AP Chemistry Lab Notebook Format
Pine View School
In AP Chemistry, your lab notebook is your summary of all your lab experiences for the year. Depending on the university
you attend and your score on the AP exam, you may be asked to show your lab book to the Chemistry department chair
in order to obtain credit for the laboratory portion of the first year general chemistry course. Because these requests have
become much more frequent, the College Board strongly recommends that you use a lab notebook that creates a
carbonless copy of your work. As you complete each lab in our class, you will tear out the copy pages for me to grade,
and keep the clean copy of your originals in your lab book (to turn in to your university, if asked).
Your lab notebook should be a record of everything you do in the laboratory. It is essential that you write down your entire
procedure and everything you observe during the lab activity, so that you (or someone else) could repeat the exact
procedure you carried out in order to validate your results. Keeping careful records of laboratory work requires continuing
practice on your part, and this will be an important part of your work in AP Chemistry.
First Things First!
• Put your name on the front (outside) cover of the lab notebook, followed by your class period
number.
• If page numbers are not already present on the pages of your notebook, number each page in
the top outside corner.
• Leave pages 1 & 2 blank at the beginning of the notebook to allow space for a Table of
Contents. Your first lab entry should begin on page 3.
Preparing the Notebook for the Lab Activity (Use only blue or black permanent ink.)
We will be working on two types of laboratory activities this year – traditional labs in which you will learn a
technique or explore and confirm a chemistry law or theory, the second is inquiry labs in which you will be
asked to do more direct problem-solving, and, eventually, to design parts of the lab activity with your partner.
Traditional labs are the type you have done in the past – you will be given a handout that contains a detailed
procedure to follow, guidance for the required calculations, and questions to answer to help you understand
what happened. Inquiry labs may be newer to you – in these labs, we will discuss the lab objective the day
before, and along with how the lab relates to the unit we have been studying. We will also go over the lab
methods, equipment, and techniques you will need to be familiar with to carry out the lab activity. Rather than
a detailed procedure, we will talk through a generalized experimental plan that you will use in the lab the next
day, and you will write down the specifics of the procedure as you carry it out on lab day. What you need to do
to prepare for lab will depend on which type of lab we are doing – I will give you specific instructions about
preparation before each lab day.
No matter which type of lab we are doing, when you come to class on lab day your lab notebook must be
ready to record data. If your written prelab assignment is not complete you will not be allowed to work on the
lab activity. You will need to complete the prelab before you can begin work on the lab, even if that means you
must complete the lab after school. The prelab will ALWAYS require that you read the lab instructions and
prepare your notebook. In addition, some labs will have prelab questions/problems for you to do. Please bring
these to class on lab day ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER – NOT IN YOUR LAB BOOK! Before you can
prepare your notebook you need to be familiar with what the lab activity is about – what you are investigating,
and the methods you will be using. This information will be available, either in our pre-lab discussion the day
before lab (for an inquiry lab), or in the lab handout procedure (for a traditional lab). Read through the lab
handout or your notes from the pre-lab discussion thoroughly, then do the following:
1. Put your name and the date (month, day, year) in the upper outside corner of the right-hand page
(just below the page number).
2. Under the date, write “Partner:” followed by the name of your lab partner(s) for this lab.
3. Below the date, over in the center of the page, put the number and title of the lab.
4. After the title, aligned with the left margin, write the purpose or objective of the lab. You can find
this in the lab handout or your prelab discussion notes, and you may copy the purpose directly into
your lab notebook.
For a Traditional Lab (for which you are given a detailed procedure in the handout):
5. After the purpose, list the materials to be used in this lab activity.
6. After the materials section, write a summary (IN YOUR OWN WORDS with illustrations) of the
procedure to be carried out. Include references to background information in your text, if needed.
(NOTE: When you arrive for lab, you should be able to briefly describe the objective of the
lab activity, including the data to be collected and how the data relates to the purpose of the
lab. Be prepared for a lab quiz!)
7. After the Procedure section, include a Safety Precautions section that states the hazards
associated with the materials and procedures you will work on in the lab, and the safety measures
you will take to keep yourself and your lab partners safe during the lab activity.
8. From the lab handout, you must decide the format that is best for collecting the data. Most of the
time this will be a table – draw the table neatly (USE A RULER!). Place headings in the table to
show where to record each observation. Number the tables consecutively and give each one a
descriptive title that tells what data are recorded there.
For an Inquiry Lab (for which we will have discussed in class the lab objective and methods):
5. After the purpose, write down the generalized Experimental Plan we generated in class
discussion. Include in the plan the specific equipment to be used and measurements to be made,
but do not write a “cookbook” style procedure to be followed. (Be sure you understand how the
Experimental Plan relates to the lab objective.)
6. If there are specific safety precautions I have given you in the prelab discussion, write these
below your Experimental Plan. Note also any specific instructions or limitations on equipment to
be used.
7. Based on the Experimental Plan, you should know what types of data will be collected, so plan
out how you will record the data – a table or neat list with units are the most common methods.
You will want to leave space for your procedure and then create a section in the lab book labeled
“Data”, where you can record the measurements you make during the lab.
8. As you carry out the lab, you will record the Procedure you use in detail, along with your
observations and the data you need to record.
Recording Entries in the Notebook
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All entries must be made in blue or black permanent ink. Ballpoint pen is preferred over gel ink or rollerball pens
(because it does not run as quickly if liquid is spilled on the notebook).
All numerical entries should have the correct number of significant figures and a unit.
Notebook entries must be legible – readable by me.
If you make an error, cross out the error with a single line and write the correct information just above the
incorrect entry. Do NOT “scribble out” errors or use white-out or attempt to erase an error. ALL DATA MUST
BE KEPT!! (You may think you know what is “supposed to happen” but you may learn more from your errors than
you think!)
NEVER remove any white ‘original’ pages from your lab notebook!
Where there is unused space or a blank page, draw one diagonal line through the page and write in “purposefully
left blank”.
Record your observations as you carry out the steps of your procedure. DO NOT WRITE ON SMALL SCRAPS
OF PAPER, INTENDING TO TRANSFER THE DATA TO THE NOTEBOOK LATER!!! RECORD EVERYTHING
IN THE NOTEBOOK DIRECTLY! Include ALL observations, as well as details of containers, experimental
conditions, etc.
Do not use the first person (I, me) to refer to yourself as you describe your observations. Use the third person
(“the investigator”) or the passive voice to describe what happened. Use the past tense of verbs to describe what
you did.
Include a labeled drawing, if needed.
Also record your reactions to your observations, along with any additional ideas about the work that you may
have. (Remember to avoid using “I” or “me”.)
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Your notebook should be kept so that someone else who does not know you could repeat the experiment with
only your notebook as a guide.
Laboratory Write-Up Requirements – AP Chemistry
Your laboratory report will be a continuation of the procedure and data you have already taken. The write-up must be
handwritten into your lab notebook unless I give you different instructions.
DATA ANALYSIS
Following the data tables, include a section labeled DATA ANALYSIS. This is the section where you will include
graphs of the data, if needed, and the required calculations. For graphs, please remember to follow the “Rules
of Good Graphing” (see handout on my website). For calculations, show each calculation clearly, including all
steps. Each final answer should have the correct number of significant figures and the appropriate unit,
and have a box drawn around it.
CONCLUSION
You will need to write a conclusion for each laboratory activity. These conclusions will be more detailed and indepth than those you wrote in Honors Chemistry. You will need to: 1) summarize your findings and compare your
results with accepted values, calculating percent error when appropriate, 2) analyze all the potential sources of
error in the experiment and assess which errors/uncertainties were the primary contributors to the deviation of
your results from the accepted value. Finally, you need to assess the experiment as a whole and make
suggestions on how it can be improved or made more instructive.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS
For some laboratory activities, there will be questions to answer to further your understanding of the lab principles
and their applications. Each question should be answered using complete sentences, including references to
textbook or internet sources used.
A WORD ABOUT LAB WORK – LAB PARTNERS - LAB REPORTS:
Lab work is a collaborative activity, and part of learning to produce results in the ‘real world’ is learning to work with other
people effectively (whether you “like them” or not). You will have assigned lab partners that will change each quarter.
You will work together to collect data, and most likely, to analyze the data in graphs and calculations. I expect that the
data tables and data analysis parts of lab reports will be very similar (perhaps identical) for lab partners. However, the
Answers to Questions and Conclusion sections of the lab report are to be YOUR OWN INDIVIDUAL WORK – NOT
a copy of your lab partner’s answers and conclusions. I expect you to demonstrate in your answers and conclusion
that you have understood the lab objective and results, and have thought about the results enough to form and express
your own views about what happened and why, and about the primary sources of error in your results.