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a.
Personal Preparation
The criminalist must specifically prepare for testimony in a variety of ways.
It is not advisable to assume that your natural intelligence combined with
your familiarity with the evidence will be enough to get you through. The
thought process that began when the evidence entered the laboratory must
continue through testimony. You should review your notes, including the
data and the interpretation that led to your conclusion. Having kept detailed
written records helps immensely with this process. You think you will never
forget how you came up with that complex interpretation of the data, but
by the time the next case is on your desk, the previous one is probably gone
from your conscious mind. You should never have to resort to literally reading
from your notes on the stand. You should, however, refer to them to refresh
your recollection about specific items of information, and when requested
to do so. You should have clearly in mind your full set of conclusions, in
particular the competing hypotheses, and how your data either support or
disprove a particular hypothesis. This includes an intimate knowledge of the
capabilities and limitations of both the evidence and the tests.
One of the most difficult preparatory activities is to keep up with the
literature in your field. As a historical literature base develops, and the num-
ber of published papers continues to increase, this frequently seems like a
losing battle. In addition, some relevant papers may be published in relatively
obscure journals that may be difficult to both monitor and obtain. A general
familiarity with who is doing what will help you concentrate on the most
* The 
 
Uniform Rules of Evidence
are very similar to the 
 
Federal Rules of Evidence
. They
have begun to be adopted by states to accomplish a goal of standardization.
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Principles and Practice of Criminalistics