The Immortality Project

Recent Notes

Learning and Taking Notes

3 min read

Sources

  1. Peter Suber, “Taking Notes On Philosophical Texts”, archived on 2015-01-04

To Read Later

  1. Piotr Wozniak, SuperMemo, “Effective learning: Twenty rules of formulating knowledge” - 1999-12-06, archived on 2025-09-02

My Currently Employed Approach

NOTE

Read textbook as much as possible, use lecture and slides as a guide for important sections to cover. The three passes are aimed towards studying textbook chapters. Try to extrapolate and apply relevant parts if it is not possible to use the textbook.

Three important passes:

  1. Getting the larger picture
    1. Skim headings, look at graphs/pictures/tables
    2. Create outline for notes
    3. Read but don’t spend a lot of time on one page. If difficult to grasp → skip and understand it later at the next pass.
    4. Highlight core concepts
  2. Incorporating details
    1. Take note of the core concepts
    2. Add important details that provide context to the core concepts
    3. For examples and less relevant trivia, mention the page number to make it easier to find if needed. This can be added as a footnote if it is connected to a detail or concept.
  3. Memory retention
    1. Create flashcards based on the notes
    2. Use it to reinforce memory

Taking Notes in Philosophy1

Things to take note of:

  • Implicit and explicit terminologies.
  • Distinctions. If there are identified applications associated with it, also note it down.
  • Conclusions and underlying arguments
  • Unclear terms, claims, and arguments
  • An argument/claim/term’s relation to the larger picture (use table of contents as a clue)
    • Collect notes that give hints to finding its relevance if it still unidentifiable
    • If larger picture is unclear, use the local argument as a clue (and vice versa)
  • Your questions/confusions. Use that to help guide you find your answers.
  • Your own conclusions/interpretations. Later on, eliminate some and find evidence for others.
  • Issues/limitations with your interpretations
  • Page numbers, or a reference to the source of your paraphrasing/interpretation that you can utilize later on for reviewing purposes
  • Differences and similarities between different authors you are reading
    • Helps you trace historical influences
  • If old notes is unclear after rereading, re-articulate or add to it to provide clarity
  • Add new insights and updated understanding, while also eliminating misrepresentations of a source
  • Use quotation marks when quoting to save time and avoid going back to the main reference

Other things to consider:

  • Find ways to distinguish your voice from the source author voice
  • Use visualizations when possible (e.g., charts, diagrams, tables, and pictures)
  • If you are evaluating your own thoughts while using the positions of others as reference, simultaneously take note of your evaluations alongside your interpretative notes (unless you have a separate place for them)
  • If you plan to grow, use your old notes as a starting point for future reading. Review if needed, and add new insights if needed.

Footnotes

  1. Peter Suber, “Taking Notes On Philosophical Texts”, archived on 2015-01-04 ↩

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