Hello!
New notebooker here! I started a notebook at the start of the season having no idea how to do it. Now, mid season, I realize it’s a mess, and I have no idea how to do it. Any advice?
I’m a notebooker for VEX V5, but I can try to help here.
An engineering design notebook is ment to be a place to show the progress and ideas of a team (it can go deeper than this, but I’m trying to give you a basic rundown.) In order to have a great notebook, there are a few things that the notebook needs.
1: It needs to be organized. Its okay if the pages don’t have a consistent format, but everything needs to be in the order when it happened, and it has to be legible. Dates are your best friend here, so make sure you know when things happened.
2: Have a balance between words and pictures. This kind of balance will change from notebooker to notebooker, as each one will have a different way of converting understanding, and it might even change from page to page, which is okay! Making sure you have a balance between them will allow you to make sure your notebook can be better understood.
3: Write you sentences and format your notebook as if you are trying to have an adult with no knowledge of VEX understand it. This kinda plays into the last two things that I said. However, this doesn’t mean avoid complicated words. Instead, use them, and give context around them or define them. This is where simple language and pictures are your best friend here.
4:Do your notebook in a timely manner. Record events at the time that they happened if you can. Don’t be like me and procrastinate them until the last minute.
These are the terms that I have (mostly) lived by for engineering design notebooks. If you have any more questions, I am always here. I wish you the best of luck!
Welcome to the forum. Here’s a helpful link to an article: https://kb.roboticseducation.org/hc/en-us/articles/8374007847575-Get-Started-Notebooking
As I said in another thread, try the search bar 
Also like @5020_Offical said:
Welcome to the VEX IQ Forum!:
Since I was mentioned, I might as well add on…
This is something you should definitely do because most of the teams(I mean 2/4 teams at our school) have way too many pictures. I understand why, but please don’t put too many pictures(But please add pictures too like I said in my other reply).
Also, try to log every meeting on the same day as the meeting. You won’t have to remember as much if you do that.
Have a great season!
The notebook is meant to document the entire design process of the robot you are making. Good notebooks document this process in great detail.
Excellent notebooks not only have the design process documented well, but they also have that information in a readable, easy-to-access fashion. Not only does this make the judges’ jobs a little easier, but it also lowers the chances that they will overlook something important that you want them to see.
In other words, as a notekeeper, you are their tour guide for the notebook.
The best notekeepers study the Guide to Judging until they know it like the back of their hand–especially the notebook and interview rubrics.
The more in tune you are with the rubrics, the better you will become. If you want the Design Award, make it blaringly obvious to the judges that your notebook is more than good enough for it.
Give a look at some of the amazing notebooks that people have been kind enough to share around to get a feeling of how the notebook should look. Just make sure not to copy anything!
Happy notekeeping.
Thank you so much! This all really helps!