They should be thrown away as soon as their contents have been transferred to literature/permanent notes (if worthy) or not (if unworthy). They have no value except as stepping stones towards making literature and permanent notes. They can be: fleeting ideas, notes you would have written in the margin of a book, quotes you would have underlined in a book. These are purely for remembering your thoughts.
Get the gist, not stuck on details (12.6).It would nudge you to (number in parenthesis denote the section in the book that talks about the item): The slip-box will become a research partner who could "converse" with you, surprise you, lead you down surprising lines of thoughts. Making a slip-box is very simple, with many benefits. He was an insanely productive sociologist who did his work using the method of "slip-box" (in German, "Zettelkasten"). Something that can be done on demand, in a predetermined schedule, must be uncreative.Įnter Niklas Luhmann. It'd be pretty hard to "innovate on demand". The Getting Things Done system (collect everything that needs to be taken care of in one place and process it in a standardised way) doesn't work well for academic thinking and writing, because GTD requires clearly defined objectives, whereas in doing science and creative work, the objective is unclear until you've actually got there. To be more productive, it's necessary to have a good system and workflow. The amazing note-taking method of Luhmann
#Taking smart notes how to
This is my rephrasing of (Ahrens, 2017, How to Take Smart Notes).