The FUN and EFFICIENT note-taking system I use in my PhD

Summary

Morgan, une doctorante en cinquième année en études théâtrales et de performance, explique comment elle a adopté la méthode Zettelkasten pour améliorer sa prise de notes. Elle partage les quatre principes clés de cette méthode : écrire constamment, considérer tout comme du savoir, rédiger des notes réductibles à une seule idée et connecter ces notes entre elles. Elle utilise le logiciel Obsidian pour appliquer cette méthode, facilitant ainsi la création de liens entre ses idées et améliorant sa productivité académique.

Takeaways

• 🎓 Morgan est un candidat au doctorat en cinquième année en études théâtrales et de performance et a découvert qu'elle avait besoin d'une méthode de prise de notes adaptée à son niveau de recherche.
• 📚 Elle cherchait une méthode pour stocker de grandes quantités d'informations de manière accessible et interconnectée pour faciliter l'écriture de papiers et sa thèse.
• 🔍 Morgan a abandonné sa méthode de prise de notes universitaire basée sur la surlignement et l'organisation manuelle pour adopter une approche plus efficace.
• 📝 Elle a adopté la méthode Zettelkasten, une technique de gestion de connaissances qui facilite la prise de notes, l'organisation et l'interconnexion des informations.
• 💡 La méthode Zettelkasten a été popularisée par Nicholas Luman et a été améliorée grâce aux technologies informatiques modernes, comme les logiciels de prise de notes.
• 💻 Morgan utilise le logiciel Obsidian pour appliquer la méthode Zettelkasten, bien qu'il existe d'autres options disponibles pour les utilisateurs.
• ✍️ Les quatre principes clés de la méthode Zettelkasten incluent l'écriture fréquente, la considération de tout comme étant du savoir, la rédaction de notes basées sur des pensées élémentaires et l'interconnexion de ces pensées.
• 🔗 L'interconnexion des connaissances est un aspect crucial de la méthode Zettelkasten, où chaque nouvelle note est reliée à d'autres idées pour créer un réseau de pensées.
• 📈 Morgan a expliqué en détail comment elle utilise Obsidian pour créer des notes bibliographiques, pour transformer des notes éphémères en notes permanentes et pour établir des liens entre ses notes.
• 🔗 La vue en graphique d'Obsidian illustre la complexité et la richesse des connections entre les notes, démontrant la puissance de la méthode Zettelkasten pour la création et la gestion des connaissances.

Q & A

Qu'est-ce que le système Zettelkasten mentionné dans le script ?

Le système Zettelkasten est une méthode de prise de notes et de gestion de connaissances qui permet de stocker et d'interconnecter de l'information de manière à faciliter la recherche et la création de liens entre les idées.

Qui a popularisé initialement la méthode Zettelkasten ?

La méthode Zettelkasten a été initialement utilisée par Nicholas Luman dans les années 1960.

Quel est le logiciel que Morgan utilise pour appliquer la méthode Zettelkasten ?

Morgan utilise le logiciel Obsidian pour appliquer la méthode Zettelkasten, bien qu'il existe d'autres options disponibles.

Quelles sont les quatre principes fondamentaux du système Zettelkasten que Morgan mentionne ?

Les quatre principes fondamentaux sont : écrire constamment dans ses propres mots, considérer tout comme de la connaissance, considérer la pensée comme l'unité de base de la connaissance, et interconnecter les connaissances.

Pourquoi la méthode de prise de notes utilisée par Morgan pendant ses études supérieures n'était-elle pas adaptée au doctorat ?

La méthode de prise de notes utilisée par Morgan pendant ses études supérieures consistait simplement à souligner des citations dans les livres et à écrire dans les marges, ce qui ne permettait pas de stocker et d'interconnecter de grandes quantités d'information de manière efficace.

Quel est le but ultime de la méthode Zettelkasten selon le script ?

Le but ultime de la méthode Zettelkasten est de faciliter la prise de notes, l'organisation des connaissances, et de permettre la création de liens entre les idées pour soutenir la pensée créative et critique.

Comment Morgan transforme-t-elle ses 'fleeting notes' en 'permanent notes' ?

Morgan transforme ses 'fleeting notes' en 'permanent notes' en écrivant les idées dans ses propres mots, de manière irréductible mais complète, et en les connectant à d'autres idées existantes dans son système Zettelkasten.

Quelle est la différence entre 'fleeting notes' et 'permanent notes' ?

'Fleeting notes' sont des notes rapides et temporaires prises pour capturer des idées, tandis que les 'permanent notes' sont des notes rédigées de manière permanente, complète et interconnectées dans le système Zettelkasten.

Comment Morgan organise-t-elle ses notes bibliographiques dans Obsidian ?

Morgan organise ses notes bibliographiques en les titrant avec le nom de l'auteur et la date de publication du livre, en y incluant sa citation MLA et en créant des liens vers d'autres notes pertinentes.

Quel est le rôle des liens dans le système Zettelkasten d'Obsidian ?

Les liens dans Obsidian jouent un rôle crucial en connectant les notes entre elles, facilitant ainsi la navigation et la création de réseaux d'idées interconnectées.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Introduction au zettelkasten et ses principes fondamentaux

Morgan, une candidate au doctorat en cinquième année en études théâtrales et de performance, aborde le problème de prise de notes pour son doctorat. Elle explique qu'elle a besoin d'un système pour stocker et interconnecter une grande quantité d'informations de manière accessible et créative. Elle découvre la méthode zettelkasten, initialement utilisée par Nicholas Lemen dans les années 1960, et la modernise avec l'aide des logiciels informatiques comme Obsidian. Elle présente les quatre principes clés de la méthode : écrire constamment, considérer tout comme du savoir, rédiger des notes réductibles à une seule pensée complète et interconnecter ces notes entre elles.

05:02

📚 Comment prendre des notes éphémères et les transformer en notes permanentes

Morgan explique la première étape de la méthode zettelkasten : la prise de notes éphémères, qui consiste à capturer des idées, des informations et des pensées au cours de la journée. Elle utilise des notes adhésives pour marquer les passages importants dans les livres qu'elle lit. Ensuite, elle transforme ces notes éphémères en notes permanentes en rédigeant les idées dans son propre langage et en les réduisant à une pensée irréductible. Elle illustre ce processus en prenant un exemple avec le livre 'Punished by Rewards' d'Alfie Kohn, en notant les citations et en les reliant à d'autres idées dans son système de notes.

10:02

🔗 Comment établir des liens entre les notes pour créer un réseau de connaissances

Morgan montre comment, dans Obsidian, elle relie les notes bibliographiques aux notes de contenu pour créer un réseau de connaissances. Chaque note est nommée après une idée unique et est connectée à d'autres notes pertinentes. Elle utilise l'exemple d'une citation du livre 'Punished by Rewards' pour démontrer comment elle relie une idée à d'autres concepts dans son système, comme l'idée que les étudiants sont des acteurs dans le monde. Elle souligne l'importance de ces connexions pour faciliter la rédaction d'essais et la création de projets d'écriture.

15:02

🔑 La confiance dans le système zettelkasten pour améliorer la productivité

Morgan conclut en ajoutant un cinquième principe : faire confiance au système zettelkasten. Elle souligne que la valeur du système augmente avec le nombre et la qualité des connexions entre les notes, contrairement aux carnets de notes qui peuvent devenir chaotiques. Elle encourage les spectateurs à adopter la méthode zettelkasten pour améliorer leur prise de notes et leur gestion du savoir. Elle propose également des liens pour télécharger Obsidian et d'autres ressources, et invite les spectateurs à soumettre des questions ou des suggestions pour de futurs contenus.

Keywords

💡Zettelkasten

Zettelkasten est une méthode de gestion de connaissances développée par le philosophe allemand Niklas Luhmann. Elle consiste à créer un système de notes interconnectées qui facilite la recherche d'informations et la création de liens entre les idées. Dans la vidéo, l'oratrice explique comment elle a adopté cette méthode pour son travail de recherche doctorale, en utilisant un logiciel de prise de notes pour créer et connecter des notes basées sur des lectures et des idées.

💡Note-taking

Le prise de notes est le processus d'enregistrement d'informations, généralement lors de lectures, de cours ou de conférences, pour les consulter plus tard. Dans le script, l'oratrice mentionne que les méthodes de prise de notes qu'elle utilisait auparavant n'étaient pas efficaces pour son programme doctoral et qu'elle a donc cherché des méthodes plus avancées.

💡Interconnexion

L'interconnexion fait référence à la manière dont les informations et les idées sont reliées entre elles. Dans le contexte de la vidéo, l'oratrice souligne l'importance de connecter les notes pour faciliter la création de connexions entre les pensées et pour améliorer la rétention et la compréhension des informations.

💡Obsidian

Obsidian est un logiciel de prise de notes qui permet de créer des notes interconnectées et de visualiser les liens entre elles. L'oratrice utilise Obsidian pour mettre en pratique la méthode Zettelkasten, en créant des notes basées sur ses lectures et en établissant des liens entre elles pour faciliter la recherche et la rédaction.

💡Créativité

La créativité est le processus par lequel de nouvelles idées ou solutions sont générées. Dans la vidéo, l'oratrice explique comment le système Zettelkasten peut aider à faire des connexions inattendues entre les informations, ce qui peut conduire à une pensée créative et critique.

💡Critique

La critique fait référence à l'analyse ou à l'évaluation d'un sujet ou d'une œuvre, souvent pour en souligner les points forts et les points faibles. L'oratrice mentionne que le but de son utilisation du système Zettelkasten est de faciliter la pensée critique et la rédaction de dissertations et d'articles académiques.

💡Flottantes notes

Les 'frottées notes' sont des idées ou informations capturées de manière informelle au cours de la journée. Dans le script, l'oratrice explique qu'elle utilise des notes flottantes pour enregistrer des idées qui lui viennent à l'esprit, qu'elle peut ensuite transformer en notes permanentes dans son système Zettelkasten.

💡Notes permanentes

Les notes permanentes sont des enregistrements d'idées ou d'informations qui sont écrites de manière plus structurée et détaillée, souvent après avoir capturé des idées initiales en tant que notes flottantes. L'oratrice utilise ce concept pour décrire la deuxième étape de son processus de prise de notes, où elle transforme ses notes flottantes en notes plus complètes et détaillées.

💡Bibliographie

La bibliographie est une liste d'œuvres citées dans un texte, telles que des livres, des articles ou des documents en ligne. Dans la vidéo, l'oratrice crée des notes bibliographiques pour référencer les sources de ses lectures, ce qui lui permet de connecter ces sources à d'autres idées et notes dans son système Zettelkasten.

💡Prendre confiance

Prendre confiance dans un système signifie avoir foi en sa capacité à fonctionner efficacement. L'oratrice encourage les spectateurs à 'faire confiance au système' Zettelkasten, soulignant que plus ils prennent de notes et plus ils établissent de connexions, plus leur système de prise de notes devient précieux et efficace.

Highlights

Morgan, a fifth-year PhD candidate, seeks an efficient note-taking method for theater and performance studies.

The Zettelkasten method is introduced as a solution for storing and interconnecting vast amounts of information.

Nicholas Luman's Zettelkasten method from the 1960s is adapted for modern use with digital tools.

Morgan uses Obsidian software to implement the Zettelkasten method digitally.

Four core principles of the Zettelkasten method are outlined for effective knowledge management.

The first principle emphasizes constant writing in one's own words to capture knowledge.

The second principle views all encountered information as valuable for knowledge building.

The third principle suggests that a single, irreducible thought should be the focus of each note.

The fourth principle highlights the interconnectedness of knowledge through note linkage.

Morgan demonstrates the process of creating fleeting notes from reading a book and transforming them into permanent notes.

The importance of noting the source of an idea and the original thought it inspired is discussed.

Obsidian's functionality for creating links and connecting notes is showcased.

Morgan explains how to create a bibliographic note and link it to other relevant notes within Obsidian.

The process of turning quotes into one's own words and linking them to the original source is demonstrated.

The concept of a 'graph view' in Obsidian, showing the interconnected network of notes, is introduced.

A fifth principle is added: trusting the system for long-term value in knowledge management.

Morgan encourages viewers to adopt the Zettelkasten method and share their experiences.

Transcripts

hello my name is morgan and i am a fifth

year phd candidate in theater and

performance studies and when i started

my phd program i quickly realized that

the way i was taking notes in undergrad

just wasn't going to cut it for this new

program so i started looking into

different methods of note-taking that

might help me out in my phd and

specifically what i needed was a way to

store huge amounts of information so

that it was easily accessible at a later

date when i needed it to write a paper

and preferably all of that information

would be

fully interconnected with all of my

other knowledge so that i can make

surprising connections between my

thoughts and turn them into creative and

critical thinking within my papers and

especially within my dissertation but

that is kind of a big ask for a

note-taking method to do and what i was

doing in my undergrad was just

highlighting quotes in books and writing

in the margins and i would take notes on

notebooks and yes i would organize those

notes kind of with a table of contents

marking where each thing was in each

book but then when i actually went to

write a paper i would have like a stack

of five notebooks i would have to be

flipping through to see if i had written

down the thought that i wanted to use

for that paper but i couldn't even fully

remember when and where i learned that

thought and the only organizational

method was when and where i learned that

thought because you know it was

organized by the courses i was taking

not by logically where that information

belongs in my brain so i i had a bit of

a problem

and whenever i went onto youtube say to

look for a tutorial on how to take

better notes it wouldn't be a holistic

system of how to like store and organize

those notes and i now realize the piece

that i was missing was a knowledge

management system and i am so happy to

tell you that i have found a method that

works for me and i hope it will work for

you too because it is the method i'm

going to be sharing in this video the

system i'm going to be teaching you

today and then walking you through how i

use it is called the zettelkasten method

and this was originally used by nicholas

lumen in the 1960s and we are at an even

greater advantage than lumen was because

we have computers and there are so many

softwares online that you can download

to your computer and do all of the work

of connecting your thought for you

personally the software i use is called

obsidian but there's many other choices

out there so find one that works for you

i think that the settle casting makes

taking and storing notes and learning

things actually like fun and efficient

and

almost easy dare i say it yes it still

takes work but the effectiveness of this

system just makes it so much fun to keep

using the system because like you can

feel the productivity oozing out of you

before i show you the way that i use

this system for myself though i want to

give you some core principles to think

about when you're taking notes because

this system is totally malleable to suit

your needs so your system is not going

to look exactly like my system but there

are four core principles that you should

keep in mind and aim to adhere to when

you are setting up your settle casting

system so the first principle is

write all the time whenever you can

write in your own words that's how notes

are going to be stored in this system is

paragraph form writing in your own words

you can take those notes any way you

want you can even audio record those

notes if you want but the point is if

you don't write it down or speak it into

a microphone or something then you're

going to lose that knowledge in the

recesses of your brain the second core

principle you should remember is that

everything is knowledge it's not just

what is in your school books and what

your teacher says that is valuable

information it's everything you

encounter like your experiences or your

memories or your shower thoughts etc the

zettlecaston system is a

non-hierarchical way of organizing your

knowledge so it doesn't think one bit of

information is more valuable or

inherently better than any other piece

of information and you should make your

brain operate the same way the third

core principle

is that thought is the basic unit of

knowledge in this system so when you do

take a note you should think about how

to make it as irreducible as possible

and yet still one complete thought

that's going to make more sense later

but that principle is there so that you

can adhere to the fourth principle which

is your knowledge is interconnected

every time you store a note you should

be asking yourself how does this connect

to something that is already in my

subtle casten system and what do i

already know that connects back to this

your knowledge is just a network of

interconnected thoughts the power of

this system comes in the quantity and

quality of the connections between your

thoughts so now that you've got those

core principles in your head i am going

to walk you through how i use my

zettlecaston system in the obsidian

software to take notes and capture my

knowledge and connect between all of the

thought in my brain and also how to use

that to create new thought and then

create writing products based on that

thought the very first step that i take

is to make fleeting notes and this is

just how you capture bits of knowledge

and information and ideas and thought

that occurs to you over the course of

your day this can be anything it can be

a thought that popped into your head

while you're taking a walk and so you

write it down on a little notepad or

take an audio memo or it can be your

notes from lecture in my case for this

video

i am going to show you how i take notes

on a book specifically alfie cone's book

punished by rewards while i am reading a

book i actually don't physically write

out notes in my own words because i want

to be immersed in the ideas of the book

i don't want that disrupting my reading

experience so instead

i

tab up the book with little sticky notes

that are highlighting moments i want to

remember from this book because i think

i'm going to turn it into a note later

and then if there's something that just

highlighting it wouldn't suffice for the

thought that was going through my brain

i will put a larger sticky note on that

page and i will write down the thought

that i was having at that moment really

the important thing when reading a book

and taking notes is to remember the

thought you were having and why you

wanted to maybe save that idea but also

to note down where you found that idea

so that you can cite it and find it

later so for me that's easy because i've

literally put sticky notes on the page

and location where i found it but if

you're taking notes off of the book then

you'll want to write down the page

number so the second step is to take

permanent notes based on your fleeting

notes this is when you actually write

down the ideas in your own words in

paragraph form and make that idea as

irreducible as possible so once i've

tabbed up a book or just a chapter of a

book i will go through each sticky note

and i'll ask myself is this an important

enough thing that i want to write a note

about it and if it is then i'll write

the note and i'll take the sticky note

out that's especially good for library

books because i have to return this to

the library so i can't be writing in the

margins you can always write out all

your notes and then divide them up into

bite-sized thought bits later and

writing the note can be done on paper

and then transcribed into obsidian or

you can type it directly into obsidian

if you'd like

it's all totally up to you you don't

even have to use a computer ever if you

don't want to in fact nicholas lumens

subtle casting system was in a series of

slip boxes so he would write out his

note on a little cue card and he would

give it a unique identifier and then he

would slot it in his box after a

corresponding note and then he would

literally write out connections to other

little pieces of paper that were in his

boxes with their unique identifiers so

he knew where to look that seems awfully

laborious to me in an age where we do

have computers but it's up to you

let's head into my obsidian now to check

out what my subtle casting looks like so

welcome to my desktop and welcome to my

obsidian folder this is a folder that is

just housed on my computer and inside of

the folder are markdown files which is

like just a basic text file so at any

point in time i can grab any of my notes

and

print them or print my entire note

system if i want to i also have a backup

of this folder in my google drive so

that i never lose my subtle cast in

system and i will include a link in the

description where you can download

obsidian for yourself so how do i turn

my fleeting notes that i took while

reading alfie cone's book punished by

rewards and turn them into permanent

notes when you enter obsidian you can

see on the left hand side these are all

of the notes that i've taken and on the

right hand side this is where all of the

backlinks will be because obsidian helps

you connect between your notes and

creates little links so you can just

like click between all of the thoughts

that you have the first thing i do when

i want to

put a source like a book into my

obsidian is i create a note for the book

i title all of my bibliographic notes

after the last name of the author and

the date when the book was published and

then i put my mla citation right at the

top there personally because i know what

i'm going to be using these notes for

it's going to be to write papers or blog

posts or etc in the future and then

i put my first link in here and i want

to link this book to another note called

bibliography and if i control click into

that note it's just a blank note but you

can see here on the right hand side are

all of the sources that i have

referenced within my obsidian subtle

casting system so let's go back where's

the case to

this book that we're talking about today

now i go about

opening my book and turning to the first

sticky that i have in here and the first

sticky was for this quote

so i write the quote in there but of

course this quote is not in my own words

and what's the first principle of this

system it's writing in your own words is

the only thing that matters so i'm gonna

go

and turn this into

my own words there it is i now have a

note my note says

while university should be a place where

students discover who they are and what

they are interested in oftentimes they

are instead performing for their

professors to get the grade so they turn

into the people they think their

professors want them to be instead of

creative critical thinkers in their own

right in this way and then i link i'm

going to link the book because this is

actually going to be its own separate

note from the bibliographic note so i'm

i'm actually linking to this book so

that i know where it came from directly

so cohn 1993 writes grades reduce a

student's sense of control over his own

fate and can induce a blind conformity

to others wishes and then i put the page

number so that i know where i got this

from and i don't even have to reference

the book again the next time i want to

use this in a piece of writing so that's

my entire note

and then i ask myself what is this note

about because it needs a name i'm going

to create a new note

the way in obsidian you create new notes

is you go

double square bracket and then you put

the name of the note in there so

what is this note about i think the

thesis of this note is something like

grades inhibit students from becoming

independent thinkers i'm going to write

that down

the reason this is kind of grayed out

right now is because i haven't actually

turned it into a note so i'm going to

take my writing there

get it out of the bibliographic note

and put it into

this note and there we go

there's my note it's written in my own

words it's really small it expresses a

single idea and i've actually named the

note after that single idea you don't

have to name it after the idea that's

just what i do you can use like a time

date stamp as long as all of the names

of your notes are unique identifiers so

you're not pointing to multiple places

at once and then if we look at the right

hand side you can see that there's one

other note that has reference to this

note and it's just the bibliographic

note but that's not enough that's not a

good enough connection just the book it

came from that's not connecting to my

other knowledge so i'm gonna think to

myself what other ideas might this be

related to and i actually took a note

the other day about how students are

actors in the world

in their own right and that's kind of

related to this let's find that note uh

students students are actors in the

world there it is

i think the direct connection that i

want to make is that it is important

that students make their own choices in

school because students are actors in

the world so if they're just making

decisions based on what they think their

professors want then that's the

professor getting to act in the world

through the student that students are

real people

and what they do in school matters in

the real world so

now i have a direct connection to this

other idea from a different book let's

click on it

students are actors in the world

okay this is actually an idea

that i found in a book

by eternity mardis that was published in

2020

and it was an idea found on page 25. she

also points out that students get

absolved of faults because university

isn't the real world

so i can see there's also a direct

connection to these other ideas and then

on the right hand side i can see oh my

goodness there are even more notes that

connect to this idea that students are

actors in the real world so maybe i'm

writing a paper about this idea and i

need i need more things like um

how there are consequences to dismissing

the ideas of students as

not real because it's part of school so

i'm gonna click into that note because

it's clearly relevant and that's related

to this other text that i haven't made a

link to yet but i should

oh it's connected the idea that student

youth aren't taken seriously etc etc

let's go back to our main note that

we're working with personally within my

bibliographic note i keep all of the

notes that

are connected to it i will go through

the entire book looking at every single

sticky that i stuck in there and turning

it into notes within this document

sometimes i will stick all of my quotes

and notes into this document and then

slowly turn them into their separate

notes and then go to the process of

connecting those things or you can do it

one by one like i just showed you now

sometimes i will spend entire sessions

in my zettlecaston system just making

connections between notes that haven't

been connected yet the last thing that

i'll show you in obsidian which is just

kind of a cool thing i think is

the graph view you can see there's so

many connections that i'm making between

so much thought it's all interconnected

and it looks like a mess when you look

at this network and these nodes

in this graph view and it is a bit of a

mess and that's what makes it so hard to

write things and remember things without

a system like zettelkasten helping you

out because all of the connections

between everything that i know are

already made so when i go to write an

essay on anything i've already written

down that thought and i've already

connected that thought to 20 other

thoughts and i can just pull those notes

out of my subtle casting they're written

in my own words already and i can plop

them into an essay and just put them in

an order that makes sense to me then all

i have to do is the work of connecting

those thoughts and making the paper flow

but the writing's already been done the

writing's been happening throughout all

of my classes and all of my readings all

of the time i think the only thing i

want to leave you with now is one last

fifth principle that i'm going to tack

on here at the end and that is to trust

the system if you just take one note in

your zettle castan nothing magical will

happen it is in the number and quality

of connections that your settle cast in

is going to work for you and that's one

of the big draws for me for zettelkasten

as opposed to notebooks because the more

notes you take in a notebook the more

chaotic everything becomes and the less

useful because the more notebooks you

have to shuffle through to find your

thoughts

but in settle castin the more notes you

take and the more connections you make

between those notes the more valuable

your zettlecaston gets and the easier it

is to come up with ideas for writing

projects and actually start writing the

projects so i hope this video has been

useful to you i'm sure that i will be

making more videos on this topic if

there's anything you specifically want

to ask or want me to make a video about

let me know and i will make it happen i

will also be putting links in the

description box below to where you can

download obsidian as well as external

information from other people that i

think have done a good job explaining

how to use the settle casting as always

you can give me a comment to let me know

what you are thinking about ask any

questions tell me how you currently take

notes whether you think that you want to

switch to the zettlecaston system thank

you for watching everybody i hope that

you took some fleeting notes during this

video that you are now going to turn

into permanent notes in your own

zettlecaston system and connect them to

all of your other knowledges if you want

more content like this i mostly talk

about books that i'm reading but i am

also going to start doing more teaching

and learning and knowledge management

style videos so if you're interested in

that content then feel free to subscribe

to my channel and i'll see you in

another video soon