Abstract
Note-taking is an essential skill for students and knowledge workers. However, with the overload of information in the digital age, it has become increasingly difficult to take notes effectively. Three popular note-taking systems that aim to address this challenge are Sönke Ahrens' "smart notes," atomic notes, and two-column notes. This paper provides a comprehensive comparison of these three systems in terms of their key principles, benefits, and limitations. The goal is to elucidate the most effective note-taking system for long-term learning and productivity.
Introduction
Note-taking is the practice of recording key information from written or verbal sources. Effective note-taking facilitates learning by engaging the brain in the process of summarizing, paraphrasing, and synthesizing information (Kiewra, 1987). However, taking useful notes is becoming more difficult as the amount of information people need to process increases exponentially. To address this challenge, new note-taking systems have emerged that aim to optimize knowledge acquisition and retention in the digital age. This paper compares three such systems - smart notes, atomic notes, and two-column notes.
Smart Notes
The smart notes system was developed by author Sönke Ahrens in his acclaimed book "How To Take Smart Notes" (2017). It is based on the Zettelkasten note-taking method used by sociologist Niklas Luhmann. The core principles are:
1. Notes should be written in your own words to engage active thinking.
2. Each note should focus on one particular idea or concept.
3. Notes should be linked to each other to reflect relationships between concepts.
4. Notes should be referenced for context and traceability.
5. Notes should be reviewed periodically to promote learning and new connections.
Smart notes promote understanding and creativity by forcing the user to synthesize and contextualize information. The limitation is that creating and organizing these notes takes time and discipline.
Atomic Notes
Atomic notes developed as a simplified version of smart notes, popularized by the book "How to Take Smart Notes" by Sönke Ahrens (2017). The key principles are:
1. Ideas are broken down into small, atomic pieces - each note covers one concept.
2. Notes are written briefly in bullet points, not full sentences.
3. Notes are tagged with keywords for searchability.
4. Notes are linked to each other to show connections between concepts.
The main benefit of atomic notes is their brevity and flexibility. Users can capture ideas quickly without getting bogged down in details. However, brevity can sometimes lead to oversimplification and lack of context.
Two-Column Notes
Two-column notes utilize space on the page more intentionally than traditional notes. The page is divided into two columns:
- The left column is for key facts, concepts, and quotes.
- The right column is for the user's own thoughts, commentary, and synthesis.
Structuring notes this way forces the user to actively engage with the information by asking questions like "How does this fit with what I already know?" and "Why is this significant?" (Roberts, 2016). The limitations are that two-column notes do not explicitly require linking between notes, which may reduce connections between concepts. The divided columns also reduce space for writing compared to traditional notes.
Conclusion
Smart notes, atomic notes, and two-column notes take different approaches to optimizing note-taking for long-term learning in the digital age. Based on the analysis, smart notes appear to be the most comprehensive system as they actively engage the user in synthesizing, contextualizing, and linking concepts while also providing structure for organizing notes as a knowledge base to promote new insights over time. However, atomic notes may be optimal for quick capture of ideas while two-column notes help develop critical thinking. An integrated approach incorporating principles from all three systems may yield the best results. Further research should investigate the efficacy of each system empirically.
Here are some example notes for each of the note-taking systems you mentioned:
Focused Note-Q/E/C Atomic Note Taking (5 Steps)
1. Question: What is the main argument in Chapter 1?
2. Extract/Evidence: "The author argues that note-taking improves memory and learning by engaging more parts of the brain through the acts of selecting, summarizing, and recording key ideas."
3. Conclusion/Comprehend: The author makes the case that note-taking is an active process that helps with encoding information to memory. This seems logical based on what I know about active learning.
4. Connect/Distill: Note-taking engages the brain more actively to improve learning.
5. Recall/Review: Note-taking improves learning by engaging more of the brain.
Smart Note-Taking
- Atomic principle: Focus on one key concept per note
- Written in my own words
- Linked to other notes on memory and learning
- Referenced from Chapter 1 of the book "Learning Techniques" by Jones
Two-Column Notes
Left Column Right Column
- Note-taking engages more - This connects to my previous
parts of the brain (Jones, 2022) understanding about active
learning and encoding information.
- The author provides logical
reasoning for why note-taking
should improve learning outcomes
that aligns with existing knowledge.
Three-Column Notes
Facts Keywords My Thoughts
- Note-taking uses - encoding - This aligns with my prior
more parts of brain knowledge about the importance
- active learning of effortful/active learning for
- memory retention. The scientific
explanation makes sense.
- Note-taking improves - learning outcomes
retention and learning - long-term memory
- brain engagement
References
Ahrens, S. (2017). How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking – for Students, Academics and Nonfiction Book Writers.
Kiewra, K. A. (1987). Note Taking and Review: The Research and Its Implications. Instructional Science, 16(3), 233-249.
Roberts, K. (2016, March 16). The Advantages of Using Two-Column Notes. ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/two-column-notes-1858085
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