Zettelkasten example workflow

Last updated Mar 29, 2023

For a beginner getting started with zettelkasten note-taking, the following steps will serve as a quick start guide.

1. Take fleeting notes in any medium in a stream-of-conciousness style that captures all relevant ideas from the source.
2. As soon as possible, convert the fleeting note into many literature notes, one per idea, and link the idea back to the source using a (author-year-chapter-page) reference to quickly refer the source material if necessary.
3. Convert the literature note to a permanent note by making connections to other permanent notes, and making the idea as generic as possible without needing the source for context.

In B-Ahrens-2017, Chapter 11.2, Ahrens gives a detailed example of a zettelkasten workflow where he reads a book, extracts an idea and then places it in a different context when creating a permanent note.

A-Zettelkasten examples to get started Using the zettelkasten method to produce written work