I have written two articles before, one is "Practical Summary: How to Write a Card Note" and the other is "Practical Summary: How to Optimize a Card Note". In these two articles, I share some of my initial thoughts and practical experiences on making card notes. However, after writing 1645 card notes, I found that my previous understanding was somewhat inadequate, and even some of it was wrong. So, in today's article, I would like to share with you my new understanding of card notes.
It should be noted here that the card notes we are talking about today mainly refer to literature notes and permanent notes, excluding flash notes that are temporarily recorded.
01
Review and review: An indispensable part of note-taking
In the process of exploring and practicing card notes, I gradually realized that my understanding of what "notes" were not clear. So I rearranged a concept card about what a "note" is, only to find that all the card notes I had completed before had neglected the crucial part of the review - review.
Notes, essentially, are a way that we use to save and record information. Whether it is a handwritten note or an electronic note, its purpose is to help us record, organize, and remember important opinions, facts, observations, and some relevant information. They are not only references for our study and work, but also an extension of our memory and thinking.
A complete note usually contains three key parts: first, it is the information record, that is, the important opinions, facts, ideas, observations, etc., the second is the knowledge organization, through the sorting and induction of notes, the scattered information is organized into an organized structure, and the finally, the review and review, through the continuous review and review of notes, to deepen the understanding and memory of knowledge.
In the previous practice of card note-taking, I focused too much on the recording of information and the organization of knowledge, but neglected the crucial step of review. As a result, while a lot of notes were taken, a lot of it was gradually forgotten. This made me realize that reviewing and reviewing is more important than simply recording and organizing. It helps us to deepen our understanding of knowledge and consolidate our memory. If you just keep recording and organizing, without reviewing and reviewing, a lot of content will eventually be forgotten. Because the ultimate goal of recording and organizing is to better remember and apply.
To solve this problem, I started looking for tools that would help me remember, and I ended up looking for Anki. Anki is an Ebbinghaus-based spaced memory tool based on the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve, which is efficient at memorizing all kinds of content. By syncing Obsidian's card notes to Anki, the software reminds us to review and memorize knowledge points. Because people have limited time perception, this assistance is needed to help us review and review.
Retrospectives not only consolidate memories but also help us refine our notes. It may not be perfect when we first organize our notes, but in the process of reviewing, we can adjust and refine the content to improve the quality of our notes. However, many people ignore this and focus too much on recording and organizing. We must always keep in mind that the ultimate purpose of recording and organizing is to guide action and achieve the unity of knowledge and action. If you can't remember the knowledge points, you can't talk about real change. Therefore, the combination of Anki and Obsidian is an effective way to improve the quality of your notes.
In addition, the retrospective review also made me discover another mistake when making card notes, that is, the previous card notes violated the principle of only recording one knowledge point in a card.
02
Recording principle: Record only one knowledge point at a time
Card notes, simply put, are when we write down important knowledge points, concepts or ideas on a small card. And, to make it easier to find and review, we also categorize them by topic or keyword. In this way, when we need to review or review, we can quickly find the information we need.
I have shared the composition formula of card notes: card notes = title + tags + core concept paraphrasing + personal experience + action guide + reference materials + related cards. However, when I reviewed Anki with Obsidian, and after reviewing the original manuscript of Luhmann, I found that it would undoubtedly be more difficult to memorize if I used personal experience and action guidance. This is because this practice violates the basic principle of card note-taking: only record one knowledge point at a time.
The benefits of recording only one knowledge point at a time are manifold. First of all, it helps us stay focused and delve into every knowledge point. When we focus on just one point, it's more likely to tap into its depth and breadth. Secondly, this fine-grained note-taking method helps us to build a clear knowledge structure and closely connect new knowledge with existing knowledge. In addition, when collating and reviewing, each card only involves one knowledge point, which reduces the possibility of information crossover and confusion.
What's more, this way makes our notes more flexible and composable. Once we have a large number of these cards, we are free to organize and connect them, giving rise to new ideas and ideas that drive the innovative application of knowledge and personal growth.
Of course, this does not mean that each knowledge point has to be split separately. Sometimes, there is a strong connection between certain knowledge points, and at this point we can consider integrating them on the same card in order to better understand and remember the relationship between them.
03
Iterative optimization: How to write a card note efficiently
After re-understanding the concept of notes and card notes, and realizing the importance of reviewing and reviewing, I optimized the composition formula of card notes again: one card note = title + tags + core concept paraphrase + reference material + related card.
1. Title: This is the classification and refinement of the knowledge points of a card note. To improve my critical thinking skills, I added words such as concept cards, opinion cards, case cards, method cards, and sentence cards to the very beginning of each card to better judge the nature of the content contained in each card. In addition, the most important thing is to refine and summarize the content of the cards in order to better understand and memorize the knowledge points of each card. In this way, we are able to organize and present the content of the notes more systematically, which is convenient for subsequent learning and thinking.
2. Label: It is a marking method used to classify and organize card notes. Labeling each card note differently is an effective way to organize knowledge. Through labels, we can divide this internalized knowledge into the corresponding position in our personal knowledge system, so that we can better organize our knowledge system. At the same time, in order to organize the knowledge in more detail, we can further divide the same label into different sub-tags. Moreover, each card is a minimum block of knowledge, which can be arbitrarily combined according to different application scenarios. Therefore, the same card can belong to different knowledge systems and can be labeled with different labels, which makes card notes more advantageous in knowledge organization and application.
3. Paraphrasing of core concepts: that is, to re-summarize the core concepts of the original text with their own understanding of language and presentation, especially emphasizing that it is not a simple copy and paste of the original text. This method can help us better understand and memorize knowledge points. This involves the theory of necessary difficulty in cognitive science about memory, that is, the more difficult it is to store information, the less difficult it is to retrieve it. This means that if we want to better remember a certain knowledge point, we need to put more effort and energy into the learning process, and increase the difficulty of storing information through in-depth thinking, discussion, practice, etc. In this way, it will be easier and simpler to retrieve knowledge later. Core concept paraphrasing is an integral part of card notes and needs to be taken seriously.
4. References: Mainly record the original source, author and original text of the content of this card. The purpose is to facilitate the traceability and avoid the occurrence of plagiarism, because after a long time, it is easy for us to confuse whether it is the original content or our own thinking summary. When making card notes, we need to compare and check the content on the card with the reference materials to confirm the accuracy and completeness of the information. At the same time, recording reference materials can also help us better understand the background and source of the card content, and deepen the understanding and memory of knowledge points. We need to carefully document references and ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information.
5. Related cards: It mainly records other cards related to the knowledge points, opinions and cases in the current card, and more importantly, adds jump links. The relevant card part can help us better understand and memorize the knowledge points, and also help to connect the knowledge points with other knowledge points to form a more complete knowledge system, as well as the generation of new knowledge. By adding jump links, we can easily jump between different cards to better understand and grasp the correlation between knowledge points.
So, when I write a new card note, I make new cards independently of my personal experience and action guidelines, and make sure that they have a clear link to the previous knowledge card. This is done to maintain the independence and integrity of each card, so that each card becomes an independent unit of knowledge. In this way, I can more easily find and cite relevant information in the subsequent review and memory process.
As for the cards that have already been made, I am in no hurry to adjust them immediately. Instead, I review and revise things when I need to make adjustments. Doing so not only gives me more flexibility in managing my card notes, but also ensures that every adjustment is based on the latest understanding and needs.
Through the above methods, I believe that I can write more clear, organized, and easy to review and remember card notes. At the same time, in my future studies and work, I will continue to optimize this method and continuously improve my card note-taking ability.
All of the above is done through the card note writing method. If you're interested in using card notes for reading and writing, you can add my friends. In the future, I will share more valuable dry goods about reading and writing.
- End -
-Author:Lei Mo-
Father of a child
——Focus on card note writing——
Read 100 books a year and organize 1 card pen every day
Read consistently and effectively, and think deeply over a long period of time
Stick to what you will win
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