The argument in brief
The question
When a new thought of my own comes up while I'm creating literature notes, where should it go?
The claim
If the new thought relates to the source you're studying, make it another literature note and link it; if it doesn't, capture it as a fleeting note, or, if you're ready to express it fully, put it straight into your permanent notes, knowing you've switched from understanding to reflecting. Confidence: A working rule from my own practice. No studies cited.
The evidence
  • My own definitions of fleeting, literature and permanent notes, and how I use them when studying a source.
  • A question from a member of my Discord community, which showed where the line between the note types gets blurry.
The best counter
The split between literature and permanent notes may be more ceremony than help. Writing every thought straight into one set of notes and linking it to its source might work just as well and cost less.
What would change my mind
Finding that people who skip the separate literature-note stage understand and connect what they study just as well, or that my rule leaves more ideas lost or misfiled than a single place for everything.
Open gaps
1 gap. Statements I haven't verified yet. Each is marked in the text.

The questionWhen a new thought of my own comes up while I’m creating literature notes, where should it go?I was presented with a recent question by a member of my Discord channel when applying the Zettelkasten note-taking method.

I had a question regarding when to know when to make a literature note versus a permanent note.

When I am consuming a source, it becomes very apparent that it should be a literature note. But say a thought comes to mind, related to the source the line becomes very difficult.

Do you have a definition of “literature note” & one for “permanent note” such that I can use it as a guide. Thanks again for all your work!

I love questions like this as we get to go on a journey of discovery along the way. I think simply, this question might just be “What do you do with ideas that come into your head when creating your literature notes?”

Three kinds of note

LimitsThese are my definitions. Others who use the Zettelkasten method draw the lines between these note types in different places, so treat them as one workable set, not the official one.Before we dive into this, let’s recap on what my definitions of fleeting notes, literature notes, and permanent notes are.

  1. Fleeting notes: these are the raw, unprocessed notes you create. They can be ad hoc ideas recorded in your Apple Notes app, or the highlights and annotations you make when reading a book. They serve as a way to filter the noise and focus on the key points, ready for understanding later in your literature notes.
  2. Literature notes: these are atomic notes you create that help you understand what the author (or you) meant from the fleeting notes. You’ll break down each concept into a single idea and create many literature notes for a given piece of work you’re studying.
  3. Permanent notes: this is your collection of final atomic notes that express your understanding across all topics and study material. You use this to reflect on the ideas holistically, allowing you to resolve differences in opinion between authors and express your own original thinking from what you’ve been learning.

An assumptionI’m assuming the three stages run in order, from capture to understanding to reflection, and that it helps to keep them apart. In practice they overlap, which is exactly where the question above comes from.The difference I’m drawing is one of purpose. Claimmy working definition, from my own practiceLiterature notes are for understanding a particular source; permanent notes are for reflecting across everything you’ve studied and adding your own thinking.

Creating fleeting notes

These can be created using many different note-taking techniques. I personally like the outline method, where you create bullet points for all the key points of the study material. You can create handwritten notes, highlights in the Kindle app, or just jot down a sentence or two from your own thoughts.

A single fleeting note could be as complex as all the things you captured from a whole book, or as simple as a voice memo from an idea you had while out walking.

Creating literature notes

Take a fleeting note. Your goal is to make sure you really understand it. Break down the content into individual ideas. This is often the hardest part when performing the Zettelkasten method.Gap · needs evidenceThis is my impression from my own practice and from people I talk to about the method; I haven't got evidence that it's the hardest part for most people. It’s hard to see what a literature note should include and how granular you should make it. See Finding the right granularity in your Zettelkasten notes if you’re curious about this.

A good template to get you started for each literature note is as follows:

  • What did the author say? This helps you capture a quote from them or write about their point of view.
  • Do I agree with what they said? This tests your understanding to the point where you either agree or disagree.
  • Why do I agree or disagree? Make sure you’re clear in your thinking. Maybe you have more questions, maybe the author’s logic is flawed, or maybe you have seen evidence of this in other areas to support their argument.
  • What else does it relate to? Is there a related backdrop to the argument, a history to provide context, or is this closely related to other literature notes you’re working on?

Creating permanent notes

You’ve finished studying a source and have a collection of literature notes on it. For example, if I’ve just read the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, I will have a collection of literature notes recreating my understanding of the topic from the perspective of Matthew Walker.

Next you want to bring each literature note into your main set of permanent notes. You want to reflect on each literature note and consider how it affects the notes you already have in your system. You’ll have new ideas and will create intermediary notes that join two concepts together. You’ll resolve any conflicts, such as whether Matthew Walker’s point of view disagrees with other authors on sleep.

The finished state is a snapshot in time of your understanding and original ideas across all the topics you’ve covered.

When a new thought turns up

So, you’re creating your literature notes and the magic happens: a new idea pops into your head. Where does it go? Do you break your flow of creating literature notes, or is there a way to handle this?

All good questions. This is how I would approach it, which you may find useful:

  1. Is the thought related to the literature notes you’re creating? If so, create a new literature note and link the related notes to it. This means you can attribute this thought to the study of this specific piece of work.
  2. Is the thought unrelated to the literature notes you’re creating?
    1. Then it might be a new fleeting note inspired by a given literature note. I say fleeting note because it’s probably still a raw idea that you just want to capture and deal with later.
    2. However, if you want to fully express the idea as an atomic note, then by all means jump ahead to your permanent notes and place it there. Just be mindful that you’re jumping between workflow states here: you’re moving from understanding work via literature notes to reflecting and synthesising new ideas in your permanent notes. Just don’t get too distracted if you can help it.

A competing explanationThe split itself may be the problem. If every thought went straight into one set of notes, linked to the source that prompted it, there would be no line to agonise over. The separate literature-note stage could be more ceremony than help, and I haven’t tested my way against that simpler one.The question underneath all of this is where a thought belongs when it sits on the boundary between understanding someone else’s work and developing my own. The test I use is whether it is about the source in front of me.

It depends, but on something

Hopefully this gives an idea of what to do when you have ideas while creating literature notes. It can be hard to know what to do, but my personal answer is, it depends. Claima working rule from my own practice, not testedIf the thought belongs to the source you’re studying, it’s a literature note; if it doesn’t, capture it as a fleeting note, or write it straight into your permanent notes if you’re ready to express it fully.

What would change my mind?Finding that people who skip the separate literature-note stage understand and connect what they study just as well, or that this rule leaves more ideas lost or misfiled than keeping everything in one place.I hope you now have a framework to use when deciding where to place the new thought in your Zettelkasten system.

Books behind this essay

Not sources for any claim here. These are books I have finished that shaped how I think about this question. Where I rely on evidence, it is cited in the text.

The whole shelf