Title: Keeping a Laboratory Notebook
Course: BTEC-1100-301-302-303-F21 > Section: Module 3 - Polymerase Chain Reaction

In BTEC 1100 you will be keeping a laboratory notebook.  That notebook will be provided to you.  Below are guidelines for keeping the notebook as well as some real examples of what a notebook entry should look like and what it should not look like.

Biotechnology Laboratory Notebook Guidelines

It is important to recognize that the lab notebook is a legal document in the scientific workplace.  Laboratory notebooks are the first and usually the best claim for priority of discovery and are prime documents in patent cases.  Keeping a good lab notebook is a skill and is a demonstration to future employers of your abilities.

Notebook Guidelines

1. Each experimental write-up should be written so that anyone, including yourself, could repeat the experiment from your notes.
2. The notebook must be bound. Loose-leaf material is unacceptable.
3. The first page will serve as a table of contents that indicates the title of the experiment, its beginning page number and the date.
4. Industry generally requires that all laboratory notebooks be written legibly and in good English.
5. Notebooks must signed and dated on every page by the author.
6. The record must be written in permanent blue or black ink. NO PENCIL!
7. ABSOLUTELY NO ERASURES ARE ALLOWED. Errors are corrected by drawing only one line through the error, so it remains legible.  The correction is then written next to the error.  Whiteout and similar products are not acceptable.  The author must date and initial each corrected error or any other alteration on the page.
8. You should use all the space on the page without leaving large blank areas. This is to prevent the addition of material at a later time.  You should draw lines through unused space to indicate you have nothing further to add to that page.
9. Loose materials in the notebook are not allowed. Items such as photos and printouts must be permanently fixed to the page with tape or staples.
10. Experimental write-ups should contain the following sections:

Title: A concise title of the experiment.

Purpose: A short, 2-3 sentence description of why the experiment is being done.

Materials: A list of chemicals and reagents required for the procedure.  Common laboratory materials and equipment do not have to be listed.  In some cases you will be using commercial kits.  In that case you will want to list the name of the manufacturer, the name of the kit, the catalog number of the kit and the lot number of the kit.

Methods:  A step by step description of the experiment.  The steps should be numbered in the order they are performed.  This section should also include calculations if they are required for the procedure.

Results:  The observations and data resulting from the actual experiment.  Observations should be written and data should be presented in tabular form if possible.  Any calculations relevant to the data should be included here.  Great care should be taken such that anyone could interpret the exact outcome of the experiment.  Figures and graphs should be clearly labeled.

Conclusions:  A paragraph or two containing comments on the results.  Some questions to be addressed in the conclusions are: (1) Did the experiment produce the expected results?  Explain in detail the expected and observed results. (2) If the experiment was to be repeated, what improvements or changes in the procedure would be made? (3) If the experiment did not work, explain some possibilities why it might have failed.  Explain why you think it failed. (4) Explain how errors could be corrected. (5) Explain the next steps for the project.