IMS Health and Quintiles are now IQVIA. We are committed to providing solutions that enable healthcare companies to innovate with confidence, maximize opportunities. Science and Engineering Project Laboratory Notebooks. Keep a Great Science or Engineering Project Laboratory Notebook. Whether you are a research scientist, an engineer, or a first time science fair student, you should use a lab notebook to document your science investigations, experiments, and product designs. A lab notebook is an important part of any research or engineering project. Used properly, your lab notebook contains a detailed and permanent account of every step of your project, from the initial brainstorming to the final data analysis and research report. Many science projects require a number of steps and multiple trials. By recording the steps of your procedure, your observations, and any questions that arise as you go, you create a record of the project that documents exactly what you did and when you did it. With a complete record of the project in your lab notebook, you can look back at your notes later if a question arises or if you decide to pursue a related project based on something you observed. Similarly, writing down your product design ideas, engineering challenges, and product testing data will help you keep track of all of your ideas, what you have already tried, and how well a particular design performed. Keeping a lab notebook is easy The most important thing to do is to use your lab notebook. Click the Using a Lab Notebook tab for specific tips, techniques, and reminders. Choosing a Laboratory Notebook. There are many kinds of lab notebooks available, ranging from official lab notebooks to makeshift notebooks. The following table offers a summary of different types of notebooks and notes regarding for which users each type works best. Types of Lab Notebooks. Description. Recommended For. Please visit our 101 Science Store The Transistor Story The transistor was probably the most important invention of the. Abstract. The roots of my fascination with politics and Africa run deep so too does my need for clarity. The combination drove me into the professoriate. Bound composition notebook. A bound spine not spiral binding makes it difficult for pages to be easily torn out and lost. Hard covers make the book even more durable, but a soft or cardboard cover will work too. Composition books are easy to find at local stores and are inexpensive. Students K 5. Students Middle school. Official laboratory notebook. Official lab notebooks often include useful and convenient features like a designated area for creating a table of contents and numbered pages for easy cross referencing. Official laboratory notebooks may also include quick reference materials like the periodic table, metric conversions, or an amino acid codon table. With high quality, hard to tear paper, these notebooks are generally rugged and designed to stand up to lots of handling. Students K 5. Students Middle school. Students High school and beyond. Citizen scientists. Watch 2017 Movie Online Kong: Skull Island. Duplicate style lab notebook. Duplicate style lab notebooks are a subset of the official lab notebooks style with the added feature of carbonless duplicate sets. This format is ideal for keeping the originals and giving copies to research partners or a teacher. Research teams K 1. Citizen scientists. Lab partners. Teachers and students. Electronic lab notebook. Lab notebooks can also be kept using software or an online tool. Electronic lab notebooks are simple to organize and make it easy to share data with other scientists or a teacher. Electronic lab notebooks are becoming more common in the professional world and for citizen science collaborations but are not yet common for science and engineering fairs. Students should check with their teachers before using this lab notebook method. Research teams K 1. Citizen scientists. Teachers and students. While nice, an official lab notebook is not always necessary. A bound notebook or standard composition book will often work. Look for a notebook with lined or graph paper style pages and a stiff cover. Do not choose an ordinary spiral bound notebook. The pages are too easy to rip out and lose, especially if the notebook has perforated pages For additional information about purchasing lab notebooks, see the Where to Buy tab. Credits. Amy Cowen and Sandra Slutz, Ph. D., Science Buddies. Portions of this lab notebook overview were adapted from an earlier document written for Science Buddies Rebbeck, Ph. D., Joanne. 2. 00. February 2. 4. What Makes a Great Science Project Logbook. Getting Started with Your Science Laboratory Notebook. Once you have selected a lab notebook, the following tips and techniques will help you get started keeping an organized, well maintained lab notebook for your science or engineering project Label your lab notebook. Put your name, your teachers name if it applies, and some form of contact information, like an email address or phone number, in a prominent location, like the inside cover. If you accidentally leave the lab notebook behind or lose it, someone will be able to reach you if the notebook is found. If your notebook will be used for a single science or engineering project, also label the notebook with the project title and the year. Use ink. Make your lab notebook entries in pen, not in pencil. Using a smudge proof pen may reduce the risk of smears. If you make a mistake in your lab notebook, simply cross out the error and write in the necessary correction. Number the pages. Numbering the pages of your lab notebook helps keep your notebook organized. You can use these numbers to set up an index or table of contents or to cross reference earlier observations within your lab notebook. If the pages of your lab notebook are not already numbered, you may want to number them before you begin using the lab notebook. Create a table of contents. To quickly go back and find information in your lab notebook, it helps to create a table of contents. The traditional way used by professional scientists and engineers is to create a Table of Contents as you go. Label the first page Table of Contents, and then as you work on the project, enter important pages in the Table of Contents. For example, when you begin your Experimental Procedure, you might note Trial 1, Page 1. Table of Contents so you can quickly find your notes at a later date. If you find this method too confusing, and your teacher allows, you can create tabs for the different sections of your science project. This optional approach may help you keep your notes and records organized. Your sections will vary based on your science or engineering project, and you may find that your class assignment or the steps of the scientific or engineering method can help you determine the sections you will use. The following table shows a sample set of sections that might appear in a student science project lab notebook. In this sample, the student has used tabs to mark the various divisions of the lab notebook and recorded the color of each tab in the Table of Contents for easy reference. Table of Contents. Tab color. Page Timeline. Red. 1Background Research. Blue. 20. Materials. Green. 26. Experimental Setup. Yellow. 35. Data and Results. Purple. 40. Data Analysis and Conclusions. Orange. 50. Date your entries. Always date your lab notebook entries. Even if your entry is very short, adding a date helps you track when you took certain steps or made certain observations. Your lab notebook will be a sequential record of your project, so the dates are important. No blank pages. Your lab notebook entries should be entered consecutively, starting at the front of the notebook. When making entries, do not skip pages. GLCF Welcome. The GLCF is a center for land cover science with a focus on research using.