Konubinix' opinionated web of thoughts

Zettelkasten’s 3 Note-Taking Levels

fleeting

Zettelkasten’s 3 Note-Taking Levels Help You Harvest Your Thoughts

concept note

Concept notes require much more care in authoring: they need to be self-explanatory and detailed

https://www.orgroam.com/manual.html

fleeting note

A not that was quickly captured and still needs to be consolidated.

fleeting notes: they are simple reminders of information or ideas that will need to be processed later on, or trashed.

https://www.orgroam.com/manual.html

Level 1: Fleeting Notes

Fleeting notes are ideas that pop into your mind as you go through your day. They can be really short, just like one word. You don’t need to organize them. They just serve as reminders of your thinking.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

reference note

Notes that contain only reference, by contrast with literature note, I did not rephrase and digest the data yet.

literature note

A note that contains references and rephrasing of some literature. I consolidate what I have understood of the literature in a literature note.

Literature notes can be brief annotations on a particular source (e.g. book, website or paper), that you’d like to access later on

https://www.orgroam.com/manual.html

Level 2: Literature Notes

You capture literature notes from the content you consume. It’s your bullet-point summary from other people’s ideas. I create these notes for all books, podcasts, articles, or videos I find valuable.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

There are three rules for literature notes: make them brief, use your own words, and note bibliographic references.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

What is interesting about this? What’s so relevant it’s worth noting down?

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

the more you write down, the more you can recall the information later. So don’t try to keep the notes too short — be generous in the way you elaborate and find the length that feels good for you.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

In a Zettelkasten, you don’t file notes in the context you found them but in the context in which you want to discover them.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

Here are two questions to ask yourself when you create references for your literature notes. Answering them will help you make good cross-references: In which circumstance do I want to find this note? When and how will I use this idea?

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

permanent note

A note that has been considered to have robust and sourced knowledge.

Permanent notes are further split into two categories: literature notes and concept notes

https://www.orgroam.com/manual.html

Level 3: Permanent Notes

Permanent notes are the real value-adders. You create them by looking through your fleeting and literature notes. Ideally, you create them once a day.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

As a rule of thumb, I now create permanent notes about every topic I’m curious about or working on. When you’re in doubt, ask yourself whether you’re curious to explore your idea further

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

While your literature notes are bullets, your permanent notes are written prose. A reader of your permanent note should understand it without reading the source that led to your idea.

https://betterhumans.pub/zettelkastens-3-note-taking-levels-help-you-harvest-your-thoughts-58326840f969

Notes linking here