Protocol for Use of the Lab Notebook

  1. Get standard lab notebook (bound, pages numbered) issed by Wackett lab

  2. Put your name on the notebook and leave several pages in the beginning for a Table of Contents.
    (Begin making Table of Contents from first entry and keep up to date.)

  3. Write notebook entries before experiment is started with the idea behind experiment, materials, and methods.

  4. Write results and conclusions in notebook on the same day(s) the experiment is conducted.

  5. Make entries in chronological order; pages should be dated.

  6. Instrument print-outs or other raw data may be pasted or taped into notebook, in the appropriate place, to make part of the record for the experiment.

  7. If protocols or other relevant information was derived from a publication, give the complete reference citation.

  8. Graph, tabulate, or otherwise organize data whenever possible; this might follow the presentation of the raw data, for example, from a print-out.

  9. Discuss or interpret the data immediately after compiling and organizing the data. Suggest the next step(s) to further investigate the issues raised.

  10. If two members of the lab collaborate on an experiment, both lab members should write up the experiment in their own notebooks. Data pasted in may be the same, but introductions, discussion, etc. may differ. This could be very useful for future lab members who may want to repeat the experiment.

  11. If there is a chance that a line of experimentation may lead to a patent, the notebook pages must not only be dated, but also witnessed by another lab member and signed.

  12. All lab notebooks are property of the laboratory and must remain after departure of the lab member.