Scientific Notebooks

What is the purpose of a notebook?

The notebook should serve as a record of your research and include enough detail that a scientist skilled in the field (such as an aptamer researcher) could reproduce the work.

What goes into creating an accomplished scientific notebook? An accomplished notebook ...

1. Is Up-to-Date: Lab notebooks are current, containing information about every time the researcher worked in the lab.

2. Is Well organized: It includes all of the following elements:

1. Front cover label (name, semester, year, project name/description - including target, pool, etc. if appropriate),
2. Spine label (name, semester year, & notebook number),
3. Updated index,
4. Page numbers and dates,
5. Additional pages or cutouts are properly adhered to notebook (i.e. no loose paper in notebooks)

3. Includes Experiment Title(s) and Purpose(s): The title and purpose contains the following elements:

1. Title of the experiment that is descriptive of the procedure,
2. Name(s) of group participants or person performing the experiment,
3. Purpose of the experiment, which states the goals and/or questions addressed in the experiment.

4. Includes Experiment Safety and Waste Disposal Information: For all of the newly introduced reagents, materials, and/or equipment, which require specific safety precautions, the following following elements are included:

1. Waste disposal instructions.
2. Summary of hazards.
3. Personal protective equipment (PPE) required when working with reagent, material, or equipment.
4. Additional precautions (if any) needed to maintain a safe working environment.

5. Includes Experiment Materials and Methods Information: Procedures are mostly reported clearly, accurately, and in logical order. This section shows important/most calculations (if necessary) and report necessary information to repeat the procedure (such as, but not limited to, concentrations, volumes, incubation temps., times, aliquot name/identifier, etc.).

6. Includes Experiment Results: This section includes the following elements:

1. Data is complete (contains all pertinent data/gels collected on project/experiment).
2. Data (such as gels) are clearly and logically labeled. On gels, pertinent bands on ladders and wells/samples are clearly labeled.
3. All data (such as figures, tables, and gels) is described/observed as pertains to experiment. May be brief.

7. Includes Experiment Conclusions and Future Works: For each round of selection or series of experiments, this section contains all 4 elements:

1. Conclusive or summary statements (including discussion/mention of controls).
2. Critique or comments on result analysis, potentially putting the results in context with broader experiments.
3. Brief discussion/summary of problems encountered, if any.
4. Relevant future works suggested.

What are some common mistakes students make with their notebooks?

1. Failure to update - The most common mistake students make is that they fail to regularly update their notebooks. Many students want to scribble something down on paper and then transcribe this into their notebook at at later date, but this does not work in practice because (1) This method is time consuming and therefore the transcription is often delayed or completely avoided. Instead, write directly into the notebook. Do the work/record-keeping once and be done. (2) The notes aren't easily deciphered, especially after a significant delay. (3) The notes are lost, especially when there's a habit of keeping lots of loose papers in the notebook. (4) Information is lost in the transcription process.

2. Failure to label gels - All gels (even the gels that "didn't work") should be taped or glued into your notebooks (i.e. no loose gels). All gels should have an informative title, such as "FGF8b aptamer selection: R3 ccPCR" or "APP aptamer selection: R2 ccPCR, take 2." Gels should be well labeled, including labels for all lanes of the gel, the type of ladder (ex. 10 bp ladder), pertinent bands of the ladders (i.e. the bands that flank or are closest to the size of your product), the expected size of the product (ex. 119 bp and maybe the primer size, if that band is visible on the gel), and the controls (such as the "no template control").

3. Failure to include enough procedural information - Students often print and paste the procedure into the notebook and then regularly reference that procedure in subsequent work. However, the exact procedure is rarely followed step-by-step. Instead, new reagents are used; incubation times and/or temperatures are adjusted (not recommended); wash volume and/or number are adjusted, and new reagents are used etc. To properly note your procedure, you may refer to the page(s) of the procedure followed, but then list the exceptions to the procedure. Alternatively, students may keep an electronic version of the protocol; update it accordingly for the current work, then print and paste the updated version each time into the notebook.

There are many other inefficiencies that fall into the "failure to include enough procedural information" category. These include:

(a) Failure to note exact reagent aliquot used - Each reagent aliquot should be properly labeled (such as by the date the reagent, such as buffer aliquot, was obtained). When using the reagent aliquot, in the notebook note the exact aliquot used in the reaction simply by writing the aliquot date next to the reagent.

(b) Failure to check off each reagent as added - While researchers are not required to check-off reagents as they are added to the reaction, this practice helps researchers easily stay in focus during the reaction preparation process. "Checking off reagents" is one of the first step to troubleshooting a failed reaction.

(c) Failure to note the exact reagent and reagent's concentration - Many different buffers, salts, and primers are used. It is imperative that the proper name, concentration, and pH of these materials are properly noted.

(d) Failure to note the exact primers used - Many different primers (and nucleic acid pools) are used in the lab. It is imperative to note the proper name of the primers (such as "41.N62F"), so that future researchers may easily reproduce the work.

How are the notebooks evaluated?

Attached is an example of a rubric that was used to evaluate notebooks.