Joseph Grinnell - Grinnell Method of Note Taking

Grinnell Method of Note Taking

Even though Joseph Grinnell found writing difficult, he put great effort to produce factual, precise writing. Author William Leon Dawson, wrote of Grinnell, "that some of his biographical sketches evince a keenness of insight, and bring out a wealth of first-hand information which mark him as potentially the foremost biographer of Western birds."

Grinnell developed and implemented a detailed protocol for recording field observations. In conjunction with a catalog of captured specimens, a journal was kept, detailed accounts of individual species behaviors were recorded, topographic maps were annotated to show specific localities, and photographs were often taken of collecting sites and animals captured. These materials also documented weather conditions, vegetation types, vocalizations, and other evidence of animal presence in a given locale.

The method has four components:

• A field notebook to directly record observations as they are happening.
• A field journal of fully written entries on observations and information, transcribed from the notes.
• A species account of the detailed observations on chosen species.
• A catalog is the record of where and when specimens were collected.

Grinnell's attention to detail included the type of paper for writing. "The India ink and paper of permanent quality will mean that our notes will be accessible 200 years from now." He added, "we are in the newest part of the new world where the population will be immense in fifty years at most."

The Grinnell System (also Grinnell Method) is the procedure most often used by professional biologists and field naturalists.