Keeping a Lab Notebook [pdf]
I've been keeping a paper notebook since I started my MS in computer science, which I graduated from about 10 years ago.  It's something that really helps in software development work too.  It's amazing how often the same stuff comes up over and over again, and keeping it all written down really helps.  I've got them all going back to 2004 except for one which I seem to have misplaced.<p>Some things I'd recommend:<p>- Keep it chronological, don't try to keep a half dozen notebooks for different subjects or projects (unless you have to for privacy/secrecy/etc. reasons.)<p>- Number and/or date all of your pages.  I date at the start of each day, and number all pages, although I don't date all the pages.<p>- Number your pages sequentially across multiple notebooks.  This is nice for when you want to write a reference to a previous page, even when it's in an older notebook it's not a problem.  I started doing that about 3 years ago, before that I'd start back at page 1 for each notebook.  I'm at page 1947 right now, I think I'll be lucky to get to more than 20,000 pages before I die.<p>- A few pages in the back for a simple index is nice.<p>- Use ink, not pencil, and don't actually scribble out or erase, just a simple line through is good.  Sometimes you want those wrong ideas after all.<p>- Put a Tile or similar tracker on your notebook.  They are pretty cheap now, and losing your notebook can really suck.