You will be expected to keep a laboratory notebook for this
course. The purpose of the notebook is to give you practice in
recording laboratory procedures and data in an easily readable
flowsheet format that will enable you and your collaborators to
locate quickly all of the necessary information about an experiment
when it is time to write a report or paper. You will need to read the
relevant protocols cited in the Class Schedule before each
laboratory session and to have your laboratory notebook already set
up in flowsheet form at the beginning of each laboratory period after
the first laboratory. A sample format for laboratory notebooks will
be provided at the first laboratory period.
The purpose of preparing
your notebook ahead of time is 1) to enable you to begin work on the
day's experiment promptly so that you can finish the lab on time, 2)
to enable you to identify any points of confusion ahead of time so
that you can ask about them before starting the experiment, and 3) to
enable you to entyer all critical information pertaining to the day's
experiment (sample identification, concentrations, volumes, etc.)
directly into your notebook during each laboratory period.