Keeping a data book:

The biggest single problem students have with keeping a good data book is not writing enough English prose to make a comprehensible record of what is what.

Here is are some suggestions which should help you to organize a data book so that both another student and YOU will be able to read it one month from now.

For each experiment, start a new section in the book. Start with a short title, then a sentence or two about what the experiment is all about. Make a sketch of the apparatus, enough to illustrate the main ideas.

On each page write the date, what you are doing, and what you got. Use a “diary” format: write things in the order in which they happen: record what you tried to do, what you did, and what you got. Enter data usually in tables: if you prepare a data table, with columns labeled with a description of what you are entering and the units, it will force you to think about what you are doing. Never enter just a page of numbers or unlabelled data. Do not do scratch work in your data book. Never put loose sheets of paper into your data book. If you want to put in computer printout, glue or tape it in.

The bottom line is that another student, or your instructor, should be able to read the book and tell what experiment your were doing, when you did it and what you got. You will be graded from time to time on your data book.