Nearly every researcher keeps a logbook of notes and references from the lab and class work. While the transition to tablet PCs has been gradual, there are two main reasons that researchers are adopting the tablet technology.

First, the Windows Tablet PC operating system and software allows easy searching of voluminous notes whether they were handwritten or typed. The problem of finding a particular note, drawing or website link is solved because the computer can find a word or phrase by looking through the entire notebook electronically.

Second, the process of note taking is the same on a tablet PC as it is on a piece of paper. You can take handwritten notes, doodle, sketch, draw graphs and put “ink on paper” the same way as in a spiral bound notebook. In addition, the tablet software allows researchers to capture information from other sources and incorporate it into their notes. With a paper notebook, information from a book or website has to be printed out and then cut and pasted. Using electronic notetaking software such as Microsoft OneNote or EverNote it is easy to cut and paste information into a page as well as a related link to a field or web page.