Keeping a Log Book

When taking on a project that involves trial and error, you should always keep a log book of your activities.

Even if you’re following established procedures or designs, you will quickly find out that there is a lot of stuff specific to you that you need to keep track of, for example:

  • Places you found where you can buy stuff you need
  • Phone numbers
  • Stuff that didn’t work and things that were hard to understand
  • Stuff that worked really well
  • Ideas and discoveries of your own

And if you come up with something that’s worthy of a patent, you’ll sure be glad to have a record of your process for writing up the application and proving you invented it.

What You Need

  • A bound notebook
    • Not a spiral notebook
    • Definitely not the kind with the perforated pages
    • A “composition” notebook is good
    • Notebooks with graph paper are nice
  • A waterproof pen
    • Not a pencil (don’t get us wrong, we love pencils, just not for log books)
    • It needs to be waterproof because the log book will be in lab with you a lot
    • Cheapy ballpoint pens are pretty good because they are also alcohol resistant, which you use in making aerogels!

Can I Use a Computer for My Log Book?

Don’t. Use your computer to store information you find, pictures you take, and email correspondence. Your log book should be a hand-written record. This is for a couple reasons:

  • You should have your log book with you as you work
  • Writing stuff down reinforces your memory better than typing
  • Computers are distracting
  • Handwritten logs are harder to forge
  • Handwritten logs aren’t deleted or corrupted when your computer fails
  • Handwritten logs are standard practice, even today

What to Do

  • Make sure your name is on the cover of the book or inside the cover of the book
  • Bring the log book with you when you are working
  • Write down what you do as you do it if you can, otherwise right afterwards
  • Write down your thoughts and questions – sometimes this helps you figure things out!
  • Write down non-sciencey stuff too, for example, websites you visited that day

This is your log so talk about your thought process. Refer to yourself! Use passive voice! Your log book should contain functional writing!

Writing an Entry

  • Write down the day of the week, date, and year

“Thursday, February 5 2009 –“

  • Write down what you’re planning to do

“Today I’m going to try the procedure for making iron oxide gels that I found on Aerogel.org.”

“Today I’m going to call a bunch of places to try to find a better price for bimetal thermometers for the supercritical dryer I want to build.”

  • Write down your procedure if you’re following one, or draw out your design if you are building one
  • Write down what you actually do and how it deviates from the plan if it does

“Weighed 0.48 g iron nitrate (target was 0.50 g)”

If you’re working with chemicals you will likely walk away from your log book a couple of times in a day, so write down the time of day when you come back to it to add information

  • Initial the entry when you’re done

Make writing in your log book a mandatory activity.

Mistakes

Since you’re writing in pen you can’t erase your mistakes, and if you’re using erasable pen you shouldn’t erase your mistakes.

If you make a mistake as you write, just cross it out and keep writing with the correct information. If you have to go back and correct something you already wrote, cross it out and use a carrot (^) to insert the correct information. Also use carrots to insert information you forgot to include earlier.

“The mixture turned white after adding 4 drops 3 drops of catalyst.”

                                                  nitrate
“Weighed 0.48 g of iron chloride^and added to a beaker of 10 mL ethanol with stirring.”

                                        and reduction bushings
“I screwed the pipe plugs^into the cross but then I realized I forgot to use Teflon tape.”

Generally speaking you shouldn’t correct an entry that you wrote on a different day. Instead, write a new entry with the current date and say what you said wrong and what you meant to say, or what you now know is true. For example,

“On January 12, 2009 I said (whatever), but I actually meant (something else)”

“As I wrote on January 12, 2009, I thought (whatever) was true but I recently figured out that (something else) is true.”

Persistence Pays Off

Believe you me, you will need to look back at what you did more than once. Without that log book you’ll waste a lot of time.

No one is reliable enough to remember enough of what they did to make useful progress on a project like making aerogels without a log. Any practicing scientist, engineer, or professional programmer will attest to that!

Oops! I Haven’t Written in My Log Book For Like Two Weeks

We all get behind from time to time, but do your best not to. If you get behind, write an entry with the current date and put down stuff that you remember happened since your last entry and about when it happened if you can remember. Sometimes you can piece together your actions from other records. Good things to hang on to that help you get caught up:

  • Internet browsing history (where you looked for information)
  • Phone bills and caller ID history on your phone (who you talked to)
  • Receipts and bank statements (what you bought)
  • Emails (questions you had and answers you got)
  • Scraps of paper you wrote stuff down on (things you were doing)

Easy! Now you’re reading to keep a scientific, patent-defensible log book.

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