Tips on Note-Taking
Hey everyone!
Last week, I discovered this fantastic video by a guy called Nicholas Cifuentes-Goodbody.
He talks about why taking notes is important and how he takes note, using the Zettelkasten method. The video is a few years old, so the tool he uses is DevonThink, which I assume is similar to Evernote.
Nevertheless, this video has many tips we can apply in different note-taking tools. If you’re interested, I’d recommend watching his video (< 14 mins long).
But here’s my notes from the video.
Why should you take notes?
note-taking promotes critical engagement. When you’re reading an article, a book, or listening to a lecture, podcast, you tend to start spacing out after about 10 minutes. But, you can keep yourself connected to what is going on by taking notes and interacting with the information as it comes in.
note-taking is vital for personal knowledge management. We often think experts have all the information they need in their head. But the truth is that they have assembled a personal database of information over time that they can access anytime when they need information. And that’s what notes are.
Elements of good note-taking
Good notes should document where the information comes from. Since we consume so many books/articles/podcasts, etc., you may not have the chance to stumble across the information again. So, you have to quickly capture where the information comes from so that you can cite it or go and find it again if you need to.
Your words and thoughts should be clearly delineated from the words and thoughts of the author that you’re taking notes on. When you take notes and come back to them a few days later, you’re often not sure what you’ve said and what they’ve said. Consequently, you may end up citing wrong sources or having an issue of plagiarism.
Your notes are connected to what you’ve learned before. Connecting the information you just learned to the prior information is how you build a strong knowledge base. If you’re a student, for example, think about how the information that you learned in this class might be related to information that you absorbed in your other classes.
In the second half of the video, he shows how he takes notes in DevonThink, which may be interesting if you’re trying to implement Zettelkasten in Evernote or Notion.
Stay safe, everyone! Hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend :)
Shu
Personal Update - Covid19Tokyo
Well, I thought Japan managed to dodge a bullet, but the Covid-19 cases in Tokyo started to increase rapidly in the last few days, which may lead to a lockdown in the coming days.
Do you have any tip you can share with me about fun ways to spend time during a lockdown, things to prepare before a lockdown etc.?
If you do, feel free to reply to this email :)
Tips on Taking Notes by Nicholas Cifuentes-Goodbody
Tips on Taking Notes
Latest Videos - Evergreen Notes (aka Permanent Notes) Format
I’ve updated the format of my evergreen notes!
Permanent/Evergreen Notes Version 2.0 | Updated Format for Zettelkasten