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This case study discusses why we chose OneNote, how we implemented OneNote as an ELN, and discuss the positives and negatives of the implementation with suggestions for readers on about how to approach a similar implementation. In late 2019, the undergraduate teaching laboratories in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at the University of Southampton (UoS) underwent a major refurbishment, including the introduction of teaching laptops to the labs. This paved the way for the teaching labs to phase out physical notebooks. Yet this phasing out process was not without it complications, and it was not until 2024 a comprehensive replacement for the old physical notebooks was fully implemented. In this case study, we will look at the background for the implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) for undergraduate students.

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This resource is part of the PSDI Digital Lab Notebook Resources resource theme.

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Open Access

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Citation

Please cite: Samantha Pearman-Kanza, Jeremy G. Frey, Cerys Willoughby and Philip Leadbitter, Use of OneNote as an ELN Case Study, https://resources.psdi.ac.uk/guidance/801fd939-aa78-4bb6-a84c-816b08c7077d (modified 15 January 2026).

Keywords and Subjects

Process Recording
ELN
Digital Lab Notebooks
Notebooking
notebook
Research Data Management
FAIR Data
Metadata
digital-notebook
eln
electronic-laboratory-notebook
onenote
note-taking
notes