First let me explain the type of notes I take…
- Snippet notes (SNxxxx): Normally copy+pasted from diverse sites, papers, books. They tend to be short or middle sized, and always have the source. Most of the time they are temporary notes, since after I process them to a conceptual note, I discard them.
- Reading notes (RNxxxx): They are what they say: my notes after reading something. They can be extremely detailed and long if the reference is long and complex; or they can be shorter and focused in one or two ideas that caught my attention. The one I posted here is an example of a very long one. What you see in it is my Table of Contents
{{TOC}}
of the note. They generally follow the author’s text order, but not always. I often reorganize ideas and merge some (complementary) information that can be from p. 38 and p. 49, for instance. Here is the same Reading Note on Idea #6–8:
- Concept notes (CNxxxx): These are the core of my Zetterkasten. They mix different sources, quotes, ideas, my reflections, references, back and forward links. I try not to make them too long. If they become too long I split them in different subtopics and link the new CN to the original one.
As you can see, I adapted the Zettelkasten system to my own needs and workflow. I don’t think I follow it in its “pure” form. The one note per idea doesn’t really work with my research method, although I sometimes use that kind of note too. I think I mostly do one note per topic (a slightly different approach that leads, I think, to longer notes; i.e. the concept notes). Each topic (i.e. concept) note contains several ideas. If the idea becomes too complex/important/full of data, I process it into another topic (concept) note.
I also prepend a code (SN, RN and CN) to DateHour Topic
so I can easily see what kind of note I’m working on/consulting/searching.
… does every numbered ‘Idea’ link to its own Zettel? If you would be willing, it would be interesting to see what one of these notes would look like when you follow the link. Finally, maintaining this sort of reading and noting practice looks intense and time-consuming if each chapter or articles might spark 10s of smaller Zettels. Do you script this or work from templates, or manually compile the MD files as you go?
- In this case, the idea is written in the same note further ahead (a Zettel within the Zettel).
- Re: time consuming: it depends on the reference and how highly I value its contents. Sometimes, yes, I may take more than one day in a good book chapter (as is Henriques 2017). Also because from it I processed a large amount of Concept Notes (basically it was great fuel for my Zettelkasten and my research mind).
- Re: the last question. I use templates in DT3 or placeholders automation in Keyboard Maestro. As for the writing content (with exception of the SNs or quotes in CNs or RNs) they are manually compiled, but I do automate some tasks for links.
Templates for notes (I also have a Keyboard Maestro palette to speed this; note: in the near future I might set up shortcuts for each of the templates so the workflow may be even faster):
The Keyboard Maestro palette for markdown speed up process (most are string typed actions, as showed in between parentheses):
In the end, I do think is a lot of work, but a very useful type of work. In the process one learns a lot and prepares much of what can be used later in writing articles, debating ideas with colleagues, teaching classes, advising students, etc. Plus, it makes knowledge very fluid since you can revise, adapt and append new ideas/sources/etc.
Nonetheless, we must learn to be focused on what is essencial for our research, what is accessory, and what it superfluous. And use time and effort accordingly.