Keeping a Lab Notebook

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Keeping a Lab Notebook

• W. Wilson
• Department of Engineering Physics
• University of Central Oklahoma
• Edmond, OK 73034http//www.physics.uco.edu/wwil
  sonwwilson_at_uco.edu

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What is a Lab Notebook?

• Complete record of procedures, data, and thoughts
  to pass on to other researchers
• Why experiments were initiated, how performed,
  and results, comments
• Place to compile data/charts/photos/ideas
• Place of clues, to troubleshoot problems
• Place to observe whole picture and think
• Legal document, to prove patents
• Defense against accusations of fraud or lawsuits

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Purpose of Lab Notebook

• The purpose of a lab notebook is to keep a record
  of the experiment so you or someone else could
  repeat your work or understand exactly how it was
  done.
• Each laboratory notebook must be written as an
  individual effort, never as a group project.

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How Important?

• In case of Lab Fire
• Grab the notebooks!

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Physical Characteristics of a Good Notebook

• Large- gt 8.5x11 at least (attaching stuff)
• Bound (stitched) pages to ensure integrity
• Numbered pages
• White gridded
• Acid free paper (30 years)
• Duplicate pages (differing opinions)
• Written in Pen. Felt tip is bad.

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Preparing a New Lab Notebook

• Create a table of contents
• Two facing pages
• List experiments by
• Title
• Date
• Page Number

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Attached Materials

• Computer generated data
• Photographic data
• All other data
• Printed graphs (make as you go)
• Datasheet templates
• Product labels
• Who provided plasmids, etc.
• Notes (or pasted copies) of discussions,
  conversations, emails, readings related to expt
  design or goals
• Archive locations of plasmids, probes, etc.
• X-rays and other large items may be kept in a
  separate folder if they dont fit in the lab
  notebook.
• Always write on these materials the date and
  other identifying information in case they get
  separated!

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The importance of timing

• Always record, update, review
• Record as you go
• At the LATEST, insert data the next day!
• Do a weekly checkup
• 1 hour to review
• Make sure everything is attached securely, all
  summaries written, future directions written,
  record in table of contents

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Tips to Preserve Data Integrity

• Never, ever, remove a page
• Fill consecutive pages
• Cross out unused parts of pages
• Record all info as accurately as possible.
• Do NOT omit any result, no matter how odd.
• Cross out mistakes lightly (might need to
  recover)
• Write legibly
• Put a full date (international date problems)
  with month spelled out.

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More Helpful Tips

• The institution owns your notebook
• Do NOT remove your notebook from the lab (unless
  this is an acceptable lab practice)
• You may get permission to take copies, but do
  not take original pages
• Do NOT read another persons notebook without
  permission (even the PI wont look at advanced
  researchers notebooks secretly).
• Should be kept for at least 5 years

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Bad record-keeping costs.
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.
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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
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The Right Stuff
Notebooks have to last 23 years after patent
issue. Patents take time to get, so figure 30
years longevity. Paper has to be very good (much
paper today is junk by the standards of a hundred
years ago). Notebook should be bound. No
spiral notebooks! No loose-leaf! Page layout
easy to graph, date, sign, etc. Table of
contents!
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What to write with?
No pencils!! Erasures are a definite no-no! USE
PEN ONLY! Best bet for general use black pen.
Use other color pens for highlighting as
appropriate No white-out!! Just strike through,
explain and initial errors. Its a notebook,
not a neat book.R. Cueto (But in practice, the
neater the better.)
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Sticky situations

• It is better to glue or tape that original paper
  snippet into the lab book than it is to copy the
  result.
• Glue acid-free white glue is best. I think
  this means Elmers?
• Rubber cement is not recommended (but used to be,
  and I think it works pretty well).
• Tape
• Have you ever seen the 3M research complex?
• There are various qualities of tape. Use the
  best.

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Legal Matters
You do NOT own the notebook. Your employer
does! You may ask for a copy. Depending on the
specifics of youremployers intellectual property
agreement (usually signedby you on the first
day of employment), you may be allowed a copy.
The lab director can and should inspect books
periodically. Once a lab notebook is filled up
and no longer needed inthe lab, it is usually
kept in the company library.
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Lab Notebook Checklist

• Black, ballpoint pen used?
• Legible handwriting?
• Table of contents up-to-date?
• Entries signed/dated (October 13, 2002 better
  than 10/13/02)
• 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
• Are entries witnessed appropriately?
• Is the notebook stored safely when not in use?

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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 info . but be careful
  to delineate fact from opinion. . and
  remember all info could become
  embarrassingly public!

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Labeling Samples
Good WJW13.5a This means WJWs notebook
13, page 5, sample a. Bad if used alone
Data set for 0.1 TMV solution. The label
should POINT to the detailed notebook page and
description.
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LABNOTEBOOKSGREATEST HITS Discovery of first
Computer Bug. What else would you do but glue it
into your notebook?HarvardSept. 9, 1945
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Merry Christmas, Ma Bell! First
TransistorATT Bell Labs Note prestigious
witness list (some signed), dates, schematic.
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Library of Congress Alexander Graham Bell
http//memory.loc.gov/ammem/bellhtml/bellhome.html
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The Telephone Gambit Chasing Alexander Graham
Bell's Secret (2008)by Seth Shulman
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• Linus Pauling1954 Nobel Prize
• One of only 4 to have won multiple
  Nobel Prizes.
• Only one to win two in unrelated
  fields (Chemistry Peace)
• Only one to have been awarded each
  prize without sharing.

This is a page from Linus Paulings lab notebook,
describing his discovery of the protein
alpha-helix.
http//osulibrary.orst.edu/specialcollections/rnb/
index.html
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Charles Darwin
http//darwin-online.org.uk
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EXAMPLE LABNOTEBOOK ENTRIES
The following are example lab notebook entries
graciously donated by a researcher who wishes to
remain anonymous. (Because he doesnt want
anyoneto know that he is a closet
experimentalist.) This is the type of record
keeping to which all of us aspire, but that few
manage to achieve.
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Note that pagehas the date
Note computerprintout isglued intonotebook
Note that error is clearly marked
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Note that thisexperimentalist hassome clear
opinionson some of the signconventions usedin
his programmingenvironment.
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Note the bad newsMuch of the previouswork will
have to beredone!
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The new calibrationis shown here.
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Method hasbeen shamelesslifted from another.
The experimentapparatus set-up issketched.
Note careful way thattimes are recorded
asapparatus is pumpeddown for first time
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Some theoryandcalculations are shown.
Note data circled in red with line running off
the right marginnext page shows wherethat line
connects.
Some problemsclearly noted.
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Note graph paperused for plotand glued onto
page.
Note graph of finalresults includingerror bars!
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References

• Kathy Barker, At the Bench A laboratory
  Navigator. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory press.
  1998.
• Guidelines for Keeping a Laboratory Record.
  David Caprette, Rice University.
  http//www.ruf.rice.edu/bioslabs/tools/notebook/n
  otebook.html
• Guidelines for Keeping a Laboratory Notebook.
  Colin Purrington, Swarthmore Univ.
  http//www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/cpurrin1/notebook
  advice.htm
• Laboratory Record Keeping. Todd E. Garabedian,
  Nature Biotechnology v. 15 (August 1997)
  pp.799-800http//biotech.about.com/gi/dynamic/off
  site.htm?sitehttp3A2F2Fwww.wiggin.com2Fpubs2
  Farticles_template.asp3FID3D102187242000
• Office of Research Integrity, U.S. Dept. of
  Health and Human Services http//www.unh.edu/rcr/
  
• Responsible Conduct of Research Online Study
  Guide. Julie Simpson, University of New
  Hampshire http//www.unh.edu/rcr/
• Francis L. Macrina, Scientific Integrity An
  Introductory Text with Cases. ASM Press. 2000.