Lab Notebooks + Procedure

1. Lab Notebooks+ Procedure How to keep a lab notebook that can serve as part of your professional portfolio!

2. 7 Science Practices • Science Practice 1 - The student can use representations and models to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems. • Science Practice 2 - The student can use mathematics appropriately. • Science Practice 3 - The student can engage in scientific questioning to extend thinking or to guide investigations within the context of the AP course. • Science Practice 4 - The student can plan and implement data collection strategies in relation to a particular scientific question. (Note: Data can be collected from many different sources, e.g., investigations, scientific observations, the findings of others, historic reconstruction and/or archived data.)

3. 7 Science Practices (cont’d) • Science Practice 5 - The student can perform data analysis and evaluation of evidence. • Science Practice 6 - The student can work with scientific explanations and theories. • Science Practice 7 - The student is able to connect and relate knowledge across various scales, concepts and representations in and across domains.

4. LeMonnier, French astronomer who gets no credit for the first sightings of the planet Uranus. His notes were so bad that he thought it was a comet. Discovery of Uranus is instead awarded to Herschel. Gordon Gould had many ideas related to the production and use of lasers. He foresaw that they could cut steel or ignite fusion reactions. His notes were witnessed by a candystore notary instead of a colleague. He had undocumented meetings with the “maser people.” Years and years of legal proceedings were required to get him some of the credit he deserved. Bad record-keeping costs.

5. Types of Documentation • Notebook—factual details of experiments, including thought experiments, ideas, inventions, etc. • Logbook—for example, a list of measurements made • Diary (Journal)—What you were feeling, a personal record, opinions—stuff that is less factual than the notebook. • Depending on the situation, this might be appropriate to place in the notebook but be careful to delineate fact from opinion. • We will be journaling in this class!

6. A proper notebook page… • Written as the work is performed • Dated and signed by author • Each section has a clear, descriptive heading • The writing is legible and grammatically correct • Active voice in first person: • “I added the two ingredients…” • Read by witness and signed/dated

8. What to write with? No pencils.* Erasures are a definite no-no! No aqueous-based pens (e.g., most felt-tips). Best bet for general use: black, ballpoint pen. NEVER EVER TEAR OUT PAGES No white-out!! Just strike through, explain and initial errors. “It’s a notebook, not a neat book.”—R. Cueto *There are some exceptions—e.g. field notebooks where you know it will get wet and may not have a ready supply of pens.

9. Employer Checklist • Black, ballpoint pen used? • Legible handwriting? • Table of contents up-to-date? • Entries signed/dated • Clear headings saying what this page is about? • Written in first person? • Complete sentences? • Could the work be followed by another scientist? • Is the researcher correctly “thinking in the notebook”—I.e., ideas and plans and observations • Is the notebook stored safely when not in use?

10. What goes in the notebook? • Plans • Realities (deviations from the plan) • Observations • Sketches and photographs • “Links” to the notebooks of others in your group • “Links” to instrument logbooks and data on disks • Ideas: a notebook is a repository of creativity • E-mails from collaborators (tape or paste them in) • Plot-as-you-go graphs: do it! • Summaries of papers you have read • Hints and tips you may get from science friends • Concerns and personal data….but be careful to delineate fact from fiction/opinion. Also, remember that personal info could become embarrassingly public! For that, use a diary.

11. Laboratory Notebook Format • Numbered pages • Number every single page consecutively (on both sides) • Page #1 is the first page of the TOC • Table of contents • The first 4 pages in the notebook are left blank for the TOC • TOC is filled in as each experiment is performed • The first experiment entry begins on page #5

12. Table of Contents Examples

13. Laboratory Notebook Format • Each experiment entry should include: • Laboratory number and title • Date (on every page) • Purpose/objectives of the lab • Procedure followed: • If performing procedure for the first time or designing a new experiment, include ALL details of the method • If performing procedure from a manual (or other resource), include the reference to the procedure and include any special notations on modifications or variations of the procedure

14. Laboratory Notebook Format • Each experiment entry should include: • A sketch of the apparatus used (if not typical) • Qualitative observations should be in a table – table must have a number and title • All data (including units) must be collected in a table if possible. • Any applicable calculations (and equations used) • Your signature and the signature of the Principal Investigator on every page

15. Laboratory Notebook Format Example of how to set-up notebook prior to attending lab: Continued on page 11

16. Continued from page 9

17. Great Days in Science: Discovery of first Computer Bug. What else would you do but glue it into your notebook?HarvardSept. 9, 1945

18. First transistor amplifier, AT&T Bell Labs (Walter H. Brattain)Dec. 24, 1947