Scribd
Upload
18 views

Notebook MIT

Uploaded by

Charles Marlowe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
18 views

Notebook MIT

Uploaded by

Charles Marlowe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Instructions for Using Your Laboratory Notebook

Why is it Important to Keep a Good Laboratory Notebook?


Keeping a complete and accurate record of experimental methods and data is a
vital part of science and engineering. Your laboratory notebook is a permanent record of
what you did and what you observed in the laboratory. Learning to keep a good
notebook now will establish good habits that will serve you throughout your career. It is
extremely important that your notebook accurately record everything you did. A good
test of your work is the following question: could someone else, with an equivalent
technical background to your own, use your notebook to repeat your work, and obtain
the same results? For that matter, could YOU come back six months later, read your
notes, and make sense of them? If you can answer yes to these two questions, you
are keeping a good notebook.

1
Adapted from MIT Mechanical Engineering Dept. (LabNotebookInstructions.doc)
Rules for Maintaining your Laboratory Notebook

Leave several pages blank at the beginning for a


Table of Contents and update it when you start
each new experiment or topic

Always use pen and write neatly and clearly

Date every page on the top outside corner

Start each new topic (experiment, notes,


calculation, etc.) on a right-side (odd
numbered) page

DATE Record the TITLE and OBJECTIVES of each


TITLE
Objectives and/or experiment (or notes or calculations) at the top of
purpose of
experiment
the first page of the notebook dedicated to this
topic.

R = 3.256 Ω
If you make a mistake, don’t obliterate it! You
3.526 may need to read your mistake later – perhaps
you were right the first time!
R = 3.256 Ω Use a single cross out and EXPLAIN why it
3.526 miswrote was an error. Initial and date.
Data typed into the computer must be printed
and taped into your lab notebook. Plots of data
made in lab should also be printed and taped in
your lab notebook.

2
Adapted from MIT Mechanical Engineering Dept. (LabNotebookInstructions.doc)
When you record an observation in your notebook,
When I did…. include an explanation of what you were doing at
or
Step 2.4.1… the time. If appropriate, you may just record the
I measured step number in the instructions followed by your
the
following….
observation.

3
Adapted from MIT Mechanical Engineering Dept. (LabNotebookInstructions.doc)
You must have your lab notebook initialed
by Mrs. Williams when you complete your
lab each day. Any pages not signed on the
day the experiment was performed will
adversely affect your lab notebook grade!

Key points in maintaining your Chemistry Notebook:


1. Neat and legible handwriting.
2. Experiment title and purpose clearly stated.
3. Procedure described clearly and succinctly, including errors and the steps taken
to correct them.
4. Computations performed neatly showing intermediate steps.
5. Errors crossed out with a single line, explained, date, and initial.
6. All pages dated at the top and signed by Mrs. Williams on the same date as your exit
ticket.

Metric Requirements Worth


Pen Write in pen, not pencil. 10%
Date Date every page at the top. 10%
Right Side Begin each experiment/topic on an odd page. 10%
Printouts Attach printouts and plots of data as needed. 10%
Obvious care taken to make it readable,
Legible 10%
even if you have bad handwriting.
Mistakes Mistakes crossed out with one line and explained 10%
Organized  Table of contents.
 Title of new experiment or topic on each new
odd page. 20%
 Objectives of experiment.
 Clear sections of materials, methods, and
procedures of what you were doing when.
Informative  All required data and information.
20%
 Descriptive comments of your observations.

Adapted from MIT Mechanical Engineering Dept. (LabNotebookInstructions.doc)

You might also like