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Overview: Project Notebooks

Like a scientist's log, an engineering project notebook can be used to capture work in progress during a project. Scientists and engineers use project notebooks to record data as they collect it, to brainstorm explanations of data, to record details of experimental apparatus, and to make progress notes. The project notebook can be formal or informal, recorded on paper or on the computer. To learn more, choose any of the items below:

Definition of a Design Notebook

A project notebook is a complete documentation of a project's details. This documentation includes sketches; information from books, discussions, and meetings; and your own thoughts. Unlike a formal report, a project notebook is more informal. In fact, you might consider it to be a journal where you also record your frustrations and successes about a project. A project notebook may also be called a design notebook. Like the project notebook, a design notebook includes similar entries, but concentrates more on design evolution.

The main purpose of a project notebook is to record your work as it progresses. This way, you can go back to the work you did months before and reconstruct, interpret and evaluate the processes you carried out to accomplish your project.

Types of Design Notebooks

Project notebooks serve as official documents for patenting. While working on a project or design that will have controversial or economic ramifications, you should always have a supervisor or advisor sign and date your notebook. This way, you can vouch for your project's evolution. For legal purposes, it's especially important to know that the history you've documented is in fact true and has the correct time schedule. Legal disputes require you to prove that your work was completed within a certain time frame. When it comes to invention, timing always plays a major role.

Audience

The main audience of a project notebook is yourself. Typically, only you will read your notebook entries and use them to recall ideas. However, you may also share notebook entries with your peers during group meetings. In industry, co-workers also benefit from one another's notebooks. For example, during a project meeting, group members need to justify a design decision. They can then refer to sketches and ideas in their notebooks as evidence to support their decisions. Also, when an employee leaves a company for another job, his/her successor will use the notebooks to continue project work and understand design decisions.

Format

Project notebooks, like other notebooks, usually don't have a specific format since they are personal documents. However, you should always date your entries and make sure your notebook is well organized. A bound book and page numbering keep your notes in order.

A more specific organization option is to use two columns for each entry. One column becomes the task column, where you document what you are doing and discovering. The other column then becomes the reflection column, where you record your thoughts on what is happening and any questions you have. Using the same organizational form for each entry helps you locate specific information quickly.

You might also consider keeping an electronic notebook (on a disk or hard drive). However, you won't be able to draw sketches as you would on paper and you would have to print your entries before meetings.

Graphics

One important element of a project notebook is sketches. Drawing sketches for your designs allows you to depict complex information. In particular, sketches are useful for portraying three-dimensional objects. Since a sketch is an informal depiction of a concept, it doesn't have to be very precise. Typically, sketches show the basic form of a concept although they can also include more detailed drawings. Sketches become more specific as a project progresses. Many sketches can then be re-drawn for a final report.

Ideas for Topic Entries

The list below presents possible topics for your project notebook. Each entry you write will usually include more than one of the following:

Perspectives on Project Notebooks

John Mahan, Electrical Engineering

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering

Kate Kiefer, English Department

Project Notebook Content

John Mahan, Electrical Engineering

In my project notebook, I keep all my research. That's where I work everything out and write down all my ideas. This prevents me from losing work when I invested time and effort. I also include drawings and I even clip and paste information. I always have someone sign and date my notebook so that I have a witness to my work.

Project Notebooks Versus Lab Notebooks

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

A project notebook is a documentation of a design or project's process. It includes many sketches and justifications. Basically, you're justifying the decisions you've made and you're presenting the results of any analyses and testing you've done, as with a prototype you've built. It fully documents a whole design evolution and everything that goes into it.

Lab notebooks record testing done in a lab or testing a product that's already been designed. In the lab, the product is put through different lOops, running it through different temperature variations or putting it on a table that vibrates to see if it falls apart. The data included here includes observations about how something performs.

Project Notebooks and Audience

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

Your entries are personal documents and may include comments or sketches you don't want to share with others. On the other hand, you might discuss your ideas and sketches with other group members because your observations will improve a project or design. In fact, after reading parts of entries to one another, you might even refer to those ideas in your own notebook.

Sketches

Dave Alciatore, Mechanical Engineering Professor

Sketches in project notebooks don't have to be very precise. You want to show the basic form of an object, maybe even some rough dimensions to give an impression. You may also include some detailed drawings. As you get more specific with your project or design, your sketches will be more precise. For instance, to depict how two things fit together, you'll show how far apart the two components have to be or how large holes have to be. These don't have to be neat, but they will have more precision in them, like hard dimensions.

Good versus Bad Project Notebooks

Kate Kiefer, English Professor

A good project notebook is useful to the researcher. If scientists/engineers record enough detail about the on-going project, they can not only complete progress and final reports with the data and ideas collected in the notebook, but they can also hand a project to a new researcher assigned to the project if that should ever be necessary.

A bad notebook might be less useful because it doesn't include enough detail to help write reports or recreate the way the project developed because it doesn't keep entries ordered for quick access.

Why Keep a Notebook?

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.

Project Notebooks and Audience

Kate Kiefer, English Professor

The scientist or engineer working alone keeps a project notebook primarily for himself or herself. The notes and speculations are largely to jog the memory and record ongoing problems and successes with the project. The project notebook is also a guide when preparing interim and final reports on the project.

When scientists/engineers work in groups, however, the project notebook can be a collaborative record of the project. In this case, entries must be clear and complete enough not only for the writer, but also for other team members. In many work settings, a supervisor might also look at the project notebook to gauge a project's progress.

As a student, you project notebook is primarily written for yourself, but it will also be reviewed by the project supervisor or faculty advisor. You should not forget this important audience for notebook entries.

Example Project Notebooks

Project notebooks record various kinds of project information. The examples here depict group work and individual work. To read example notebook entries, choose any of the items below:

Example One: Project Notebook

Entry One

1/23/97

Met with group in AR115 to exchange information and decide on a weekly

meeting time. Here's the groups' information:

Group #: 99

name, phone number, e-mail, class schedule

---- ------------ ------ --------------

Joe Shmoe 555-1234 js@engr MWF 11, 12, 2; TR 8, 9

Jane Doe 555-2345 jd@engr MWF 11, 12; TR 8, 11, 2

John Wayne 555-3456 jw@holly MWF 11, 12, 2; TR 11, 2

Based on our class and personal schedules, we decided to meet weekly on

Wednesdays at 9 am. For weeks when this doesn't work out, we will meet on

Thursday at 3 p.m. We will meet in AR115 (the ASME student lounge).

Before our next meeting, we agreed to each read the entire contents of the

Web page describing the ASME Student Design Contest. The Web address is:

http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/asme_design.html

The design problem will be discussed at our next meeting.

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Entry Two

1/29/97

Group Meeting (Present: Joe, Jane. Not Present: John)

Jane will call or e-mail John to remind him of the weekly meeting time and make sure he can come next week. Jane and I discussed the problem statement and rules.

We both felt comfortable enough with the problem and constraints to have a preliminary brainstorming session. I took notes, and we both made sketches on the white board. Here's a summary of some of our ideas:

Possible design concepts:


3. Different ways to gear down the motor: belt/pulley, chain/sprocket, a purchased gear box (like Dr. Dave showed us in class), assembling our own gears.

Jane was very supportive of my ideas. I thought that some of her ideas were bizarre and out of control, but I was careful not to criticize. We decided to hold off on any detailed discussion until we could meet with John next week when we would have another brainstorming session.

We generated the following questions to which we didn't know the answers:


Jane agreed to see Doug, Deb or Dr. Dave to get answers to these questions. Before our next meeting (2/5/97), we agreed on the following tasks:


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Entry Three

1/31/97

I called (left message) and e-mailed John asking if he could meet me today or tomorrow to work on the boxes. John replied to my e-mail saying 3pm today would work. I replied yes. We met in the ME Shop at 3pm and talked to Walt about constructing the boxes. He had some 1/4 " plywood that he said we were welcome to use. We picked some out and Walt showed us how to use the bandsaw to cut out the sides of the boxes.

By the time we were done with the band saw, it was time to clean up and close down the shop. John asked Walt if he could come Monday to get help with the drill press. Walt agreed.

I agreed to pick up the wood pieces from John on Monday night (from his dorm room). He will be done with the cutting and drilling by then. I will try to assemble the pieces using small screws and glue I got from my uncle in town.

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Entry Four

2/5/97

Group Meeting (Present: Joe, Jane, John)

John apologized for not making the meeting last week. This made Jane and me feel better (we were worried last week). Jane reported the answers to the questions we had last time - she got the answers by rereading the Web material and by visiting Deb:

If we use a compressed spring, it has to be recompressed before the balls come to rest in the destination box.

The second answer reported by Jane gave us the idea to incorporate a collection device in the receiving box that will contain the balls as fast as possible just below the top surface.

We had a brainstorming session (John took notes, we all made sketches on the white board). We also agreed to narrow the field of alternatives to 3 by using the prioritization method presented in class.

We also got into an argument because John really liked one of the ideas, but Jane and I didn't agree with his logic. John was really upset. Jane said we should take a couple of days to think about both sides of the argument, and we agreed to discuss the matter again later. We agreed that whenever we have a big disagreement, we should take a day or two to think about both sides of the argument and try to discuss it again. We will all try to compromise and appreciate the perspectives of others, but in the end we will decide by voting or using prioritizing methods. If there are still a lot of bad feelings, we will approach the TA's or our instructor, so they can help us resolve our conflicts.

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Example Two Project Notebook

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Additional Resources

Other writing guides are available to help you write a Project Notebook. Choose any of the following for more information: