FULL note-taking session in Obsidian (with commentary!)

If you've been wondering how I actually take notes in real time... Here's your answer! This is a pretty typical PhD note-taking session for me.
✨TIMESTAMPS✨
0:00 - Intro
3:23 - Notetaking Session
14:53 - Summary of my Process
17:54 - Say Hello in the Comments!
#zettelkasten #notetaking #phd

[@threefootpole]

your videos on obsidian/zotero are the ONLY ones that I find helpful as a humanities PhD student. they are EXACTLY what I needed. I wasted so much time watching other videos by ppl who are primarily 'content creators' which did not reflect my needs as a student. so, thank you so much!!

[@morganeua]

Awesome! I'm realizing more and more how few zettelkasten content creators are humanities academics/writers, so I'm glad you found my channel!

[@phytodesign4496]

Thank you so much Morgan ( fellow Montreal Phd student here). Your content is the only one I find useful to help me reflect on my note-taking system for my PhD. I love this type of content, it feels real, non-linear as thinking and writing is. I also go back to your videos when I am lacking motivation to take on the challenge of cleaning up and making sense of my Obsidian vault, as I have a tendency to create notes with quotes on readings without taking the time to add my own ideas immediately (bad, I know)…thank you for your content, a form of support on this PhD journey that is often quite solitary. If you ever want to meet up to talk about these subject live, don’t hesitate to reach out.

[@cedargrace]

I agree!!! So refreshing to hear from someone who isn’t a “productivity bro” 😂

[@robynbieber6312]

Yup! I wish there was more for us humanities students.

[@cameronrepp6174]

This is the perfect time for this to come out. I've started doing research and wanted a better note-taking process. Seeing how this all works will be great. Thank you so much!

[@JohnJohnson-dl8oq]

Always enjoy your content! If I may suggest: you can change the display text for a link by using the pipe symbol. This might be easier than creating an alias. [[real note name|display name]]

[@obuyWw]

I think she’s already doing that

[@camilaeleuterio8292]

Your research sounds so interesting! I’m a Masters Degree candidate in Japanese Literature. Everytime you mention your research theme, a Japanese children’s story comes to my mind about the friendship of a circus boy and the circus bear from author Niimi Nankichi. 😊

[@dtn84]

YES!!! THANK YOU!!!! 🥰🥰🥰 I am migrating my notes from Notion to Obsidian to implement the Zettelkasten system, but since I will start on the doctoral program this semester, I have been studying on my own only complementary topics such as research methods or statistics. I am loving the process of making connections between my notes, but I am (was) concerned because I haven't been having any actual ideas. I believed it made some sense because those are information that I have to know rather than build upon, but I had no actual idea how it would be the process of actually reading, having an idea, documenting it and relating it to the other notes!! Again, THANK YOU so much for that!! If I am going to be honest, I believe this your best video on the topic because you show how you actually go from point A to point B on how to build your zettelkasten to the point it hits critical mass!! Now I am more curious about the nits and bits of your process!! Which information do you import from Zotero to your zettelkasten?? Is there any specific plugin on Obsidian that makes your life easier?? Do you have any kind of hierarchical structure for your notes?? I ask that because I have for my literature notes, but I intend to use those notes to support the notes for the zettelkasten. Do you feel the need to periodically review your notes to create new connections, or does that occur naturally? Again, thank you for this video!! You filled exactly the gap I had at the moment on how I would actually build my zettelkasten!!

[@anishamoudi3185]

This is what i was looking for, thanks for the awesome video and explanation

[@brwn_pprbg]

Thank you so much Morgan... for ALL your videos.

[@marieelaine11]

This was incredibly helpful and the notecards at the end really helped understand the concepts. Thanks

[@erinedwards1066]

I’ve just started using Obsidian, processing all my analog notes, and this was super useful! Thank you!

[@susandollinger7965]

Thank you. This was helpful to me about the flow of thought and the linking of ideas. This was a good video on using Obsidian, too.

[@molkojill9294]

I’ve learned a lot from your last video about Zettlekasten and Obsidian and this video provided more useful details. What you’ve done has increasingly reduced my procrastinations and anxiety of accomplishing my thesis. I think I will go back to this video in the future. Thanks so lot.

[@danielena7]

Me encantó tu sistema. Voy a aplicarlo. Gracias por compartir.

[@kedrickadamsmusic]

This was wonderful! I’m trying to adopt your system into my analog zettelkasten, as I come from obsidian first but love the spatial satisfaction of a physical system. Additionally, the antinetters are not so kind or flexible about their ideas, so it’s nice to see a video about your process without claiming it’s the best version of zettelkasten and that the other ones are stupid. Really appreciate that. I’m trying to learn about how to use knowledge management in a creative way, as the material of creative work is largely based on one’s knowledge, and I’m having a hard time deciding which system is really the right one for me. I love that obsidian makes everything so non-hierarchical and it’s so much faster, but it’s hard to feel like notes exist when I can’t see them. Any suggestions on how to get around this?

[@josephkauslick5034]

I use analog as well and appreciate the appeal and the challenges. More and more I’ve avoided any initial categorization unless I *need* a new index keyword. (I do use the folgezettel style numbering) Even if there’s several locations for, say, Note-taking, I try not to label them at that level, or label at even more granularity until a location legitimately has a cumbersome number of notes to sift through. There’s only benefits to having to review the notes regularly anyway. I indexed and categorized to much and too early at first. I would do something similar in a digital mode as well, I just prefer analog. Do you think that would help?

[@true7702]

Thank you Morgan, very informative. Very nice to see how other people work to see if maybe I could improve on my own flow. Very simple but informative

[@shelby5725]

This video is only a month old, but I've re-watched it multiple times when I need some sweet motivation to make notes. I would love more video like this, if you'd be interested in doing them :)

[@morganeua]

I can't believe I made this a month ago, actually. Time flies! Okay, yesss, I will definitely make more. Because honestly, making this video also got ME motivated to take notes!

[@carrieben-yisrael8206]

You are the best!! I am so glad I found your page for myself and my students. Game changer.

[@morganeua]

Great! What do you teach??

[@josephkauslick5034]

I found this very helpful. Would love to see more like it. Thanks!

[@morganeua]

Sweet! They're super easy for me to make, so I'll keep iterating this concept and see what people like best!

[@tomabbott9653]

I absolutely loved the summary. You explained that much better than many of the videos I’ve watched on this subject, and I’ve watched quite a few.

[@morganeua]

Oh awesome! I sometimes wonder if just showing my own method will be linear enough/clear enough for others to follow and learn from. Glad it's helping someone!

[@dobi26jo37]

thank you for this, I've learnt so much since I came across your channel :)

[@morganeua]

You're welcome, I'm glad it's been helpful!

[@chufflangs]

This is hugely helpful as someone going through philosophical works within a closed system I'd like to learn more deeply. I'll likely watch this video multiple times

[@faithmadewhole]

This is the first of your videos that I've watched. I've watched a lot of videos on Obsidian and Zettelkasten and most of them left me scratching my head. This video was clear and extremely helpful in putting the pieces together. By the way, at least for me, the note card summary at the end was very valuable in solidifying my understanding. Awesome job, Morgan!

[@morganeua]

Oh great! I'm never sure whether these note-taking sessions will be helpful/make any sense to someone other than me :P So, I'm glad it actually helped!

[@asexualatheist3504]

Thanks! I like how you do the source note. I’ll give it a go. I’m just starting to use Obsidian. So this information helps me go beyond the index card method that I was taught.

[@omnicrux]

Thank you for doing these videos!!!

[@morganeua]

Thank you for watching and supporting the channel! I'm so glad they've been helpful! 😊

[@motive-li1do]

Finally, someone is showing it live in action! This is such a huge need for me when learning new techniques and methods and just doing things in general. Thank you!

[@morganeua]

Great! I'm kind of surprised actually at how many people appreciated this video. I thought it might be too hard to follow/niche!

[@motive-li1do]

@@morganeua too many people are too vague about their processes, stuff like this is golden! Thank you!

[@JudgeFredd]

Great advices Tx !

[@mrrubymrcapri37]

I am so impressed after watching the series of videos of your note-taking system. Thank you so much. I know this system would also be very useful for my studies but find it overwhelming to get started. I really enjoy the way you explain things, super clear and logical. if possible, please do a video about the basics of obsidian and how to get started maybe for the first 3-5 notes and how to link them together. Thank you!

[@lew222]

I agree with this. I want to figure out how to do this but it seems so self-referential and like you already have to have several things in there to actually do it the way she's doing it

[@antonybrennan]

Thanks for the inspiration

[@vanillabreado]

I feel so lucky I got this video today. I started my obsidian yesterday and come across you FUN and EFFICIENT note-taking system, your contents have helped me getting started a lot. thank you so much. And if you do mind I would love know how you organize your note and folder.

[@morganeua]

My notes are essentially not organized. I navigate them through backlinks. And the folders I mostly just use the one for sources, so I separate out those notes.

[@keeliecat]

Love this! I started using obsidian about a week ago. It's going great and I love using it to store citations and notes on all the media I've been consuming. I am primarily using it to work on grad school applications right now. I am still figuring out how to apply the Zettelkasten method though so this is super helpful!

[@morganeua]

Great, perfect timing!

[@flowingblaze]

Thank you for this video, I found it very interesting!!

[@bill_jennings]

I really appreciate videos of yours like this. I've been using Obsidian since the beginning of the year, but I'm still not certain on the note-taking style that I should use. My vault is pretty jumbled, but it does seem to be coming together over time.

[@morganeua]

It's definitely a long-term (lifetime?) project - the way I use it, anyway! Mine also felt jumbled for a while. And it still is jumbled... But now I know how to get around the jumble 😝 Making notes for common words I use really helped in that respect. Like, you could tag notes with special words. But instead I make them into they're own note and I can use them to get around, through the notes that are backlinked to them

[@sorgamoy]

This video was so inspiring! I have adopted your notetaking mathod, your version of the zettelkasten, and I also study in the field of humanities, so this video was not only entertaining for the practical demonstration but I was also very interested on the topic. Right now I'm trying to decide what I'll do for my thesis, very stressed out, and watching this video helped me remember that I just love research so I should take all this with a little more joy. Thanks for this video! And I hope you make more!

[@morganeua]

Yeah!! Honestly, if you've got the same process as me, then you'll probably get ideas and realize your interests just by spending a bunch of time making notes and connections in your zettelkasten! So glad you're here, what's your field/area of research??

[@massaglia]

I relate to this. I'm swirling with ideas and need to pin down a topic. I love consuming research and literature and need practice taking and connecting notes, and then writing about them.

[@paytenparfait5983]

These videos are amazing!! Holy crap. I study energy law, and I am starting my own Zettelkasten system today because of your videos!! I have been stuggling so much with notetaking/knowledge management, you have no idea. THANK YOU.

[@morganeua]

Lol, I DO have an idea, because I struggled and suffered sooo much, too!

[@harnesslit]

I’m very interested in these videos. I love watching and seeing how others connect ideas. Especially someone in a more liberal discipline as I am too. I really appreciate you sharing so throughly!

[@morganeua]

Ooh, which field are you in?

[@harnesslit]

@@morganeua I originally did a dual bachelors in Art and History. Then decided to go into teaching Language Arts at secondary so I went back for a Masters of Teaching and I’m very interested in starting a doctoral program but still unsure of what to do. I have so many pleasures and interests but all are in liberal arts fields so I often struggle which obsidian when trying to connect ideas. Watching your video showed me a great way to work with the quotes I’m collecting. Im so excited to start.

[@nicolasvfucci]

Coole and Frost happen to be a very funny name for two authors! They seem to be... chill

[@bjornflintberg3809]

I'm doing my PhD now as well, and I love your videos. A lot of the obsidian youtubers are so technical and it becomes impossible for me to follow. I love how you explain so pedagogically what you do, and you're very on-topic as my PhD work is why I started using Obsidian, even though I now use it for work and my TTRPG creativity work.

[@morganeua]

Omg, yes, people have used Obsidian to GREAT effect for game mastering! I'm glad you enjoy the less technical videos because I am just not a technical computer person! I only use Obsidian insofar as it helps me develop my ideas! If I dive deeper into plugins I get overwhelmed :P

[@deenanaidoo2804]

Hello Morgan, great video. A simple yet comprehensive tutorial on note-taking in Obsidian. Thank you. Please make a video (or direct me if you made it already) on how, as a graduate student, I can pull my notes into an essay. I would be grateful.

[@user-lr8ru6vc5p]

Very helpful! Thank you so much! An alternative to copy and paste the quote from source note to new/existing note is to select the quote, right click, choose "extract current selection", and then either search an existing note or type a new note name. The quote will be automatically added to the new note or the bottom of the existing note and it will be alternatively linked to the source note.

[@tulparayisak7205]

ohhhh god, this is so helpful. Thank you.

[@morganeua]

I'm so glad!!

[@jape2116]

Love this. A huge inspiration as I just started my Doctorate of Ministry. I come from a music education background, So I've never really seen this system work outside of tech and general life management and it has been kind of a hard thing to wrap my mind around. For the video overall, appreciated the talking head explaining everything, the only technical thing I could offer is recording another session but showing mouse clicks.

[@morganeua]

Ah, yes, showing mouse clicks is a good idea. I will have to figure out how to do that... Best of luck with your doctorate, what a cool combination of things - music education and ministry!

[@kristiharman2843]

This was SUPER helpful for me. Sometimes my brain needs a visual and audio walkthru. Your videos on obsidian are the only ones I've really understood so THANK YOU!

[@kristiharman2843]

I especially appreciate the end where you made the notecards. If you had the time, it could be really helpful to make a printable with that info. I would keep that right next to my computer

[@morganeua]

Oh my gosh, a printable is such a good idea! I've been thinking about making printables/flash cards/an ebook for a while now - so it's good to know that would be appreciated!

[@coreydogpound]

"writing is thinking" was flotsam in my mind ... and then I stumble onto a book with a reference to Obsidian ... and found your videos ... on other videos/books by other zettellists. Please continue to share whatever brings you joy.

[@morganeua]

❤ Will do!

[@hardlyknowem]

This is so helpful! Your videos have really helped the ZK method click-Ahrens' book is light on examples, and most other videos are about content creation. Since you work in the humanities, I'd be really curious to see your method for interacting with primary sources, like plays or ancient texts, if you have one. I often wonder if Luhmann's own success with the ZK method is that he was working in a discipline that consisted basically entirely of secondary literature.

[@vocal_jay]

This was very helpful

[@frankcifarelli3473]

Very very helpful! I'm coming back to the Zettelkasten method after a few months. It's very hard for me because, as I'm learning from reading Sönke Ahrens' book, I've basically taken notes in the least effective way my whole life. 😅Videos like this give me i sight i to how to make the new way I'll be doing things more sticky. Thank you!!!

[@morganeua]

Yes, me toooo. Using this method is so easy and seamless for me, I can't believe I haven't always been doing this! 😭

[@frankcifarelli3473]

@@morganeua and you seem like a total natural with it. I really appreciate you sharing. Thanks again! 🎉

[@margot5796]

This was so helpful, thank you! Especially the last summary filled in some of the grey areas I was missing in other videos online (it’s no longer a flattened expanse of irretrievable, indistinguishable notes haha) ☺️

[@morganeua]

That's great! Yeah, I know some people don't like Obsidian as much cause it's hard to imagine finding a note again amidst a BILLION other identical file types :P But I manage with this system!

[@margot5796]

I can imagine, but its the letting go which allows the magic to happen I guess! I have been using the citation intergration and its great! Thanks to your obsidian videos, I'm very enthusiastic and have gotten it to work. Thank you@@morganeua :)

[@matildempfriascosta68]

Amazing, so useful Morgan, thank you! Really loved this type of video (specially the summary at the end, cute notes) 😊 I would love to see what you do when you have to write an article or a chapter of your thesis. How it's your thinking process? How do you go about your obsidian? Do you usually start from a source note or a note with your own idea? Do you explore the graphic or is it too overwhelming? Thank you!

[@morganeua]

I'm going to have an article writing video coming out soonish! I've filmed one that is my high level topic-to-paper workflow. But I'll also do one that is specifically about assembling my articles as an outline in Obsidian's canvas 😊

[@matildempfriascosta68]

@@morganeua can't wait! 🤓

[@dtn84]

@@morganeua Yes!! Can't wait x2!!

[@timbushell8640]

Thirded then too

[@feelswriter]

This was helpful -- the summary at the end was crucial: loved the color coded cards. Overall this video makes me want to move forward with starting a Zettalkasten in Obsidian... Even if everything's all new 😅 (and it will be for fiction writing).

[@morganeua]

Oooh, nice. I still need to figure out a good fiction writing process in Obsidian, as a zettelkasten... Let me know if you figure something good out!

[@vocal_jay]

I agree. Top notch.

[@gregggullickson]

Thanks. Useful. Recommendation: as you take us through the process have a diagram on the side that shows the flow of your process and as you move through it highlight where you are in your flow, including recursive steps. That said, the video is great and much appreciated. Your diction is outstanding - clear and friendly.

[@morganeua]

That's an interesting idea. I don't necessarily follow a specific process, which is I guess why I haven't thought to do a diagram of it :P I've just been narrated what I did, rather than planning what to do in advance. But I'm going to keep trying to boil down my processes to specific steps to follow!

[@yohanesliong4818]

Thank you

[@tomstern9498]

I discovered Obsidian just now - and love your tutorials to find my way in the system. BTW I will take a note by copying your physical index cards - cause I found them very clear and practical. For me the most unclear thing ist the next step and the question: how do I get all my Ideas from Obsidian in a linear Text. During my studies I used to write memos, then print them and get them in a physical order. But I think there have to be a more temporary way. But no need to hurry for an answer: just started notetakening including a lot of notes from my physical notebooks I took all over the years ;)

[@danielle7138]

Really nice and clear tour of your process! I especially like that you delete quotes from source files after you've created notes about them - might steal that (I'm still trying to figure out how I'd ideally want to treat these quotes in my own vault). As for copying quotes from physical books: I use readwise for that. It has an OCR feature that allows you to save quotes from physical books and it works really well (might even be my favourite feature of the app) and it has Obsidian sync, so these quotes will automatically show up in my vault within the source file. But since this is mainly an OCR thing, I suppose there could some free ways to achieve more or less the same as well (perhaps using OneNote to OCR the quotes and collect them?).

[@morganeua]

Woah, that's pretty cool, I'm going to have to look into that!

[@onethousandxp]

So helpful! When you’re writing your “notes and quotes” inside of the source material, are you ever left with notes that don’t become links to new ideas? If so, what do you do with those?

[@snorkelofsanity]

Very inspiring.

[@morganeua]

I'm so glad!

[@massaglia]

Thank you, Morgan, for this very helpful video! I learned so much and was very inspired. I'd be interested in learning how in Obsidian, you manage to keep track of your references (Zotero connection?) This is complicated for me. "Braiding Sweetgrass!" 🌱One of my all-time, top 5 books! 🌱

[@morganeua]

Oh my gosh, me too! It's a remarkable book. I do have a zotero connection-ish video I'll put out in the next few weeks, but it's not on citation management specifically. I'll have to think on that more as my own dissertation gets closer to submission.

[@user-tc6lt4mv8y]

Thank you for the great video! I wanted to comment on your use of aliases within notes, when I've found a simpler way to better incorporate note titles into my sentences. If the note is called [[example]], but you want it to say "here is an example," you can type [[example|here is an example]]. Maybe you already know this and have reasons for not using it, but it can't hurt to share it!

[@spewilicious]

Hi Morgan. This was really interesting to watch because the way you use this system seems to flow naturally with the way many people think. I've been considering starting my own zettelkasten, but one of the reasons I've been hesitating is because I'm a literature student. I'm constantly reading and taking notes on fiction, and I can't quite seem to conceptualize how to form/place notes on fiction in the zettelkasten system. You had mentioned in a previous video that you might make a video about how to use the zettelkasten with fiction, so I was wondering if you had any advice or insights you could share. Thanks!

[@sullivanko1902]

SECONDED!!

[@sullivanko1902]

All in favor say 👁️!

[@emshe]

The PKM space on KZbin totally needs more videos like this!!

[@morganeua]

Aw, thanks for saying so :) What about it did you think made it stand out? The transparency of my workflow? Or the style of note-taking, or..?

[@nichokp]

Wow this is gold, I wonder how you take notes from other sources (e.g., KZbin videos)? Do you make a new note for every YT videos? I'm very curious..

[@sobelsb]

Impressive and ambitious work. I noted that your goal is to end with an "empty" source note with just links. May I suggest that you use the plug-in Note Refractor? Structure the note (in the source note) with one line of the title of the new note you are writing. You can then use the Note refractor to create the new note, including the rest of the paragraph, leaving just an embedded link in your source note. Good luck with your Phd.

[@morganeua]

Oh, thank you for this tip, I will likely start using that! I've needed to do this for a while, so thanks for making the process so clear for me

[@timbushell8640]

Excellent... So... nice visual aid in the summary. And just emphasise the Source note - collection of quotes and thoughts - in a perfect world become effectively just an index of links to the atomic ideas/thoughts notes... but this may only be 50% complete and you may even 'over collect quotes' so there might always be the odd quote or two hanging around in the source note. But the Source note, I assume retains the full biographical details of the book/article/paper, etc. So you will ultimately have to return for that metadata (which is also in Zotero). Aliases - are clearly important - as different 'terms' are often used for the same thing... but you seemed to step over the adding the aliase at both ends (or all ends as a group, i.e. say C19, C-19, Covid, SARs, Coronavirus, etc. to ensure that links and search collects 'all' the notes. Where do you then added tags (or bookmarks) to assist filtering. An author is likely to have multiple publications, etc. And as you also said - you remember the book - title or maybe the author and not the title. So I have found that the notes are titled from the book text and title - but adding the primary author name(s) needs to be more than just the bib. source note... Also not 'clear' in as how often you ensure that 'a' book especially is 'cleaned' of its quotes, before you let another interpose, ignoring the 'tangents' whilst making the atomic notes. But as a whole new source note... dangerous to leave that 'task' unfinished without some 'tag' or Post-It note to one's self to finish scraping the notes out. And again - thanks for these vids.

[@morganeua]

I like the way you put that - an "index of links" (plus the metadata, yes!)

[@sophieliu4726]

Hey Morgan! I loved your videos and think they are a great way of fleshing out one's understanding of concepts in a book. However I am curious - how does your system apply to fictional text? What is your process of putting pieces of evidence together to figure out the moral or theme of a book? I tried to do that to one book but it seems this is a never-ending process since I see the connection between sooo many things I've learned about to each small event of the book and right now I've pretty much given up because it's too much for me... How do you settle the balance between over-connection and under-connection? How do you keep it simple? Thank you so much!

[@liamwhalen]

I was thinking about knowledge management last week and how semantic memorization might improve recall and synthesis. This is all way out there practically speaking in terms of my skill level. But, it is possible given current tech. I'm imagining a Zettelkasten interface similar to the Minority Report crime board. Something like this could be done now with VR or augmented reality. It would allow the researcher to place notes in a much broader physical space. People who have trained for sports and have developed techniques for muscle memory creation would adapt quicker to a complex system like this. I'm thinking forward to a world where AI is managing human knowledge and what it means to understand a subject. As complexity and multi-disciplinary research increase the need for academics to extend their ability to know will be valuable in comparison to academics who allow AI to synthesize compartmentalized knowledge. Ideally this tech could be achieved without awkward headsets to make long term sessions practical. Your research is fascinating and I can see the need to explain materiality to our enlightenment culture. We're a lucky country to have your mind at work!

[@toyahbush2917]

Thank you for a very helpful video! A suggestion for making your videos more accessible: please can you manually check the automatic captioning? The CC is generally good, but it really can't handle "zettelkasten" and it's a bit disruptive to the flow of the video. Thank you!

[@morganeua]

Yes, great point. I've done it on some videos within my editing software, but it's such a tedious process, so sometimes I just want to get the video out. But one day I should go back and edit them all! Thanks for the encouragement to take that time, it's good to know it's valuable!

[@timbushell8640]

... the CC can't handle Canadian much either. : )))) Over vids with say Allosso, Jenks and McHale and here - never mind the odd German or Ozzie saying Zettlekasten... The newer vids with AI transcripts are getting better though.

[@morganeua]

@@timbushell8640 I actually edited the transcript of the video I just posted, and my Adobe really couldn't figure out the software name "Scrintal" 😝

[@jennypark7269]

Hi Morgan, thank you so much for this video. I am starting my master's soon and this is really helpful. I have a question: when you are taking notes on an article or book, do you turn every note or point into another note or thought. Or is it ok to leave some points just in the source note? Also, am I right in thinking that you have a source note for every article you read, in addition to the notes which are named after thoughts and ideas that you have? Thank you so much.

[@morganeua]

Hi Jenny! Congrats on starting a master's! Which program is it in?? I do indeed leave some points just in the source note. The biggest thing I leave in there is a summary of the text and any quotes where the author says "The point of this article is...." or "I am arguing in this article that..." So that I can remember the overall thrust of the author's argument. And I do have a source note for every article I read. I don't always have time to make notes on all of them, but at least I've got the note there with some quotes or thoughts to go back to later.

[@jennypark7269]

@@morganeua I am doing a master's in climate justice and environmental governance at Oxford. Thanks so much for your response, that is really helpful. I am trying to transition out of simply reproducing articles in my own notes and your videos have really helped me to do this. I am feeling nervous about getting into readings for my master's as I worry I won't have original enough thoughts, but I think it will come with time! Thanks

[@morganeua]

@@jennypark7269 oh wow, what a cool field of study! I am just now trying to learn more about climate justice - I JUST picked up a book called "Climate Justice" by Mary Robinson! If you have any other reading recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

[@lpanebr]

This was (is being - i haven't finished yet) interesting. In your source note I see you add a number in parenthesis after each quote. You then carry that number even when the quotes are also inserted into new notes. I thought they were sequential one the source as (maybe) to let you know how many you had. However 14:38 here the numbers are not sequential. What are they for and how do you use them? Thanks!!

[@lpanebr]

Okay. Just finished. So then if all quotes and ideas get inserted to new or existing notes you'll go and remove all of them leaving the source note back to being just that: the source. I love it! But now the numbers make less sense to me. Please, what are they? ❤

[@morganeua]

Haha, they're just the page numbers from the books where I got the quote! Because I need the page numbers when I cite the texts in academic papers, but also it helps me find the quote in the original text again if I need it. Thanks for watching! ☺️

[@lpanebr]

@@morganeua thank you! I love it.

[@suburbanyute340]

what does your graph look like? you are way more efficient than i am at taking notes. ive burdened myself with excessive formatting. but i kind of need the formatting so that i can more quickly parse the information in my notes when i need to refer back to them.

[@morganeua]

Yeah, totally, different people using different amounts of formatting/metadata/plugins for their needs. I am only really using mine for writing output, and typically my writing is on the creative end even if it's nonfiction, so I don't like much structure. And good question about the graph. It's pretty scattered. 😝 And there's a big separated section that is my PhD interview stuff

[@MariadeJesus-hj1so]

But how do you make the links? It will help me if when you make the link you show how you do it. I already downloaded the obsidian from your link now I need to learn how to use it. Thank you Morgan for such good videos.

[@morganeua]

To make a link, you can just type two square brackets and then the name of an existing note or the name of a new note. [[Like This]] When you click on the note (or ctrl+click on it) then it will take you into that note!

[@Atlahuatl]

Node color ideas?

[@LM67286]

What do you do when you want to use one quote in multiple notes? If you erase it from the source note how do you find it again in another session?

[@morganeua]

I only erase the quote from the source note when I feel like every idea in that quote has been captured in a note. So, when I want to find it again, I go back to the source note and find the idea that encapsulates the quote I need. Then I just go into that specific note to find the quote!

[@morganeua]

Oh and yes, sometimes I'll put the same quote in multiple notes, or different parts of the same quote. Because sometimes more than one idea stems from it. I'm okay with having it in multiple places, cause the goal is to store ideas and aid my memory. Of course, when I go to write a paper I'll have to be careful I'm not adding duplicate quotes without realizing!

[@LM67286]

@@morganeua It makes sense, thank you for the answer 😁

[@mayap4639]

I’m so early! 😂

[@morganeua]

Yaaaay, hello, good to see you here 🎉☺️

[@patsybholai3484]

How can a social worker use this system?

[@arzu9437]

❤

[@MatthewWayneSelznick]

I'm just seconds into this, but.... Is that HOUSE OF LEAVES on the shelf back there???

[@morganeua]

Haha, YES! I started reading it last October, and I was loving it. Thoroughly freaked out from the first few pages. But turns out it was a larger undertaking than I was ready for at the time. So, I have to pick it back up again soon.

[@MatthewWayneSelznick]

@@morganeua It's... a commitment, no kidding. But when you're ready for it, I strongly recommend you resist the temptation to skip anything... footnotes, anyone?? Every word contributes. By the end... well, I'm guessing it's different for everyone, but this is the only book I've ever read in half a century that caused a physical fear response and made me weep like a baby. BRILLIANT.

[@morganeua]

@@MatthewWayneSelznick Wow, that is quite the review! And I see you are a writer and podcaster, so I'll have to listen to your podcast!

[@MatthewWayneSelznick]

@@morganeuaCheers, and thanks! (And as a typically obsessive Obsidian user, I've subscribed to your channel, too...)

[@lajourdanne]

Let me know if i misunderstood your progress- why are you editing old notes to add ideas instead of creating new atomic notes? Wouldn’t editing the old notes make them less useful for new projects? If each note is one idea, new ideas could then be a note. Then when you want to make future connections, you can look at the original ideas and combine them into new ideas or applications. But if there are multiple ideas in one note they are less so permanent notes/atomic notes but instead act as a map of content or project. Would love to know your thought process here! 😊

[@morganeua]

I do both! If anew scholar I'm reading has said something that is basically identical to a note I already have, it's pretty useful for me to have that new quote inside the old idea so I can see everyone who is thinking that thought in one place. But oftentimes, as I'm filling out that old note,I realize I actually have a new note I should be making from it 😝 So I make that new note right in there and paste over what I was writing

[@lajourdanne]

@@morganeua got it! That makes sense. Great video as always!

[@morganeua]

@@lajourdanne by the way, I think it was you that commented saying I should try canvas and now that I'm using it, it's totally changed my writing workflow for the better! So thank you!

[@lajourdanne]

@@morganeua yay!! I’m so happy to hear that! I was curious how it was going for you. I’m weirdly invested in your writing process now 😂

[@floriang]

Why 3 min intro? Just 30 s is enough