Sonke Ahrens. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking - For Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers. Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. North Charleston. 2017.

1. Read with a pen in hand
2. Take smart notes
3. Make connections between notes
4. Write what you come up with

Additional Resources

• Interview with Srini Rao, The Unmistakable Creative: How to take smart notes (1 hour interview)
• Interview on Coaching for Leaders: Real Thinking Requires Some Form of External Scaffolding
• Potential digital aids
  • ZKN3
  • Logseq
  • tools
  • more

Summary

Abridged Index

• Introduction
  • Everything you need to know
    • good solutions are simple and unexpected
    • the slip-box
    • the slip-box manual
  • Everything you need to do
    • Writing notes is the tangible outcome from thinking, reading, understanding and coming up with ideas
  • Writing a paper step by step
    • make fleeting notes
    • make literature notes
    • make permanent notes
    • add your notes to the slip-box
    • develop your topics, questions, and research projects bottom up from within the system
    • after a while, you have developed ideas far enough to have a topic to write about
    • turn your notes into a rough draft (translate and enhance your notes)
    • edit and proofread your manuscript
  • Everything you need to have (the toolbox)
    • something to write with and on
    • a reference management system
    • the slip-box for permanent notes
    • an editor
  • A few things to keep in mind
• The Four Underlying Principles
  • Writing is the only thing that matters
  • Simplicity is paramount
    • fleeting notes
    • permanent notes
    • project notes
  • Nobody ever starts from scratch
  • Let the work carry you forward
    • expressing understanding in your own words is a fundamental competency for everyone who writes
    • facts connected together in a network of mental models becomes easier to make sense of new information; learn, remember, retrieve
• The Six Steps to Successful Writing
  • Separate and interlocking tasks
    • give each task your undivided attention
    • multitasking is not a good idea
    • give each task the right kind of attention
      • writing (formulating, proofreading, outlining, combining and developing)
      • reading (careful, skimming, flexible)
      • dont' make plans (see next)
    • become an expert (planning is like rails)
      • experts rely on embodied experience (intuition)
      • writing is for gaining insight and making it public
      • Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus: five-grade "expert" scale
    • get closure
      • open tasks occupy short term memory until done (Zeigarnik effect)
      • break writing to tasks
      • write down the outcome of your thinking, with connections to further inquiries
    • reduce the number of decisions
      • reliable and standardized work environment
      • using a defined structure and workflow preserves available mental energy
      • breaks are crucial for learning
  • Read for understanding
    • read with a pen in hand
    • keep an open mind (slip-box criterion)
      • whether something adds to a discussion in the slip-box
      • connect or is open to connections (including contradictions)
    • get the gist
    • learn to read
      • not writing down an an idea is a waste of time, rendering most of what you read ineffectual
    • learn by reading
      • elaboration is most successful learning method: think about what's read, how it could inform questions and topics, how it could be combined with other knowledge
  • Take smart notes
    • make a career one note at a time
    • think outside the brain
      • show your work
      • external scaffolding necessary for developing thinking
    • learn by not trying
      • forgetting actually facilitates long term learning
      • focus on building "retrieval strength" - cues and connections
    • add permanent notes to the slip-box
      • add it behind a note you directly refer to, or at the end
      • add links to other notes or links on other notes to the new note
      • make sure you can find it from the index
        • new entry
        • refer to it from a note already connected to the index
      • build a latticework of mental models
  • Develop ideas
    • develop topics
      • assign index keywords to connect a note to topics you are working on or interested in - connecting to larger context
      • good keywords are usually not already mentioned in the note
    • make smart connections (4 types of cross-references)
      • links on overview note (linked in index) - with two words indicating what you'll find
      • links on cluster-summary note - breadcrumbs for line of thought
      • links showing predecessor note
      • note-to-note links between ideas (weak ties)
      • search for meaningful connections is a crucial part of thinking
    • compare, correct, and differentiate - easiest when presented externally
    • assemble a toolbox for thinking - people learn best when:
      • connect to prior knowledge
      • understand broader implications through elaboration
      • retrieve at different times, in different contexts
      • retrieve with help of chance
      • retrieve with deliberate effort
    • use the slip-box as a creativity machine (slow hunches)
    • think inside the box
      • abstracting ideas frees them from their original context
      • confront yourself with your errors, mistakes, and misunderstandings
      • focus on the main ideas behind the details to grasp the gist
    • facilitate creativity through restrictions
      • format
      • length
      • one idea per note
      • citation structure
      • organizational structure
  • Share your insight
  • Make it a habit
    • take notes when reading
    • turn findings into permanent notes
• Afterword
  • Read with a pen in hand
  • Take smart notes
  • Make connections between notes
  • Write what you come up with
• Bibliography

Read. Think. Write