Comments on: Technology, Note-Taking and Research Workflow

By: willhopkins

willhopkins — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 22:42:15 +0000

+1 for Notational Velocity (though I recommBrett Terpstra's nvALT fork ). If you're a Windows users, check out Lifehacker or AlternativeTo.net for similar recommendations. I also recommend generally using plain text and writing inMarkdownor MultiMarkdown. More important than the actual Markdown is the idea of putting a metadata header in each file, which seems to fit what you're looking for.

By: Matt Lungerhausen

Matt Lungerhausen — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 21:26:25 +0000

I really like Evernote for that kind of note taking. Its easy to cut and paste into a document, you can add tags as the project develops, etc. I like the fact that you can also includes pdfs of articles, jpegs of documents, or any kind of image for that matter. The downside is that it lives on someone’s server, not on your hard drive.

I also use a spiral bound notebook for when I am not going to have regular internet access. The downside is that everything gets mashed together. The upside is that I tend to think chronologically and can usually find what I am looking for eventually.

By: Western Dave

Western Dave — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:41:22 +0000

It might not be sophisticated enough but Noodletools does pretty much everything you ask. It’s tagable, searchable etc. Make sure you check out the advance mode not basic. The company is really small so they respond to user requests about the interface. They may be interested in designing an elite interface (they primarily target K-12), and might build to order.

By: Alan Jacobs

Alan Jacobs — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:27:16 +0000

(But wait, I don’t remember if you’re a Mac user. If not, never mind.)

By: Alan Jacobs

Alan Jacobs — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:22:58 +0000

It’s not for everyone, but I am utterly addicted to Notational Velocity:

http://notational.net/

By: Chris Segal

Chris Segal — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 12:14:05 +0000

Interesting ruminations. I’ve always used freaking huge Word documents, but then I’ve never written a book! Update us if you find the perfect software, would you?

By: myalexandria

myalexandria — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 02:51:18 +0000

Lately I’ve taken to using Google Docs more — not as a writing tool (I greatly prefer Word for that) but as a convenient way to have a million small files, each of which has all my notes on topics like “evolution” or whatever, that are keyword-searchable and accessible everywhere (as long as the internet doesn’t go down, of course, which is the big pitfall here.) They’re much easier to make and manage, through tabs, than the equivalent number of Word files.

The big problem, besides internet access, is that there’s no super clean way to link the individual notes and quotes within the Google Doc to relevant Zotero entries. At the moment I feel that doing the extra work of noting in the Google Doc file where the quote comes from (usually in some kind of shorthand) so that when I want to actually use it, I can call up the relevant zotero entry, is worth it — I prefer having my quotes available by topic than having to go through all the little zotero tabs piece by piece.

By: whoganRI

whoganRI — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 20:30:11 +0000

I use DevonThink Pro, which integrates with Bookends (and maybe Zotero, I’m not sure). Anyway, I take notes very similar to your example, and DT allows me to do what you’re describing. It’s pretty expensive, though…