Keeping A Notebook

The scope of initial training always covers an induction period of perhaps four weeks, during which the trainee learns about the structure of the company which he has joined and the administration which he will be expected to carry out in the field. It is important that he learns about the legislation which applies to his job and the statutory forms which he must use. Surveyors are often required to keep a notebook, the purpose of which is similar to that of a police officer. He will later be required to cover the interests of all the clients who are his district , and he must therefore set up in his home the necessary administrative and record-keeping facilities to enable him to do this effectively and economically. 

I started keeping a notebook to try to figure out what was causing these reactions. It turned out to be various foods, cigarette smoke, cleansers, mold, vehicle exhaust, pesticides, cosmetics, soap, my clothes and electromagnetic fields. 

But you didn t read that line, or the next, or the next. So you are a danger to yourself and everyone else. Read and take notes on any experiment before you come to lab (see Chapter 2, Keeping a Notebook ). 

Percent yield. Calculate the percent yield (see Chapter 2, Keeping a Notebook ) and put it on the label. 

This is the major problem. And it requires some experimentation. That s right Once again, art over science. Usually, you ll know what you should have prepared, so the task is easier. It requires a trip to your notebook, and possible, a handbook (see Chapter 2, Keeping a Notebook and Chapter 3, Interpreting a Handbook ). You have the data on the solubility of the compound in your notebook. What s that you say You don t have the data in your notebook Congratulations, you get the highest F in the course. 

From the outset the student should accustom himself to keep a notebook in which all records of experiments and all observations are entered. Never rely on the memory in scientific work. 

Before taking chemistry in high school he had, while in junior high school, set up a laboratory for himself in the basement of his parents home. Here he experimented, keeping a notebook in which he meticulously recorded his observations and deductions. One day, he prepared sulfur dioxide, and the gas drove his mother s bridge-party out of the house. After a stern lecture by his parents concerning his chemical experimentation, he built a sort of fume-hood, to lead the noxious gases out of the basement into the open. 

K. Barker, Editor, At the Bench A Laboratory Navigator (1998), Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (Cold Spring Harbor, NY). Covers several important topics including lab orientation, keeping a notebook, and lab procedures. 

How and why to keep a notebook. Procedures for use and helpful hints. http //practicingsafescience.org Advice from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. 

After only a few days in your new lab, you notice that one of the senior students is quite open about what appear to be many questionable experimental practices he does not really keep a notebook, but numbers a new page for each reaction he performs and scribbles out a little information about what he had done, sometimes only the date and the starting time.. .. By now, his practices are quite well known in your particular lab room, and a number of jokes and asides by your lab-mates affirm your perceptions. Indeed, even the senior student has been heard to quip If I had done this the right way, I think the yield would have been 75%. When the research advisor comes to lab for a weekly update on progress, this student presents the data on the purified materials and reports a 75% yield. The research advisor and this student... 

Keep a notebook to record acronyms, trivial names, structures, etc. that you might need later... 

It will also be helpful, whenever needed or as an aid to your memory, to check on things by looking up words, concepts and definitions in the Glossary. Keep a notebook handy to jot down useful items to remember later. 

The simplest means for maintaining the codes Is to keep a notebook listing all of the health end safety ratings and the personal protective equipment requirements. This could be the responsibility of the health and safety coordinator, the plant manager, the chief safety and health officer, or the department responsible for health and safety. In setting up such a notebook, we would recommend including the headings shown below. 

Keep a notebook to write down interesting ideas connected with your courses, from lectures, reading, talking and thinking. 

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