If pages are easily inserted or removed, proving a continuous, unaltered thread of experimentation and development is more difficult. Preferably, the Notebook should have consecutively numbered pages. It is important to line through any blank portion of pages of the bound notebook to show that backdated entries have not been made, nor room left for them. All calculations, sketches, diagrams, test results, equipment used, test parameters, conclusions, etc. , should be entered into the notebook. Each notebook entry should be as detailed as necessary to let the witness understand what occurred.
General entries provide little useful proof.
The probative value of any notebook depends upon its specificity, the fact that it is dated and signed, and the fact that it is witnessed by someone else. Every entry should be signed, dated, and witnessed. All persons involved in the inventing process, and their specific role, should be identified in the notebook entries. Memories fade and unless participants are identified, it may be difficult to identify those persons months later. All loose papers such as drawings, test results, photographs of models, etc.