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General:
Spiral and three-ring binders are inappropriate for lab notebooks.
All your entries must be made directly in your laboratory notebook in
ink.
The use of scraps of paper for any records is unacceptable because
these
are easily lost; the practice will probably be strictly forbidden in
your
lab. All notebok information is handwritten directly into the
notebook.
Rules:
*Do not write in pencil or felt tip marker.
*Never scribble out data or writing. Simply place a single line
through the error so that the original material is still visible.
*Decimal values contain a leading 0. For example .2 is correctly
written as 0.2.
* All pages should be dated.
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The notebook should begin with a table of contents (leave a page or two for this); the following pages should be numbered sequentially.
Some flexibility in format and style is allowed, but proper records of your experimental results must answer certain questions.
When did you do the work?
What are you trying to accomplish in the experiment?
How did you do the experiment? As critical than what you saw
What did you observe?
How do you explain your observations?
Your notebook must be written with accuracy and completeness. It must
be organized and legible but does not need to be a work of art.
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A lab record needs to be written in three steps:
pre-lab
lab
postlab.
It should contain the following categories for each experiment you
do.
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To Be Done before You Come to the Laboratory - The Prelab
This notebook entry is designed to help you prepare for an experiment
in an effective and safe fashion.
It includes:
Name and the date on which the prelab is written and on which the experiment will take place at the top of each page
the title of the experiment on each page1
a statement of purpose2
the balanced chemical reaction if a reaction will take place3
a table of reagents and solvents with appropriate physical properties4
any calculations required for preparation of solutions5
an outline of the procedure to be used6
if any data is to be collected A table for data or another way of compiling the data if appropriate.7
a set up for the way you will calculate your percent yield or other calculations if appropriate 8
answers to any pre-lab questions9
citations10
1 Title: Use a title that clearly identifies
what you are doing in this experiment.
2 Purpose Statement: Write a brief statement
of purpose for the synthesis or analysis, with a few words on major
analytical
or conceptual approaches.
3 Reaction: If a chemical reaction will
take place the chemical structures are needed - mere formulas are not
necessarily
acceptable except for inorganic redox reactions. You must also
include
any mechanisms (applicable to organic and biochemistry laboratories
only)
4 Table: Include all reagents and solvents
used in the experiment. Include amounts of compounds used in the
experiment
in the table. You need only list relevant physical
properties.
For example if you are going to boil a solvent the boiling point is
relevant
and should be listed. If you will calculate the moles of a
compound
its molecular mass must be known and should be listed. If you
aren't
going to boil a compound you don't need its boiling point, etc.
Some
values that may be needed are molecular weights, the number of moles
and
grams of reagents used, densities of the liquids used, boiling points
of
compounds that are liquids are room temperature and melting points of
all
organic solids, and pertinent hazard warnings. In some cases, special
properties
such as specific rotation or index of refraction are also listed where
relevant..
5. Calculations for reagents should be
presented
in a format that is easy to follow and all units expressed. .
6. Procedure: Write an experiment
outline in sufficient detail in your words so that the experiment could
be done without reference to your lab textbook. You may use an
outline
form, a flow chart, or any other method that makes sense to you and is
organized. You do not need to use complete sentences. For
complex
mixtures you often will want to use a table to keep track of
things.
If you need to label tubes you should write down when you want to do
that.
Yes something that mundane can cause you major problems if you don't
write
it into the procedure. You also do not need to repeat procedures
that have been previously described in your notebook. For
example,
if you standardized a pH meter in experiment 4 and then again in
experiment
6 you could merely add a reference to your experiment 4 procedure in
experiment
6. You must have this in your note book you will not be
allowed
in the laboratory without this portion of the prelab. Please
leave space in proceedures to record observations. See below.
7. There must be some place for you to record your data
and it must be prepared ahead of time. Tables are almost
always
the best way to do this
8. Again yield calculations should be
presented in a format that is easy to follow and all units expressed.
This
should appear after your data tables or other data reporting structures
9 Prelab Questions: Answer
any prelaboratory questions in complete sentences in your prelab in
your
notebook. The answers must be written as a complete thought (so
as
to include the question along with the answer)
10 Cite any work that was used in the
preparation
of your prelab
Please make sure that the prelaboratory is organized and
complete.
It is 30% of your overall laboratory grade!
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To Be Done during the Laboratory Session(s) - The Lab
Recording observations during the experiment is a crucial part of your
lab notebook. If your observations are not complete, you will be unable
to interpret the results of your experiment; once you have left the
laboratory,
it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconstruct them.
Absolutely,
postively, without a doubt - no recording of data on a scrap of paper,
a lab separate etc. for later entry into a notebook. All members
of a laboratory group must write down all data in the notebook BEFORE
leaving
the laboratory. That way you always have a backup copy. It
is to your advantage to write down more rather than less. Details
may be important later that you may have missed otherwise, so being
annoyingly
detailed may be a virtue to your and your lab partner.
Observations: Observations must be recorded in your notebook in ink while you are doing an experiment. The actual quantities of all reagents must be recorded as they are used, as well as the amounts of crude and purified products that you obtained. Mention which measurements (temperature, time, melting point, etc.) and spectra if any are taken.
The recording of your observations may be done in a variety of ways. They may be written on right-hand pages across from the corresponding section of the experimental outline. It is a good idea to cross-index your observations to specific steps in the procedure that you wrote out as part of your pre-lab preparation. You may fill in "blanks" left when you wrote your procedure either in text or in tables. The orgainzational style is up to you as long as the experiment is organized and can be followed by an observer.
The laboratory data carbon copies must be handed in attached to the
laboratory report.
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To Be Done after the Experimental Work Has Been Completed - The
Postlab
In this section of your notebook you evaluate and interpret your
experimental
results.
Entries include:
calculation of the percent yields and other data
interpretation of physical and spectral data where applicable
a summary or conclusion conclusions8
and answers to any post-lab questions9
list of citations used in preparing the laboratory report10
8 Conclusions and
Summary:
Include a succinct discussion of your results. It is important that you
write up a summary of your work as soon as possible after finishing an
experiment, drawing conclusions consistent with your observations and
results.
This information will be repeated in a more formal manner in your
laboratory
report.
9 Post-lab questions should
be included. Answer any postlaboratory questions in complete sentences
in your postlab in your notebook. The answers must be written as
a complete thought (so as to include the question along with the
answer)
10 You should also cite any journal
articles, books, and other reference sources that you have used.
You must hand in the carbon copies of your laboratory and
postlaboratory
sections of your notebook with your laboratory report. These will
be graded as part of the laboratory report.
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ALL LABORATORY WORK SHOULD BE COMPLETED IN YOUR NOTEBOOK!
YOUR REPORT IS A FORMALIZATION OF THE WORK IN YOUR NOTEBOOK
So what do I hand in when?
prelab - at the 5 PM the night before the laboratory period your complete prelab is due
in lab and post lab - these pages are attached to your typed laboratory report. The laboratory report is due at the beginning of the period specified. Usually 1-2 weeks after completion of any laboratory portion of the experiment.depending on the complexity of the lab
Grading:
Separate pre, in and post labs are required for each member of the
laboratory team. If a report is a group report one grade will be
given for the report but separate grades will be assigned for the pre
and
post labs.
The total grade for any lab is the sum of the prelab (usualy
30
pts ), the report (usually70pts ) and the post lab (usually 10
pts).
points are noted in the sylibus