APPENDIX II. HOW TO USE YOUR LABORATORY NOTEBOOK

 

               Your Laboratory Notebook is an original record of your work.  You will be using it from day to day, but it will also be preserved, not only for future reference but also for legal purposes: it may be presented in a Federal Court as evidence in a patent suit.  Therefore, the instructions below should be followed to insure that your records will be adequate both from a reference and a legal standpoint.

 

               1.  Get your notebook from your Teaching Assistant, and have it formally charged out to you.  Turn it in when it is full, and get a new one.  Notebooks which have been properly indexed and identified may be charged out for subsequent reference.  Turn in all outstanding notebooks with the final report.

 

               2.  Keep only one notebook in active use at one time, since your notebook serves also as a day book, a daily record of your work, which could assume great importance in a patent suit.  However, you may use separate Laboratory Notebooks to record results from a routine test which is generating voluminous data or to record data from a continuous operation, such as a pilot plant run.

 

               3.  As you start each new page in your notebook, write at the top of the page: the date, (day, month, year), the Experiment Number, and the subject.

 

               4.  For each new problem, record the following information:

 

                                             a.  A brief statement of the problem.

 

                                             b.  Sketches or flow diagrams of important apparatus other than that described                                               and used in standardized tests, such as ASTM procedures.

 

                                             c.  A brief, unabbreviated description of new, not previously coded, materials                                                  used.

 

               5.  For each new experiment or run, start a new page and record:

 

                                             a.  The object of the experiment.

 

                                             b.  Changes made in the equipment used.

 

                                             c.  The source and physical or chemical characteristics of raw materials used,                                                   unless previously given or a standard material.

 

                                             d.  Operating details, such as amounts of material, temperatures, pressures,                                                      reaction times, rates of flow, yields, etc.

 

                                             e.  Observations, including a statement of results.

 

                                             f.  Complete and adequate cross-referencing of samples submitted for physical                                                or analytical tests.

 

                                             g.  Calculations made from data.

 

               6.  Report your results in an objective, factual way that will be clearly understood by someone who refers to your work at a later date.  Do not use unnecessary, detrimental statements, such as “N.G.,” “not so hot”, “results unpromising,” “stains badly,” etc.  Such statements are too vague to be useful in evaluating research results.

 

               7.  Include complete cross-references to relevant pages of other notebooks or project reports.  Cross-reference samples submitted for physical or chemical tests by notebook page numbers.

 

               8.  If you use abbreviations, define them clearly in the same notebook.

 

               9.  If you use trade names of materials, provide full information on the source, nature, and, if possible, chemical composition of the product.  Manufacturer’s Lot Numbers or Batch Numbers are very helpful.

 

               10.  Do not erase an error.  Draw a line through it (so that it can still be read), and insert the correction next to it.

 

               11.  Sign and date the page at the bottom after all other entries have been made.

 

                                             a.  The experimenter should “sign” if the written material results from                                                               experimental work; the writer should “sign” if other written material is entered.

 

                                             b.  If you believe that an invention or novel idea is involved, have the line                                                         “Understood and Witnessed” signed by an independent technically qualified                                                   witness who has actually observed the critical features of the experiment,                                                            whenever an experiment is involved; or who has read and understood the                                                     written material when no experimental work is involved.  In case of a patent                                                   action, this will provide a witness who can qualify in court as technically                                                          competent, and who can testify that you have actually done what you said you                                               did.

 

               12.  Prepare an index of the notebook contents on a page provided for that purpose.

 

               13.  You should recognize that the cost of a laboratory notebook is negligibly small compared with the cost of lost data carelessly recorded on paper towels, old envelopes, and scraps of paper.  A well-used, dirty notebook which contains a record of all your experiments and results is far more valuable than a very clean, but skimpily filled out, notebook.

 

 

PLEASE NOTE

 

YOUR TA WILL GIVE YOU A NOTEBOOK TO USE.  TURN IT IN WITH YOUR FINAL REPORT.