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IMPORTANCE OF A PROPER LAB NOTEBOOK |
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In industry, your
lab notebook can be worth millions in the event that your company winds up
in patent litigation. In
college, your lab notebook records all of your work so that you do not
have to rediscover any “peaking and tweaking” you did by repeating
experiments. In AP chemistry,
your lab notebook is documentation of the lab work you did when your AP
performance is evaluated for possible college credit. |
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| SETTING
UP THE LAB NOTEBOOK |
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The lab notebook must
be permanently bound, preferably with a sewn binding, so that pages cannot
be torn out. These are usually sold as “composition books” at office
supply stores. |
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Label the cover of
your notebook with your name, the name of this course, and your
teacher’s name. |
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Using permanent dark
blue or black ink only, number all of the front pages (the right-side
pages) on the upper right hand corner.
Only number the front of the page – the back of the page (the
left-side pages) will receive limited use. |
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On the top line of
the first two pages write “Table of Contents” centered left to right. |
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On the top line of
the third page write “Contact List”.
This is where the names, email addys, and phone numbers of your lab
partners will be recorded. Be sure and keep this updated throughout the year. |
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| USING
THE LAB NOTEBOOK |
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You will use only the
right-side pages. The
left-side pages will be saved for minor or preliminary calculations and
notes of no consequence to the experiment – such as personal reminders. |
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No pages are ever to
be removed. |
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All entries must be
made directly in the notebook in permanent dark blue or black ink only. |
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The notebook should
be arranged in chronological order. |
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When you begin
writing on a new page, record the date in the upper right corner below the
page number and write the title of the experiment (it must match the title
in the table of contents) centered at the top of the page. |
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When you are finished
with a page, write the date of the last entry on that page, print your
name, and initial it. |
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If you make an error,
draw a single bold horizontal line through the error, making sure that it
can still be read. Never
erase, obliterate, or whiteout anything in your lab notebook.
Write the correct information to the right (or above) the incorrect
entry and then write a brief note explaining the correction. For
example: |
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4.57 g
4.75 g accidentally
transposed digits when reading the balance |
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If there is a blank
page, such as many of the left-hand pages, or if there is any blank area
on a page, a large “X” must be drawn across it.
The “X” is then initialed and dated.
If you need to skip a line between sections on a page, draw a wavy
line across that line, and then date and initial the wavy line. There
should be no unused empty space on a page except for the printed margins. |
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Everything related to
the laboratory work must be recorded in the notebook. There should never
be any loose scraps of paper in the notebook. Never write data on another
sheet of paper with the idea of recording it in the lab notebook later. |
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The lab notebook must
be neat, organized, and labeled. If
your teacher cannot easily read and understand what you have recorded,
then it is not satisfactorily recorded. |
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If graphs, charts,
spreadsheets, etc. are to be attached to the notebook, use permanent dark
blue or black ink to label the space on the page with a description of the
item and the results. For example: “Excel graph of density versus sugar
concentration.” This way,
if it is lost or removed, there will be a record of it. Do not make any
notes on the inserted material. The
inserted material should be attached to the page over the description with
tape or glue. Never use staples, and absolutely, never simply stick the
material between the pages. |
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Do not copy any
information from the notebooks of other students.
There is an exception to this that may occur when you are working
in a group, and only one member of the group records the data.
In this case, you must indicate in your notebook that the
information was copied from another person’s notebook.
Next to the copied information, you must write the name of the
person who originally recorded the information and the page number in
their notebook from which the information was copied. |
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Each page must be
consecutively numbered and have your name, date and the experiment title |
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Include in the
notebook a complete description of the work performed, all reference
materials consulted, and ideas that you have related to the work. |
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| PRACTICAL
ADVICE |
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Always
record raw data in your notebook immediately.
Do not trust to your memory to keep track of it.
It is very easy to transpose digits.
Interruptions have a way of distracting you and causing you to
forget. You may also hear someone near you mentioning values and become
confused as to what your own values were. |
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Leave plenty of room
for the notebook on your lab bench. That
way it will not get knocked onto the floor, or worse, knock some or all of
your equipment onto the floor as well. |
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Be
careful of where you place your notebook.
Keep it away from any splashes, spills, or puddles. If you are
writing in permanent ball point pen as required, then water will not cause
your writing to run or bleed, but if water gets onto your notebook that
can make it very difficult to record data on wet pages.
That spill may or may not be a harmless solid, and that puddle may
be only water, but it might also be a dilute, if not concentrated,
solution of a corrosive, which will attack your notebook as it dries and
becomes more concentrated. |
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Do
not use the notebook as a tray to carry small items such as crucibles or
beakers.
It is too easy for them to fall off the notebook, or be
accidentally knocked off the notebook, and onto the floor. |
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| BEGINNING
A LAB |
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TITLE |
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Begin each lab on a
new right-hand page. Write
the title of the lab centered on the top line of the page. |
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Enter the title and
the page number in the Table of Contents. |
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LAB
PARTNER/S |
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List the people who
worked with you on the lab. |
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PURPOSE |
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In one to two
sentences, three at the most, describe the purpose of the experiment. |
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Include the general
method or approach that will be used and the expected results. |
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Do NOT begin with
“The purpose of this lab is”. |
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Remember that the
educational purpose of the lab is not the same as the experimental
purpose. The purpose would
not be stated as, “This experiment will teach us about density
measurements” but as something more like, “The density of degassed
Coke will be used to determine its sugar content.” |
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BACKGROUND |
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This section will
include: |
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(1) |
A citation of the source of your
experimental procedure and any background sources that were used.
Use MLA form to cite works referenced: http://www.citationmachine.net/. |
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(2) |
Balanced chemical equations for
all reactions that are part of the lab |
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(3) |
Calculation of molar masses, if
stoichiometry is involved in the lab |
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MATERIALS |
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List the chemicals,
the equipment, the glassware, and anything else used to perform the
experiment. |
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SKETCH OF EXPERIMENTAL
SETUP |
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Once you have your
equipment and apparatus set up, a sketch of your experimental setup may
need to be included: if you have never used a setup like it before, if
your procedure includes anything that might be difficult for your reader
to picture, or if you have customized the setup in some way that you might
need to refer to again at a later date. |
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PROCEDURE |
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Use a ruler and a pen
to divide any pages that will contain the procedure into two parts by
drawing a vertical line approximately 3/5 of the way across the page from
the left-hand margin. |
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Before you come to
lab you will record the procedural outline in the larger, left-hard part
of the page. During lab you
will record any modifications or any procedural notes in the smaller,
right-hard part of the page. The
results do NOT belong here. They
will be written in the results section. |
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The procedural
outline is a bulleted or numbered list of the steps.
Keep these short and concise, but also complete.
Read the entire procedural section of the lab handout or lab manual
before you start writing the procedural outline.
This will make writing the procedural outline easier and less
confusing. |
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RESULTS |
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All data and
observations must be recorded in this section, and it should be recorded
in chronological order Include all measurements made using correct
significant digits and units. All
important observations also belong in this section.
Use the passive past tense and avoid personal pronouns whenever
possible. “I saw the
solution bubble when my partner added the ethanoic acid” should be
rewritten as, “The solution bubbled when the ethanoic acid was added.”
Observations are always written using complete sentences. |
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It will save lab time
if data tables are set up in the lab notebook before coming to the lab.
This will take some planning and thought, but will save time and space in
the lab notebook. |
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Data tables will need
to be in standard formal (click
here). All graphs will
need to be in standard scientific format (click
here). Some can be done
with Excel, some must be done by hand, and some can be done with a
combination of the two. |