Creating Project Notebooks

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Authors & Contributors

Kate Kiefer, English Professor

You should keep project notebooks for two main reasons. First, on large projects, you usually work under the supervision of a faculty member or other accredited professional. Showing the work contributed to the project may be crucial to the successful outcome of the project, to the recognition of individual contributions to the team, and to the long-term accountability of the project supervisor. Grades and job recommendations, too, may depend on the project notebook as evidence of the work involved on a project.

The second reason for keeping a project notebook involves learning to think like a professional in the field. As you work with project notebooks, you reinforce the learning that may seem abstract in a course, but that becomes concrete through the project. Interacting daily with the ideas of the project helps you gain expertise in the field's work.