Before discussing the subject of chaining notes, we will mention a few general principles applicable to all types of field notes. It goes without saying that it is essential that measurements and other data be accurately recorded and that any additional information required to identify and clarify the data be included. Field notes are required to be legible as well as accurate. If you dont write or print legibly, you will have to improve your script. All notes should be recorded in pencil; a 3H or 4H pencil is best for the job. A pencil that is too soft blunts too quickly; one that is too hard makes a faint mark and scores the paper. In the field, you need to carry a pocketknife or pocket pencil sharpener to keep your pencil sharpened or pointed.

There is a general rule to the effect that erasures are not permitted in field notes. Suppose that in the course of chaining several intervals you make a 10-ft "bust" in one of the intervals by misreading 10 ft as 20 ft. After you total up the distance, some circumstance leads you to suspect that the total is off. You recheck the work and discover where you made the bust. The notebook record for that interval must be changed. You make the change by crossing out the wrong entries and entering the correct ones above themnot by erasing the wrong entries.

Note on the bottom left-hand side the fact that the tape had a standard error of 0.013 ft per 100 ft of tape. The error is marked " + ," meaning that the amount of error should be added to the measurement as indicated by the tape. Obviously, the tape was reading short.

The corrections in the "Correction" column indicate that only correction for standard error

was made. If corrections for temperature and sag had been made as well, the algebraic sum of all three would have been entered in the correction column, or additional columns for temperature and sag correction would appear.

The symbol for each station is listed in the first column on the data page. Opposite, on the remarks page, a description of the station is recorded.

In the second and third columns on the data page, the measured forward and backward distances between adjacent stations are recorded. The average distance is recorded in the fourth column. In the fifth column, the standard error of 0.013 ft per 100 ft of tape is computed for each mean measurement. In the sixth column, the result of this error, added to the mean measurement, appears as the "Corrected Length." The sum of the corrected lengths appears below as "total length perimeter."