Lab Notebooks

Prior to coming to lab, it is your responsibility to read the entire laboratory experiment so that you know what you will be doing and how you will be doing it. As you read the experiment, you will need to prepare your laboratory notebook. If you have thoroughly read the experiment and have prepared your notebook before you come to lab each week, the lab will run more smoothly and you will get more out of your lab experience. In addition, it will make completing the postlab assignment much easier. The lab notebook will be checked for completeness during the course of the semester. If yours is not complete, you will lose lab notebook points.

YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK

There are many scientific careers which will require you to keep a lab notebook of your activities and results. These notebooks are considered legal documents. The requirements for your lab notebook in this class reflect what you may need to do in the workplace and will better prepare you for your future career.

1. Must be a hardbound (not spiral-bound), lined notebook. You may continue to use this same notebook if you are planning on taking Chemistry 1062.

2. Must be completed in ink. If you make a mistake, DO NOT erase it or scribble it out. Instead, place a single line through it, initial it, and continue on.

3. Number each page consecutively. Allow space (1 – 3 numbered pages) at the front of the notebook for a table of contents.

BEFORE LAB

Your lab notebook should show that you have read and thought about the day's experiment.

1. Start on a fresh page. Often, it is common to only use the right-hand side for entering data and information. The left-hand side is then available as "scrap" paper for calculations or as a place to tape in graphs or computer-generated data.

2. Write the title of the experiment at the top of the page (and in the table of contents).

3. Write down the date on which the experiment is completed. If the experiment is performed for more than one day, as in the lab projects, the date should again be entered each time you begin a new day's collection of data.

4. Write down or leave space for your lab partner's name and contact info, the URL for the experiment, and the file names for any data collected using the computer and lab reports.

5. Write out a purpose or goal for the experiment. This is where you will show that you have thought about what will be accomplished in the lab that week.

6. Write down any hazards or safety precautions that you need to be aware of for the experiment. If they are severe hazards, make them bold or circled. If there are no hazards or precautions to be concerned about for the experiment, that may be noted instead.

DURING THE EXPERIMENT

As you complete the various parts of the experiment, you still need to record your actions, observations, and data in your lab notebook. Simply taping in a table of numbers with no accompanying information on how the numbers were obtained is not sufficient in a court of law for a patent trial and it is not sufficient for the lab notebook in this class. This does not necessarily mean that you need to use grammatically correct, complete sentences. You can use bulleted or numbered items. It is okay if the lab notebook is a little bit messy. The important thing is that you are recording what you do in lab (ie: obtained and weighed out NaCl into a 50 mL beaker, made solutions with 5 different concentrations of CuSO₄ using the volumes shown in the table, etc.) and any observations that you make about the reaction or procedure (ie: the more concentrated solutions were darker in color, the unknown acid smelled like vinegar, etc.).

You will also need to record all of your numerical data. In some cases, this is best done in a table in your lab notebook. You should not write data on scratch paper and then transfer it into your notebook; bring your notebook to the balance and write the information into it directly. For labs which use the computer to record data, print out the tables or graphs and tape them into your lab notebook so that you have a permanent record in the notebook of your electronic data and calculations.

When you are finished gathering and analyzing your data, you need to have your lab notebook witnessed before leaving the lab. This can be done by your lab partner, lab instructor, or the lab manager. The witness will sign and date your notebook after the last entry has been recorded for that lab. You can still use your notebook after class is done to do additional calculations on your data after it has been witnessed.