More on maintaining research notebooks - some Q & A

I recently received these questions as a comment on a recent post by Dr. Aretha Guimaraes, a botanist at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia. Dr. Guimaraes writes: "Hey Robert, thanks for answering my comment! I have a few questions regarding the organization of your notes."

 
1) I’ve read that you divide your notebooks using tabs according to the specimen that you are describing. But how do you continue your note about a certain fossil if the pages that you left for that description are over? Do you continue in another notebook? And if you do continue to write in another notebook, how do you store the complete description later? 

Great question! This happens all the time - either I 1) have supplementary observations or 2) mitigating circumstances require me to interrupt an entry and begin a new entry. In this case, I write up at the top of the page "continued on page X" and typically write this at the very end of the entry as well. When I get a chance to get back to the original entry, I write in "continued from page X" at the very beginning, so it is clear where I should flip to. Now, this becomes a problem when you split an entry between two different notebooks - I tend to use roman numerals for my notebooks, so I can cross-reference entries between notebooks. For example, Notebook I is one I started in 2008 on fossil pinnipeds from California; Notebook II is chiefly on fossil cetaceans, and Notebook III is on miscellaneous marine vertebrates (birds, otters, sharks, bony fish, sea turtles) from California. I think I stopped there, though I have a single notebook dedicated to fossils of Herpetocetus, one or two more on Eomysticetidae from my Ph.D., and two full notebooks of descriptions I've made while at CCNHM in South Carolina.

2) By now you should have lots of notebooks stored. Do you keep a “master index” where you can check when you are looking for a particular description or info?

No, not yet, but in a few more years that might be needed!

3) Do you make any copies of these notebooks? Like a digital copy or something?

I have digitized my field notebooks, but have not bothered digitizing any of my research notebooks. I tend to type up my descriptions shortly after writing them out by hand, so in a way it gets digitized. I use the marked up photographs as guides to constructing my figures (which are generally based on the same edited photographs). 

4) I have the same problem that you described in one of your posts, where you told us you had to move to the US with a bag full of heavy notebooks. I’ve been moving a lot recently (Brazil – UK – Amazon and so on) and I’ll probably move a lot until I can become a full professor somewhere. I tried to use a digital notebook in order to be more practical to carry things around (since I’m not available to afford shipping all of my notebooks) but I didn’t like it. Did you manage to solve that problem? 

I have not solved this problem - in my opinion this is a good, but intractable problem to have. I don't like staring at screens, and in my experience it is much easier to have a hard-drive failure than to lose your physical notebook or have them destroyed by water or fire.
 

5) Regarding the fieldnotes, do you have a field notebook or do you keep your notes in the same notebooks that you use every day?

I have a completely different set of field notebooks that are regionally or project specific: for example, I have two general field catalogues (1 and 2) for fieldwork in Santa Cruz county with the prefix RWB, a notebook for Point Reyes (RBPR), and an east coast field notebook (RBEC).
 

6) Are you still using A4 notebooks? When you have a drawing of something larger to stick in your notebook, how you do to prevent damage? 

I use the XL moleskine notebooks which measure 19x25cm (7.5x9.75"), just slightly smaller than "letter" size paper here in the US (letter = 8.5x11", 22x28cm). I do not paste in anything that is larger than the page in both dimensions - but I do paste in foldouts that unfold laterally. I'm not exactly sure what kind of damage you're referring to, but I prevent tearing and tattering of the edges by making sure everything pasted in is small enough so it doesn't protrude from the sides of the notebook.
 

7) Do you keep daily notes like research diary?

I do not - I am much too scatterbrained to do that consistently. I only take notes when I've blocked off some time to focus and pour my undivided attention onto one task.

Also, I’d like to tell you that I always share your notebook posts with my students so that I can convince them to keep their notes, especially my husband (who is also a scientist) and refused to take notes on stuff. I used your notebooks post to convince him of my point and now he keeps things more organized.
 

Thanks again for your content! I found you by randomly searching in google a few years ago and I always keep an eye on your posts.
Best wishes,
Aretha Guimaraes

I'm so glad you find these posts and tips helpful! Thanks for the great questions, Aretha!