# An Interactive Introduction to Zettelkasten ## Source Information - Author: [[Binny V A]] - Full Title: An Interactive Introduction to Zettelkasten - Category: #source/articles - URL: https://binnyva.com/zettelkasten/ ## Highlights synced on 2024-01-10 > The main point of Zettelkasten is not better notes - its better thinking. Some type of externalization improves your thinking greatly - be it paper and pen, mind-maps, text editor, anything - as long as it's outside your brain. > The Zettelkasten process has three types of notes... > Fleeting Notes > Literature Notes > Permanent Notes > When learning, re-reading is useless for understanding - it only creates an illusion of understanding. What helps understanding is a self test - trying to explain what you learned to someone else. That will show all the gaps in your understanding. Taking notes in your own words is a simple way of doing it. This will show you how much you understood - and where the gaps are. > Permanent notes are the most crucial part of Zettelkasten. Once you are done with the Literature Notes, go through it and extract every idea/concept found in it into separate notes. Make sure the Permanent Notes meet the following criteria... > Write only one idea per note but be as complete as possible. This forces you to think about the content and distill it down to its core ideas. > Write as if you are writing for somebody else. > Show the content source. > The note should be understood even if you don't know the context it was taken from. If you are looking at the note later, you will have forgotten the original context. The note should stand by itself. > Be precise, clear and brief. > Creating permanent notes acts as a self test - because you are rephrasing the content in your own words. This will help you understand what you have learnt.