Technical Notebooks

Proper keeping of recorded information is a necessity in industry especially if an engineer is working in a laboratory, pilot plant, or semi-works environment where new products are being commercialized. Improper entries in the technical notebook can lead to costly legal proceedings over patent rights, and possibly loss of legal rights, to produce a product. The possibility of such a scenario occurring is small, but the risks involved in improper note taking are staggering even to a large company; a small company could be forced out of business. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the professional to protect the rights of a product or process by correctly and accurately taking notes.

Notebook Management

Each research engineer or scientist must keep a notebook, detailing research and investigation This notebook should provide a complete, detailed record of the investigator's findings which can be used as:

1. a reference source by the primary investigator and other investigators; and
2. evidence for legal purposes, particularly patent applications. On more than one occasion, competently recorded investigation records have made the difference between patent allowance and refusal.

Notebooks should contain information that is pertinent to a particular investigation only and should not be used as a personal diary. - Investigators may simultaneously keep more than one notebook on different major projects, if each project is independent of the other and does not depend on data in another notebook for continuity in reporting.

Proper Format and Entry Procedure - Investigators should use the following notebook format and entry procedures to provide a consistent record of research:

1. Use bound notebooks that open to a book format with left and right pages and to which extra pages cannot be added.
2. Number each notebook volume sequentially.
3. Number each page used consecutively.
4. Make all entries in ink or other indelible, permanent medium.
5. Enter data on the left or right page, or both, of a notebook. Which ever method you use, be consistent throughout the notebook.
6. Make entries for any and every activity relating to the investigation. Include all data obtained from the investigation. In addition, include a narrative explaining the data, circumstances under which the research was conducted, actual findings under the circumstances, and how these findings relate to circumstances that initiated the investigation. Include questions that may direct future research or practical application of the data/conclusions.
7. Date and sign each entry on the line immediately following the entry.
8. Make each subsequent entry on the line immediately following the previous entry's date and signature. If you start a new page, cross out any unused lines on the prior page.
9. Avoid leaving blank spaces between entries. If, however, you need to leave a blank space to indicate a future insertion, draw a diagonal line from the point of last entry to the end of the blank space or page, and include a message such as, "insert results of Utility Test Data," etc. Then enter the results into the notebook, in consecutive order, on the date received and refer back to the message and page where the results would have been entered if received on time. Also draw a lien through any blank page.
10. Attach Photographs, sketches, charts, and other supporting materials, if any, to the left page of the notebook, across from written data and explanation of materials. Supporting materials must be glued to the page and may not be temporarily affixed with paper clips, staples, tape, etc.
11. If you are not going to conduct daily research on a project, explain lapses between entries by writing messages between entries, such as: "Working on other activities" or "Off".
12. Do not erase to correct entries. Instead simply draw one or two lines through the erroneous entry.
13. Do not remove pages or portions of a page, including blank pages, from a notebook for any reason.

Corroboration - Investigators must have another technically knowledgeable person read and corroborate the notebook entries: (1) at least once every two weeks while research is in progress and (2) after the project or significant portions of the project are completed. The corroborator must be technically proficient in the area of research reported and be able to understand the entries in the notebook. Any appropriate remarks by corroboration should be written before this statement. Immediately after reading the entries, the corroborator must write, sign and date the following statement, below the most recent entry:
"on this date, I read and understand all of the entries in this notebook from the entry dated ___________________, on page ________________, to and including the most recent entry immediately above."

*NOTE*
As an alternative to the lengthy and rather verbose statement shown above, investigators might consider purchasing pre-labelled, standard laboratory notebooks that have pre-numbered sections
which read, "Performed By:" & "Date:" and "Read and Understood By:" & "Date:."  Almost every scientific products distributor will have this variety of laboratory notebook for sale. Another less expensive method might be to have a stamp created which the investigator would simply affix to the bottom of each page. 

The corroborative witness must not be a co-inventor - Often the significance of research, potential inventions and new discoveries are not readily apparent, and become so only after the investigator(s) have conducted extensive research. Very Important: Once it becomes apparent that the research has led to a discovery, or potential invention, make a specific notebook entry signed and dated, which succinctly describes the discovery or invention. Immediately thereafter, have a colleague who was not involved in any way in the investigation, and who is capable of understanding your concept, read and witness the entry by writing, signing and dating the corroborative statement as specified above.

Disclosure - If your research results in a new discovery or invention, you must file a formal Disclosure of Invention. In preparing a disclosure, you will need to:

1. explain what led to conception of the invention;
2. explain what useful-purpose the invention will serve if it is reduced to practice
3. describe the invention;
4. explain possible alternative forms of the invention (e.g., possible variations among the elements of the invention, such as composition or structure);
5. explain the advantages of this invention over the prior art; and
6. provide invention date earliest disclosure date (e.g., publication in scholarly journals), and location of substantiating records.

Miscellaneous - Entries in an investigator's notebook, except for witnessing, should be made by the investigator only. If someone other than the investigator makes an entry in the investigator's notebook, they must sign and date the entry. Data and results from experiments conducted by technical support people for investigators or independently should be recorded in a separate notebook. Each support person should have a separate notebook, maintained under the investigator's supervision. The research investigator however, should appropriately cross reference his or her notebook(s) to the support person's notebook, and, if used, to the facility logbook. 

 *Perhaps a statement relating to protecting data from loss, mishap or (even) theft could be appropriately inserted here.

Unit Operation Laboratory Notebook Specifications

The following guidelines are to be practiced in the Unit Operations Laboratory.

1. Begin each project with a new notebook (blue book).
2. Always use pen, never pencil or erasable ink.
3. Never erase or “white-out” errors in a notebook. Simply cross out the error with a single stroke.
4. Always sign and date each page in the laboratory notebook
5. Never leave blank pages or lines in the notebook. If necessary to start a new page because of a new project or experiment, “Z” out the blank spaces in the notebook.
6. Enter major sections in the Table of Contents or the first page of the notebook for easy reference.
7. Each week, get a student from another group to serve as a witness to sign and date each page in the notebook where work has recently been recorded.
8. All of your results should be entered directly into the notebook as you are performing the experiment. In a professional laboratory notebook, neatness counts. Recording data on a separate sheet and transcribing the results later is not an acceptable practice. It is important that you can read the results, but your notebook does not have to be a work of art.
9. Results include more than data. Record observations, calculation, questions, and reasons for changes in experimental plans.
10. See the Calculation Set  Specifications for details on how to make entries in the Technical Notebook.