Zettelkasten workflow for research papers | Zotero & Obsidian link

Summary

In this informative video, the host, a computational neuroscience student named Artem, shares his workflow for integrating Zotero and Obsidian to manage research papers effectively. He discusses the importance of a systematic approach to organizing literature, demonstrates how to add papers to Zotero, and explains the use of folders and tags for structuring. Further, he details the process of syncing Zotero with Obsidian using plugins, creating literature notes, and transforming ideas into atomic notes for better retention and application. The video also touches on using flashcards and mind maps for deeper understanding and concludes with a call to engage with the content and subscribe for more.

Takeaways

• 📚 Use a reference manager like Zotero to organize research papers and literature effectively.
• 🔍 Zotero helps to store, cite, and collect literature sources, preventing the mess of scattered PDFs.
• 💼 The script introduces three ways to add papers to Zotero: Quick Add, Zotero Connector, and Research Revit integration.
• 📁 Zotero uses subcollections (similar to folders) and tags for organizing items, allowing one paper to be in multiple subcollections.
• 🏷️ The speaker recommends using folders for context-based organization and tags for topic-based organization.
• 🔗 The Better BibTeX plugin for Zotero and the Citations plugin for Obsidian are used to sync Zotero's library with Obsidian.
• 📝 Literature notes in Obsidian serve as a link between ideas and their sources, streamlining the referencing process.
• 📘 Literature notes can be used as reading journals, capturing key points, terminology, and personal remarks while reading.
• 🔑 The site key is a unique identifier for each article, used to create links to literature notes in Obsidian.
• 🧠 The script suggests that literature notes can aid in the development of ideas over time, even if they are not immediately turned into atomic notes.
• 🎓 The video also touches on using flashcards and mind maps for deeper understanding and memory retention of the paper's content.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to demonstrate how to effectively use Zotero and Obsidian together to manage and process research papers into zettelkasten notes.

What is Zotero and how does it help in managing research papers?

Zotero is a reference manager software that helps in storing, citing, and collecting literature sources such as books and research papers. It organizes these papers and provides an efficient way to manage and retrieve them.

What are the three main ways to add a paper or a book to Zotero mentioned in the video?

The three main ways to add a paper or a book to Zotero are: using the quick add feature with DOI or ISBN, using the Zotero connector web extension to clip PDFs from web pages, and setting up a link with Research Revit to automatically add articles to the Zotero database.

How does the video suggest organizing papers in Zotero?

The video suggests using subcollections (similar to folders) and tags for organizing papers in Zotero. Subcollections can be nested and a paper can be part of multiple subcollections, while tags are used for free-form classification by topics.

What are the two plugins mentioned in the video for integrating Zotero with Obsidian?

The two plugins mentioned are 'Better BibTeX' for Zotero and 'Citations' for Obsidian, which help in syncing the Zotero library with Obsidian and inserting references into notes.

How does the 'Citations' plugin in Obsidian help in creating literature notes?

The 'Citations' plugin allows users to search for a target article from the Zotero library and insert a link to a literature note in Obsidian. This note is a markdown file stored in a specified folder and contains metadata from the selected Zotero item.

What are literature notes and how are they used in the Obsidian system?

Literature notes are markdown files in Obsidian that serve as references to the sources of ideas. They can be used for organizational purposes, as reading journals, or to store atomic idea nodes extracted from the literature.

How can literature notes serve as a reading journal in the zettelkasten system?

Literature notes can be used as a reading journal by outlining key points, mapping out plans, and jotting down personal remarks and thoughts while reading. This helps in keeping track of the content and ideas from the paper.

What is the role of the 'obsidian to anki' plugin mentioned in the video?

The 'obsidian to anki' plugin allows users to create flashcards based on certain facts from the paper directly inside Obsidian, which can be used for spaced repetition to commit facts to memory.

How can mind maps be integrated into literature notes to enhance understanding?

Mind maps, which can be drawn on an iPad and then embedded as images in literature notes, help in quickly refreshing the contents of a paper and understanding how different pieces of the paper fit together.

What advice does the video give regarding the creation of literature notes?

The video advises not to restrict oneself to a rigid workflow and to trust one's instincts when creating literature notes. If a paper seems irrelevant, it's fine to leave the literature note blank, but if it's relevant, feel free to draw schematics, outline points, or leave it as a reading journal.