Guidelines and instructions for keeping a good laboratory notebook.

Keeping an organized, consistent and comprehensive notebook is essential for good scientific work.
Its purpose is to record the goal, execution and results of each and every experiment, so others will be
able to reproduce it and for you to be able to draw conclusions from it in the future. It is also a legal
document recognized in court, for example, in intellectual property lawsuits etc.

As such, a laboratory notebook has to be:

1. Hardbound.
2. Marked clearly with your name, a running number, and the date you started using it.
3. Its pages numbered.
4. Have table of contents.
5. Every entry must have a timestamp and your initials.
6. Written in non-erasable ink, and corrected only by crossing out text, with a short explanation of
the mistake next to it, if it is not obvious.
7. All non-standard abbreviations must defined and explained in the book.
8. Include every graph, figure, or printout generated by a computer glued, stapled or taped to the
notebook with a heading written above it and a frame around it with a date and initials.
9. Periodically checked and signed by your supervisor.
10. Include equipment used (manufacturer, model, serial number) and the date it was last
calibrated.
11. Include the quality and source of any reagent used (including batch number), its opening date
and expiry date.
12. Chronologically ordered with a new page for each experiment with references to previous pages
if needed.
13. Any working method or protocol must have a reference, and any deviation from the protocol
must be recorded.
14. Unused spaces on the page must be crossed out to prevent additions at a later date.
15. Any kind of observation, result, mistake, idea, should be recorded even if you think it is not
relevant.
16. All results, measurements and raw data must be written down directly, in their original units,
and any calculations and conversions are done as a second step in the notebook, preferably on
the left side.
17. For every experiment provide a short schematic/sketch and short description of the work and
what it is meant to achieve.
18. Include any ideas, reflections and other non-experimental data (e.g., from a seminar or a paper)
that is related to the experiment.
19. Stored in a safe place with access limited to authorized personnel.