORE
leaving lab EACH week; do NOT remove these pages from your
folder at any time
- Reserve 2-3 pages at the beginning of the notebook for
your Table of Contents (do not use the preprinted space on
the inside cover)
- The Table of Contents and any notebook pages completed
AFTER the last day of lab are due with the Project Proposal
- Notebooks may be purchased at the campus store: Chemistry
Top 100-set, ISBN 1-930882-00-9 (Hayden McNeil)
- You may use your notebook from Bios 211, 311, or 312 if
you have pages remaining
-
Record entries on NB pages "top to bottom" (i.e., do not use a "two column" format).
- Use a BALL-POINT PEN for ALL entries.
Use ONLY black or blue ink.
Do NOT use felt-tip, roller-ball, or fountain pens.
- Purpose and Introduction and pre-lab calculations
are the ONLY entries permitted in your notebook when you
come to lab.
- A notebook is required to be a chronological account of your research.
TAKE YOUR NOTEBOOK EVERYWHERE IN THE LAB! Do not write on scratch paper and copy the notes into your notebook.
**You MUST enter all procedures and data directly into your
notebook during the lab itself. Your entries must be sufficiently detailed so that you or
someone else could conduct any procedure with only the notebook as a guide.**
When experiments are performed concurrently (as is the case most of the time) it is impossible to have uninterrupted pages dedicated to a specific section of the experiment. When notes for more than one experiment are on the same page, write "continued on page ##" below the entry for each experiment. The top of each page of a continuing investigation should read "continued from page ##". This notation seems redundant when the results are on consecutive pages but it is absolutely necessary when the data are recorded after a section of another experiment.
The notebook must have some basis of organization and chronological order is the only standard recognized.
- Indicate the member of your team who actually
did each procedure (first name is sufficient);
in certain settings, such as industry, supervisors must
know WHO did the work (e.g., when deciding who gets the
promotion). Describe
all procedures that you perform in sufficient detail to
repeat the experiment; give brief descriptions of procedures
performed by team members, record any raw data, and reference
the appropriate pages in their notebooks. Remember to describe
any problems encountered or unexpected results.
- When errors occur while making entries, draw a single line through the incorrect value and write the correct value above or beside the error. A note may also be made as to the cause of the error. No entry should be made illegible no matter what the error.
If a chart, table, or even a page becomes intolerably messy, draw a single "x" over the mess and note at the bottom of the page "See page ##" and recopy with corrections on page ## with a notation "recopied with corrections from page ##".
The format and style of the notebook follow
guidelines used in BIOS 211 and 311.
Please see the BIOS 313 checklist .
Here are additional details for BIOS 313:
- Pictures of gels must be dated,
labeled, and taped in your notebook; one picture
goes on the original notebook page and one
goes on the copy that we remove.
- You must
submit all raw data. Please organize the information
so that it is readily understood by someone who will
be reviewing your findings.
You are responsible for maintaining a research quality
notebook that follows the guidelines we have given you.
SPECIAL NOTE: Record enough procedure details in your notebook during each day of lab so that you can repeat these procedures using your notebook as the ONLY resource (i.e., you should not use printed web pages or handouts from previous labs).
Copyright, Acknowledgements,
and Intended Use
Created by B. Beason (bbeason@rice.edu),
Rice University, 10 January 2008
Updated 3 July 2008