Saturday, December 17, 2011

Field Notebook



The field note book is something that every field biologist must carry when he/she is going to the field. It's where you record all your observations and data during the field work for further clarifications and analyzing. Field note books comes in many variations but there are some basic things that should satisfy to be a good and user friendly field note book.
It must not be too large or too small. Otherwise it'll be difficult to carry or easily lost. Personally I prefer A5 size (210 x 148 mm) books. It can be easily carried in your pocket. The number of pages can vary according to your preferences and needs. But its good if it's not too large or bulky. So choose a book with pages between 160-320. It's better to have a book with a hard cover and good quality papers. It'll make sure that it won't be torn or worn out easily and won't get soaked quickly. Personally I prefer books with ruled pages as its easy to make clear and well arranged field notes.
In the inner front cover of the book you can write your name and other contact details including the details of any research institute, university or any other professional institute you are working with. So if you lost your field note book and it was found by some 1 else that person will know where to find you to return the book. (providing those information will increase the chance of having your data back)
Leave the first few pages of the field note book for an index. Number all the remaining pages for indexing to be effective.
Then starting from the page number 1 you can write field notes.

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