Zettlekasten Method
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Zettlekasten Method[1] is a methodology for reading, knowledge management and writing. It involves keeping a single archive of tagged notes with links between them. Using an outline to combine notes into a really rough draft of a text.
The overview on the website lists three main components, reading, writing and the zettlekasten archive, only the posts on the latter seemed to contain ideas that are useful to me. The posts on the other two either talked about things I already do (keep citation database, start writing using outlines), things I know I should do but don’t yet (daily practice of writing/reading) or things I will never do (write in books, keep paper notes etc).
Zettlekasten
The zettlekasten is an archive for all your notes, it is the central part of the zettlekasten method.
A zettlekasten[2] consists of three parts:
- An inbox which contains notes currently being worked on.
- An archive with notes not being worked on.
- A reference database that is used to tie notes to books, articles, websites and other sources through references.
Notes
A note has the following properties:
- It is written clearly as possible. The title alone should tell you what it is about. The first paragraph should be a description of the note. And it should share a predictable structure with other appropriate notes.
- It has an unique and stable id so it can be referenced directly.
- It has tags[3]. Tags should be highly specific so retrieval can be equally specific. (For broad retrieval use a computerised search.)
- It should have links[4] to other notes, representing the connections you see between them.
- It should have references to sources.
Everything about a note (content, links, tags, etc) should be written/determined by yourself, rather than be copy pasted from elsewhere because the point is not merely to gather information but to actually interpret and learn it.
Adding new info
A new note should be added if no appropriate note exists[5]. Either because no note on the topic exists at all or if existing notes are a bad fit.
If multiple notes related to the topic exist and the new information does not warrant its own note then create an overview note for the existing notes and add the new information to the overview.
If exactly one note on the exact topic already exists update if necessary. If this cause the existing note to become too large split the note up into smaller notes and turn the original note into an overview that references the smaller notes. (That way any references pointing to the original note still refer to the correct information, though possibly indirectly.)
A note is too large if its size is starting to hinder information retrieval.
Always try to adhere to existing tags and note structure.
Structure notes
Structure notes are notes that do not contain (much) information themselves but rather apply structure to other notes. The point being to aid in retrieval of information much like a table of contents[6].
Some structure will arise organically through the splitting up of notes that became too large. Or when notes on interpretation of data (or highlevel interpretations of patterns) are written[7]. Others will be created explicitly such as the creation of outlines in the writing process.
[1] “Overview • Zettelkasten Method.” [Online]. Available: https://zettelkasten.de/posts/overview/. [Accessed:
[2] christian, “Building Blocks of a Zettelkasten,” Zettelkasten Method. [Online]. Available: https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/zettelkasten-building-blocks/. [Accessed:
[3] sascha, “The Difference Between Good and Bad Tags,” Zettelkasten Method. [Online]. Available: https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/object-
[4] christian, “Why You Should Set Links Manually and Not Rely on Search Alone,” Zettelkasten Method. [Online]. Available: https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/search-
[5] christian, “When Should You Start a New Note?” Zettelkasten Method. [Online]. Available: https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/when-start-new-note/. [Accessed:
[6] sascha, “A Tale of Complexity – Structural Layers in Note Taking,” Zettelkasten Method. [Online]. Available: https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/three-layers-structure-zettelkasten/. [Accessed:
[7] sascha, “Three Layers of Evidence,” Zettelkasten Method. [Online]. Available: https://www.zettelkasten.de/posts/