Your Laboratory Notebook

 

In biotechnology, keeping a proper laboratory notebook is an essential skill.  You need to document your activity to provide a record of what you’ve done, and in the business sense, to establish ownership for future patenting purposes.  If you don’t write it down as it happens, it did not happen!  So your notebook is a legal document as well as a scientific record. 

 

General Rules

  1. In the biotech world, a bound notebook with numbered pages is a must.  Your teacher will specify if your class will deviate from this standard for practical purposes.
  2. Write all parts of your lab in black ink.  NO PENCIL.   Why?
  3. If you make a mistake, cross it out with a single line, initial and date.
  4. Write legibly.
  5. If you tape items into your notebook, tape all sides, then write “NWUI” (No writing under insert) on tape, initial and date.

 

Format

  1. Page one of your notebook should be an index, with page numbers for all experiments.
  2. Each activity should have a title, purpose or hypothesis, materials, procedure, results, conclusions or summary.  Date this entry.
  3. In a biotechnology setting, your materials list will include not only the name of the chemical, but its source (company name), catalog number, and lot number.
  4. No large spaces should be left unmarked in the notebook.  If you leave half a page between two entries, use ink to cross out that space.  Why?

 

PreLab

Before you come into the lab, your title, purpose, materials list, and procedure should be written into your notebook.  Leave ample space for adding catalog numbers, and changes in procedure and observations during the procedure.  Leave a broad space on the left margin for added notes.  Your teacher will check off your prelab at the beginning of the laboratory experience.

 

During Lab

Take notes in pen.  Write everything down in detail.  How much did you weigh out?  Which balance number and brand did you use?  Catalog and lot numbers for reagents.  Colors of solutions, time it took for parts of procedure.  And of course changes to procedure.  Show all calculations.  Write in your results.  Tape in graphs.

 

PostLab

Write your conclusions.  Include answers to assigned questions, if any.