What is a lab book?
A lab book is where you write what you learn and what you want to remember as you work through a new topic.
Lab books act as:
- a memory aid
- a record of your experiments
- a reference for later
Lab books can be paper notebooks or OneNote files. We recommend you use a pen to write in your notebook whether it is paper or electronic since drawing pictures, linking things, etc. is an important part of building a lab book.
As a starting point, you should at least write your solution to every task you are given during the workshops in your own lab book. On top of this, any and all thoughts, ideas, things you want to remember, should also be added. It should be a wonderful chaotic sort of thing.
Here are some pics of my lab book to give you an idea - I am sure you can’t read it at all but it all makes sense to me!
What is a cheat sheet?
A cheat sheet is a summary of little facts, formulas, trick, and tips that it helps to have close to hand for any particular topic. These days we are so used to being able to Google everything we have lost the art of the cheat sheet but they are vital for doing anything new. If it is new, it is not on Google!
The best way to build a cheat sheet is to flick through your lab book looking for the most useful things and then copying them onto a single page that you can look up as you need. Cheat sheets should be updated every now and then as you learn new things (they need to be added) or memorise old things (they can be removed if you can remember them yourself). Cheat sheets are different for every person!
We strongly encourage you to make cheat sheets as you go though this workshop. There are lots of little things that take time to memorise and you can put them on your cheat sheet until you do.