Lab notebook [electronic]

Research is innovative. Instead of following a well marked path, it takes unexpected turns and explorations. It is easy to get lost while doing research, especially when going for months or years. One of the best ways to orient yourself, to remember hypotheses, intermediate steps, and results, is to keep a lab notebook.

• Get in the habit of writing every little step and idea in your lab notebook: it will take initial commitment but will pay well when you need to remember some minor detail for your article or thesis
• Write on computer, not paper. This will make it easy to make quick changes and run fast searches
• Use a Google document or similar cloud solution: it will be with you everywhere you go and will automatically have multiple backups
• Keep it simple! Do not overstress yourself with beautiful writing or rigid multi-layer structure: they will be hard to keep up with, yet won't give any extra benefits

Here is an example of a lab notebook.