Agricultural 
Research 
Service 
United States 
Department of 
Agriculture 
Guidelines 
for Proper Use of Your 
ARS Laboratory Notebook 
• Use this book as a daily log for your research work plans and results. 
• Do not write in the notebook in pencil or other erasable medium. 
• Make corrections by crossing through the item and initialing. 
• Do not remove any pages from this book. 
• Cross-reference instrument printouts when such data is retained in a separate 
location. 
• Date entry and initial each filled page. Periodically have your entries witnessed 
(signature and date) by another employee, particularly where patentable 
information or data pertinent to regulatory activities could possibly be entered. 
• This book and the information contained therein is the property of the Agricultural 
Research Service. 
