Taking smart notes book how to#
Taking smart notes book mac#

One should always read for understanding and with the eye of how these ideas can fit in existing projects. Instead of trying to connect some ideas on a blank sheet of paper in ten minutes, one can draw from the links in ones knowledge system gathered over months. A good slip-box makes brainstorming unnecessary. The slip-box naturally complement to ones one brain: the latter is useful to organize thoughts while the former is ideally suited for storing them. It is only by writing notes in which one can clearly present an idea in one's own wording that one can demonstrably assimilate new knowledge. Writing can be fun and easy! An essential idea in this book is that writing is a thinking method and not merely the end result. By following the smart note-taking principle, one circumvents the dreaded 'white page' one has to fill. When sufficient mass is in one's knowledge system, writing a manuscript becomes only a matter of organizing existing ideas and polishing them into a publishable text. Hence, it is vital that making such smart notes and maintaining one's knowledge base becomes a habit. The main point is not to define topics in advance but letting the topics emergence organically in a bottom-up fashion.ДЄcademics or non-fiction writers continuously have to generate new works. A note can only be as valuable as its context. These notes are then routinely processed in one's system, where related ideas are linked together, both somewhat hierarchically and unstructured. One then stores these notes in the 'slip-box', where they are subsequently processed. The smart note taking principle involves writing the main idea of what one read in a simple note on a piece of (virtual) paper. In this work, Ahrens presents a simple scheme for smart note-taking, based on the Zettelkasten method of the prolific German sociologist Luhmann. Sadly, we fail to incorporate what we read in our writings, building new material and gaining deep insights.

Taking smart notes book how to#

This post is a summary of the excellent book How to Take Smart Notes.ДЄs students, academics or writers, we spend an enormous amount of time into reading. It is about how to retain things one is reading, for creating a literature survey for writing a paper or just generally learning. This post is complementing the previous one. And you can start right away.ДҐ.My last post was some general advice on staying on top of things.

Taking smart notes book mac#

It does not matter if you prefer taking notes with pen and paper or on a computer, be it Windows, Mac or Linux. Instead of wasting your time searching for notes, quotes or references, you can focus on what really counts: thinking, understanding and developing new ideas in writing. It suits students and academics in the social sciences and humanities, nonfiction writers and others who are in the business of reading, thinking and writing. This is the first comprehensive guide and description of this system in English, and not only does it explain how it works, but also why.

The Take Smart Notes principle is based on established psychological insight and draws from a tried and tested note-taking-technique. It teaches you how to take smart notes and ensure they bring you and your projects forward.

This book helps students, academics and nonfiction writers to get more done, write intelligent texts and learn for the long run. The key to good and efficient writing lies in the intelligent organisation of ideas and notes. One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers