u/Koen-K

MD Grid A5 notepad

Rhodia A4 Punched and Folded \"Project Folder\"

Rhodia A4 Dot Pad Paper cut in Half

Maruman Mnemosyne A5 Grid

Rhodia A5 Lined/Margin Paper

3x5 Index Card

4x6 Index card

For anyone wanting to try out the Plotter system before diving into an expensive leather cover you can try this. I was already planning on storing my A5 notes in 6-ring binders so I decided to just give a Plotter style workflow a chance.

I bought a hole punch and just went at it with whatever paper I had on hand.

You can make a "project management" folder by punching a A4 paper on the short edge and the folding it before the holes. Take another A4 page, fold it in half, and the cut it and you get two A5 sheets. I also punched some index cards for fun.

You can also just buy Plotters own refill and add them in. I do wish I could find 11mm binders to simulate the Plotter but this will do for now!

Cover: A5 6-ring Binder
6-Ring Punch: BiraBira

Hello all, I've been trying to wrap my head around my own ZK system. I'm an academic historian and deal with a lot of primary sources, readings from a wide range of areas, and have information that I need to constantly reference. I use an analog system and it's working out great so far except for a few issues.

I'm struggling with the ZK because I can't seem to find a balance between project management (in terms of collecting the things I need for my dissertation chapter (i.e. quotes, data, events, specific details) versus letting the ZK grow with my original ideas and collected information from my readings.

My writing is not guided by unlikely connections. I know what I want to write. I think Doto mentioned somewhere that one should look at ZK nodes as a cluster of ideas/notes rather than ideas waiting to be connected. That linking system is just an address to find the notes after the fact. The process of locating notes is where one makes connections that can generate new ideas or connections you can write about.

What is not clicking for me is this "bottom-up" approach of having the Main Box be so unorganized. When I need information, I need to know where to look and I want to have all the notes about a topic in the same folder. I don't want to see a note about Colonial Latin America next to my thoughts about the 1965 Immigration Act or next to my thoughts about how Dorian Gray constructs the world of the wealthy through the British Empire or next to my thoughts about melancholy in Mexican culture. As I write this, I already made some connections haha! I like to let the ideas cluster and like to flesh out my thoughts but sometimes I just need to locate the information and all the surrounding notes on a topic.

I have tensions when I create notes: Do I add it to my Main Box or just put it in my topic folder? The latter has always been so much more helpful in my writing process.

How does one manage long term writing and research projects where you need to have this information at the ready. Maybe compiling my Main Notes in a topic folder and then filing them back when I am done? This, actually, might work and I can throw other cards that I need in there (like connections, problems, revisions, etc...)

I like Umberto Eco's index card system in How to Write a Thesis but he does not talk about how he files and organizes these projects. Part of the journey is flexibility and making it work for me so I am just seeking other examples on how PhDs and Academics do things because we have a very specific set of conditions with our research.

Edit: Spell check, grammar

I've searched this sub for an answer but found one post and it was not resolved. Viwoods did not reach out back to the request. Anyone else can't sign in to Kobo app? I have Google Play authenticated, have access to the Play Store, and still can't get past the validation.