{"id":67622,"date":"2022-06-10T15:47:38","date_gmt":"2022-06-10T19:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=67622"},"modified":"2022-06-16T07:25:25","modified_gmt":"2022-06-16T11:25:25","slug":"best-way-to-organize-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/best-way-to-organize-notes\/","title":{"rendered":"Slip-Box: The Best Way to Organize Your Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are your notes all over the place? What is the best way to organize notes? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you find it difficult to organize your notes<\/a>, you should try the slip-box note-taking system. Slip-box is a method of taking notes and organizing them that fosters the creation and publication of original ideas<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s how to organize your notes using the slip-box method<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Filing Your Notes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The best way to organize your notes is to put them in one of two places: a reference system or your slip-box. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. File your literature notes in one place<\/strong> that\u2019s separate from your slip-box, like a shoebox: Ahrens refers to this place as your \u201creference system.\u201d When you file your notes, include the bibliographic information of each source. If you have three literature notes about one book, you\u2019ll file those notes with the fourth note including all the book\u2019s bibliographic information\u2014anything you might need to include in your final published work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Despite calling the place you store your literature notes a \u201creference system,\u201d Ahrens doesn\u2019t present details as to why it\u2019s a system and not merely a collection of references. It\u2019s possible that Ahrens doesn\u2019t provide further details on how this system might work because, as we\u2019ll see later, Ahrens believes that a digital<\/em> reference system is best\u2014and digital systems all work slightly differently depending on which software you use.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. File your evergreen notes<\/strong> into your slip-box. To do so effectively, use the following system. If your new note connects strongly to an old note\u2014like if it supports an argument\u2014organize the new note behind that note. Otherwise, file it behind the most recent note.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, rummage through your slip-box and look for weaker or less obvious connections between notes you already have and your new notes. If you find any, create links between those notes. (For example, if Note #1 and Note #55 are connected, on Note #1, write down that it\u2019s connected to Note #55, and on Note #55, write down that it\u2019s connected to Note #1.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Matuschak advises avoiding the temptation to decide how you\u2019ll link your notes before<\/em> you develop your slip-box<\/a>. He argues that if you try to force your ideas to connect in predetermined ways, you won\u2019t be able to connect various nuances between the ideas; worse, you may not recognize a new subtopic (a series of connected notes) because it doesn\u2019t fit into the structure you already have.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n