Chem 1B Laboratory

Sierra College
Instructor: Dr. Marjorie Samples

Lab Notebook Guidelines and Grading

Notebook Rules
1. Lab notebooks are bound (pages tied and glued together so that they are not easily removed.
They are also numbered on every page, so again it is difficult to add or remove pages without
this being obvious. However, for ease, carbonless duplicate notebooks will be used where the
duplicate page is removed for grading. Some of these notebooks are spiral bound.

2. All notebooks records are kept in ink (no pencil). Mistakes in a notebook should be lined
out with a single line, never covered with Whiteout or similar products, nor scribbled over
to obscure the original notation(s). This generates a permanent non-changeable record of the
work done. This is crucial! If you ever work in a laboratory, you must NEVER erase, whiteout,
cover over, or remove any mistakes or data. If you did so, this would be classified as data
falsification and you could be fired, as well as face fines and criminal prosecution.

3. All notebook pages must be dated and should also have the title of the experiment being
carried out on it.

4. All notebooks should have a table of contents for the work done. The traditional place for a
table of contents is in the front of the book. Leave 3 blank pages at the beginning of your
notebook for your table of contents.

5. Some parts of a lab are written directly into the notebook, others may be printed out and
taped in. Prelab write-ups, procedures, tables and graphs may be computer generated and then
taped into the notebook. You may also fill in the tables in your lab manual, and then tape these
tables into your notebook (no staples allowed). For the carbonless duplicate notebooks, make a
copy of anything taped in, and tape the copy on the duplicate page. When taping papers into your
notebook, they should not cover anything, and they should be securely taped on all 4 sides.
Also, no foldouts are allowed, and the paper should fit entirely onto the notebook page without
obscuring the page numbers, title, etc.

If you record your data into the manual or on a piece of paper, THIS is your original
data and it MUST be taped or glued into your lab notebook. Although you may recopy
original data into your notebook so it looks neater, you MUST also have the original
data in the notebook no matter how messy it is!

6. For every experiment, in addition to a title, there should also be a “Purpose”, a

Chemicals/Safety/Equipment section, a Procedures section, an Observation/Data Collection
section, a Data Analysis section, and a Discussion/Error Section. Following is the required order
for these sections in your lab notebook.

If you violate the above rules, points will be taken from your lab report grade. Typically, I
subtract ¼ point for each violation of Rule 2, except for pencil use that is a 1 point deduction; 1

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point for violating Rule 3; and 1 point for each violation of Rule 5. Removing pages from your
notebook may result in a 5 point loss, Rules 4 and 6 are discussed below in the Grading section.

Order of Sections for a Lab Notebook

Title Title goes on each page of the report
Purpose This is a short paragraph on why you are conducting the lab: what are the objectives.
This is part of the prelab writeup. Do not tape in or photocopy from your lab
manual, rewrite in your own words.
Chemials/Safety/Equipment All equipment & chemicals are listed here with basic chemical safety info (including
basic hazard info like is it flammable, corrosive, etc; handling and safety
precautions like use only in the hood or keep away from open flames; and
emergency/first aid info) on all the chemicals being used. Read the procedure to get
all the chemicals & equipment used. Do NOT just tape in or copy or photocopy
the chemical and safety section in the lab manual as this is just a special
warning section. Look the chemicals up! This is part of the prelab writeup.
Prelab Calculations Any assigned Prelab calculations (such as for the Buffer lab) are to be completed in
your notebook prior to beginning any lab. This section is not common but do check!
Procedure Write the procedure in your lab notebook or you may tape in or photocopy the
lab manual procedure and tape it in. This is part of the prelab writeup. While
you conduct the lab, you should be writing down any changes to the procedure in
enough detail so others reading the notebook could repeat the lab with the changes.
Data Data, including masses, times, observations, spectra, pH, absorbance readings, etc.
go here. Label all data. Be sure to include units of measurement and significant
figures and any required experimental conditions (time, temp.).
Data Analysis This is where you perform calculations (except as specified). Graphs go in this
section. Label all data analysis. Show all calculations and equations.
Discussion/Errors This is where you interpret your data and data analysis, compare experimental data
to known results, conduct error analysis, explain known and potential errors, and
suggest improvements to minimize known and potential errors. A Results Table is
recommended.
Post Lab Questions If there are any post lab questions, they get put here.

LAB NOTEBOOKS WILL BE CHECKED AND INITIALED AT THE BEGINNING OF

THE LAB FOR COMPLETION OF PRELAB WRITEUP. IF YOU HAVE NOT
COMPLETED THIS WORK, YOU WILL BE EXCUSED FROM LAB UNTIL YOU DO
COMPLETE IT, SO ALWAYS PREPARE BEFORE THE LAB! BEING ON TIME IS
POINTS!

ALL DATA WILL BE CHECKED AT THE END OF THE LAB AND INITIALED BY
THE LAB INSTRUCTOR. DO NOT LEAVE THE LAB WITHOUT GETTING YOUR
DATA SIGNED! LAB NOTEBOOKS WITH REPORTS ARE DUE ON THE ASSIGNED
DUE DATE AT THE BEGINNING OF LAB. THERE ARE 3 FREE LATES FOR LAB
REPORTS, BUT USE THESE WISELY. ABSENCES DUE TO ILLNESS USE THESE
FREE LATES. SEE LAB SYLLABUS FOR DETAILS.

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Grading for Lab Notebooks
I will be scoring your lab reports based on 50 points total for each lab. The following is the
general guidelines for grading lab reports. However, any lab infraction may result in points lost
(see last section for details) and violating the notebook rules will also result in loss of points.

Preparedness/Lab Completion: If your notebook does not have the required instructor
initials/signature/stamp, then it is considered that you have not completed the lab, and you will
receive no credit for the lab. If it is a multi-day lab, and you miss a day, then you must
makeup the lab period or you will receive no credit for the lab that you missed. The only
exception is if you have completed a lab early and have received the required lab completion
inital. Remember, all labs must be completed and a lab report completed and turned in or you
will be dropped or you will not pass this class.

Prelab Writeup: Worth 5 points. Do you have the Title, Purpose, and
Chemicals/Safety/Equipment Sections completed on time? If required, do you have a prelab
calculations section completed? If this section is not ready on time, you lose these 5 points. If
you are tardy, you lose these points as well.

Table of Contents/Cross Referencing: Worth 3 points. Is your Table of Contents up-to-date

and properly labeled? If your lab report skips a few pages, do you properly label all the different
start pages in the Table of Contents and in your lab notebook? Example: You start a lab on page
12, it continues through page 16, but then you didn't leave enough pages/or you made a mistake
and the report continues starting on page 24. Your Table of Content should have both pages 12
and 24 listed; you should clearly state on page 16 that the lab continues on page 24; and the Title
on page 24 should also say that it is continues from page 16.

Legibility: Is your notebook legible? Worth 2 points. Note, this does not mean that your
notebook has to be compulsively neat, it is just whether or not the instructor can read your
handwriting easily. (Remember, if I can’t read it, neither can the EPA or the FDA.)

Format: Have you laid out your notebook in accordance with the guidelines? Are the sections
in the proper order? (SEE ABOVE). Also worth 3 points. To receive these 3 points, ALL
sections must be in the correct order, no partial credit is given.

Procedure: Have you referenced the procedure and noted any changes? Worth 2 points.

Data: Did you collect all the data you should during the course of the experiment?
Does each piece of data have the correct units and significant figures also noted? Worth 5 points.

Analysis: Have you made all the necessary calculations needed to interpret your data? Worth 15
points.

Discussion/Errors: Have you justified/explained/interpreted your data, are other books and
sources of information properly referenced? Have you compared your results to known or
expected results, including any %-error? Summary Tables may go here to show your results in
an easy to read form. Have you talked about sources of error, either known or unknown? Have
you made suggestions to improve the lab in order to lower errors? Worth 15 points.

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PostLab Questions: These questions are part of the 15 point Discussion/Error grade.

As you can see, accuracy and skill, while important to the overall success or failure of the
experiment, is only of secondary importance in determining your lab grade. My main concern
is that you learn from the experiments you do. You can get miserable results and still get a
good score, if you are careful about keeping a good notebook, and you are diligent about
analyzing your results. Conversely, good results don’t guarantee a good score: poor record
keeping or absence of reflection on the results will hurt you.

SEE THE WEBSITE FOR AN EXAMPLE LAB REPORT.

Grading for Lab Exercises

The Lab Exercises are worth 25 points and these points will be based on completion as well as
correctness of selected problems. Also, any lab infraction may result in points lost (see below).

Lab Exercises are not taped in the notebook, but just completed on binder paper, stapled
together, and turned in by the end of the lab period when they are due. Assigned due dates are in
the schedule.

If the lab period is devoted solely to working on a Lab Exercise, instructor initials are required
before leaving the lab. No initial means a zero on the Lab Exercise. Absences on these days are
treated as any other lab absence and must be made up on the Lab Makeup Day designated for
this Lab Exercise.

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