"You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother." --Albert Einstein
The proper use of a laboratory notebook, whether it's in electronic or paper form, is an acquired skill requiring practice. However, it is a skill that will serve the student well in all endeavors, even if this is the only science course completed. The careful, complete recording of events and observations can be applied to any field.
The keys to a good laboratory notebook are good, concise descriptions and a well-defined, clear layout.
Reasons for keeping a record of lab events, either in electronic labs (e-labs) or lab notebooks are many. First, carefully recorded notes can avoid useless repetition of experiments. In industrial situations, the notebook may be entered as evidence for the thorough testing of products or in patent disputes.
The notebook must be well organized and complete to serve as a useful tool. The student should spend time considering what information is important and what is the best way to organize that information. The lab manual will offer hints to help the student organize various experiments.
A laboratory notebook is a tool and not the goal of the laboratory work. The contents should be complete so that a reader with the same level of skills as the author could pick up the notebook and reproduce the experiments.
The Electronic Notebook
Your electonic notebook will be generated in the form or individual electronic lab reports (e-labs) similar to what would be found for each lab in a bound notebook. While using your laptop to generate your e-labs in lab, it is imperative to incorporate a sense of organization for each e-lab and use the freedom of the endless 'pages' in an electronic document to incorporate all your observations and experimental data. At the same time, it's important to recognize that your e-lab not become too large (>5MB) due to inappropriate scanning of images/graphs/charts that don't need to be excessively large in file size. Please see the e-lab instruction booklet titled, "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Surviving E-labs!" for information on how to minimize the size of scanned/copied items. (Most importantly, all scans should be grayscale...NO COLOR IMAGES!)
All labs and hence, e-lab reports, should strive to answer the following questions: Who's performing the lab? When is the lab being done? What's the question being asked in lab? How are you going to answer the question in lab? What data did you get in lab? What conclusions can you make from your lab?
Your e-lab is written not only to help answer the questions above, but also to allow others to be able to follow your experiment and achieve the exact same data and conclusions as you. Therefore, it's critical that we follow a specific format that will allow others to follow your ideas about the lab before coming to lab, your experiences during lab, and your final answers and thoughts after completing the lab.
Organizing Information:
The most important skill in keeping a good e-lab is learning to organize the information so that it is easily retrieved and understood. Therefore, each experiment requires forethought and planning. Remember, for the e-lab to be useful, someone must be able to read and understand what the experimenter did.
The format used for each experiment will vary depending upon the goals of the experiment. Students must learn to be flexible in the use and format of the notebook. For example, if the experiment is a series of measurements where the same procedure is used for each and the major emphasis of the experiment is to collect data, the notebook entry should reflect this with a single description of the procedure followed by a data table as in Figure 1. Here the student records the important information for each trial but does not repeat the steps followed because they are the same each time. Also, the calculations necessary to derive information from the data are included. The results are summarized in a second table, Figure 2. This table allows the data to be compared at a single glance. Deviations in the data are more obvious when compared in table format.
In another type of experiment, the student may be using an instrument or equipment for the first time. A complete description of the setup is usually called for. In addition, a picture of the setup allows the experimenter to quickly reassemble the same apparatus with little effort. Subsequent experiments with the same equipment can refer to the previous drawings and descriptions.
Every e-lab should begin with your Name, Date, Title of Experiment, and partner(s) if applicable.
You should include an Introduction that summarizes the concepts being presented in the lab, the chemical reactions, the mathematical equations, and any other useful information that would be helpful in answering the question/concepts being presented in the lab. The Introduction should not be a verbatim reproduction of the lab’s Background section.
Make sure to clearly state your Purpose/Goal(s) for your lab followed by your Hypothesis for the lab. Your hypothesis should be an educated guess as to the possible answer to your purpose/goal(s) for the lab.
Following your Introduction, Purpose, and Hypothesis, it is highly recommended that you include a section entitled: Pre-lab Notes. This section should include any comments or notes that are given at the beginning of every lab by your instructor. For your e-labs, you can scan in any notes taken during the pre-lab discussion using one of the scanners at the rear of the lab. Please scan in your pre-lab notes BEFORE leaving lab. You can also include any safety information about the chemicals you will be using in lab or any other hints that your instructor has given you about the upcoming lab.
Your e-lab is now ready for your Experiment section. It's imperative that this section contain enough information in it to allow someone else to use it in it's entirity to complete the experiment at a future date. Therefore, to maintain an accurate record of what is being done in lab, please immediately record your experimental techniques, data, and observations as you are performing your experiment.
Clear, descriptive titles throughout this section will help you organize your important information. Titles also help the reader to follow the experiment and results. Proper grammar and spelling are important and the e-lab should contain both. However, the goal is to record the experiment, not necessarily to write an award-winning essay. As the student's skill in recording information improves, additional attention can be devoted to sentence structure and spelling.
Most commonly, the first person, active voice is used in the e-labs. This allows the author to give credit to other individuals for their contributions to the work and to maintain a consistent format.
Occasionally, data will be obtained in the format of computer printouts or other output from instruments used. This information should be scanned/copied into the e-lab, as it is part of the experimental record. The instrument maker, model number, and settings used to record the data are also recorded in the notebook.
Both tables and graphs are important for organizing and presenting data. When preparing a table, consider the data to be recorded and leave space for calculated values and comments. Other points to remember:
Each table or graph requires a descriptive title
Number tables or graphs consecutively
Label the columns in tables or the axes on graphs with units
Note where any raw data are located in the e-lab
On a graph, use the same precision as the data, i.e., if the data are known to 0.01 g, then the graph should be to 0.01 g.
Since the e-lab is to be a permanent record of the work done, it is important that the writing demonstrate a sense of permanence. It is imperative that you don't delete information previously written into an e-lab, but that you just strikethrough the text.
The Results section is next. This usually includes a revised table of data, perhaps including calculated values. However, the main purpose of this section is to record your thoughts about the experiment and what you perceive the results to be. You may include suggestions for improving techniques, equipment or amount of materials used. Include any errors that have occurred and possible consequences. For example, if you over-titrated because you are color blind, note this and the effect of over-titrating, i.e., the standardized molarity is too small. It is understood that human error is unavoidable, and it should only be listed as an error if it can be identified. Do not write “I may have made an error measuring the volume.” Other examples of error include ability to read an instrument (i.e. It’s hard to measure 9.43567 mm using a ruler, so your precision will be limited.), or inability to transfer every drop of solvent from a beaker. This section is often where your instructor will want you to answer the Post-lab questions for each lab.
The Conclusion brings the report to a close. In this section, restate the goals of the experiment and what was found. Do the results support your hypothesis? What further experiments can be done either to support or refute what you have done? Often times, you will be turning in your e-lab before you have had time to complete your Results section. In this case, please use the conclusion to comment on your general experience in lab and any errors that you feel may impact your final answer to your Purpose statement.
Remember that keeping an e-lab is an acquired skill nurtured by patience and practice. It is an accomplishment worth striving to achieve!
Good Lab Practice
When you set up an experiment, be sure to make room for the laptop first. This will avoid having the laptop fall off the workbench or being the source of an accident. If you make your laptop easily accessible in your experimental area than recording all your lab data/information becomes less of a chore and will more likely become a good habit.
Be sure to note any safety precautions given either in this manual or by your instructor. Also, note any physical properties of the compounds you will be using. A simple table will keep this important information organized and easily located.
When recording data, use proper units and significant figures. Also, use good grammer and spelling so that your record is easily understood. Data that cannot be read cannot be used.
Some important information to include to help make your records clear and concise:
Starting and stopping times for procedures such as heating, cooling and mixing
Colors, odors or changes, such as formation of a gas or precipitate
Proper names of instruments or equipment used.
Adapted from Kanare, Howard M., Writing the Laboratory Notebook, American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C. 1985.