General Protocol for the Laboratory Notebook

Use a bound notebook for your permanent laboratory record to minimize the possibility that pages will be lost. If a number has not been printed on each page, do so manually. Some laboratory notebooks are designed with pairs of identically numbered pages so that a carbon copy of all entries can be made. The duplicate page can then be removed and submitted to your instructor or 

Reserve the first page of the notebook for use as a title page, and leave several additional pages blank for a Table of Contents. 

Use as the main criterion for what should be entered in the notebook the rule that the record should be sufficiently complete so that anyone who reads it will know exactly what you did and will be able to repeat the work in precisely the way you originally did it. 

Record all experimental observations and data in the notebook as they are obtained. Include the date and, if appropriate, the time when you did the work. In a legal sense, the information entered into the notebook at the time of performance constitutes the primary record of the work, and it is important for you to follow this principle. Many patent cases have been determined on the basis of dates and times recorded in a laboratory notebook. One such example is described in the Historical Highlight at the end of this chapter. 

Make all entries in ink, and do not delete anything you have written in the notebook. If you make a mistake, cross it out and record the correct information. Using erasers or correction fluid to modify entries in your notebook is unacceptable scientific practice  

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