All-encompassing MSc knowledge workflow

KChousos

Greetings everyone! This semester I will be starting my MSc in theoretical computer science and I want to refine my studying/organization workflow. What follows is first the method I employed during my undergrad, my problems with it and my current unstructured/nessy thoughts and plans. I would greatly appreciate any input on the subject and thoughts/objections/improvements on my proposed method.

Past uni workflow

During my undergrad, each course had a dedicated ZK note where each heading was the lecture's date and acted as a "course notes" document, meaning it was linear and self-contained. At the end of the semester each such note became a PDF that I shared with the rest of the students (some can be found here). These were mostly written live during each lecture and acted as my main studying resource besides the corresponding textbook.

The above part covered the theory of each course and its curriculum. When it came to the different assignments though, I had a CLOG [1] for each. They also contained date-based headings, but this time they were for each writing/studying session regarding this particular assignment.

When it came to tasks and deadlines, a mix between the tasks and calendar features of Nextcloud were used.

Problems with the above approach

1. Any notes or insights I wrote during the lectures lived only in the corresponding course note. These where not "atomic" or zettelkasten-y in any sense and did not connect to my main slipbox.
2. The end result was written during the lectures. This meant that while trying to pay attention I was also typing away, creating unecessary friction and context switching.
3. Although I logged my work regarding each assignment, my in-between studying and effort when it came to the whole course was not recorded anywhere.

Current knowledge management workflow

For some time now, I have started using a bullet journal [2] for journaling, daily logging and task management. I keep a zettelkasten/slipbox that I interact with using the "zk" Emacs package [3], following closely the methodology described in this site. I also have adopted using notebooks at first for my note-taking, adding later the refined versions in my zk [4].

Candidate approach for the future

With the changes I have in mind, a possible workflow going forward could be the following:

1. During lectures, I would have a notebook open -- same for all courses, a Maruman spiral notebook -- mainly as a scratch pad for engagement notes [5]. Each entry -- corresponding to the given lecture -- will have a unique number and date as identifiers (since this notebook has these printed as per-page fields).
2. At a later time during studying, I would revisit these notes and create new notes in my ZK for the most important/insightful ones, mainly for things that I can't just find verbatim in a textbook.
3. Apart from any structure notes that will form organically based on concepts etc., my ZK would also contain a course structure note where links would lead to all related notes. This structure note would follow either a time-based or a curriculum-based structure.
4. Aside from the "theory" structure note, another structure and/or CLOG type of note for each course would exist, where all notes and logging regarding assignments would be kept. For now, I'm thinking of having a level 1 subtree for general course-wide stuff and then several level 1 subtrees for each assignment.
   • One idea, since my ZK notes are in Orgmode, is also time-tracking my studying in these CLOGs (with Orgmode's clock feature). This would help me better estimate the time needed for stuff and how much time I'm actually devoting to my master's during a given week.
5. My bullet journal would have a collection [2] for each course containing only tasks/deadlines in a kanban board-like layout [6].

I believe this approach is somewhat sensible and covers most necessary steps of an effective studying workflow. What are your thoughts? What could be improved?

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P.S.: Since this is my first post on this forum, I would like to thank everyone for the valuable posts and replies hosted here, giving insight and direction to newcomers in knowledge management. Also, special thanks to Christian and Sascha for their output over the years and for creating and supporting this community.

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References

[1] B. Doto, “How I Use CLOGs to Organize My Writing Files,” Writing by Bob Doto. May 10, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://writing.bobdoto.computer/how-i-use-clogs-to-organize-my-writing-files/

[2] R. Carroll, The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future. Erscheinungsort nicht ermittelbar: Penguin Publishing Group, 2018.

[3] G. Rosson, localauthor/zk. (Sep. 08, 2025). Emacs Lisp. [Online]. Available: https://github.com/localauthor/zk

[4] S. Fast, “Use a Real Notebook,” Zettelkasten Method, Feb. 13, 2015. [Online]. Available: https://zettelkasten.de/posts/use-real-notebook/.

[5] D. T. Sheffler, “Two goals of note-taking.” DTSheffler.com. [Online]. Available: https://www.dtsheffler.com/notebook/2014-07-21-two-goals-of-note-taking/

[6] A. Johnston, “Projects: The Alastair Method,” Alastair Johnston, Mar. 29, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://alastairjohnston.com/projects-the-alastair-method/.

c4lvorias

I might come here to give my full opinion, but I didn't want to leave without writing anything so here is my quick take:

Undergrad is more about understanding and consuming, masters is more about something between producing and consuming.

I've recently started my masters in psychology and writing my first essay. One thing about humanities is writing the essay theme-based. I'm not sure about theoretical CS, but I assume the analysis part is common. So a thematic approach I guess still holds.

As a first step, rather than categorizing by date, I suggest categorizing by theme. Start with a structure note, no lecture notes and try building a narrative. Reusable zettels emerge over time thanks to the initial attempt to create a position about something.

About part 1, I would suggest transferring learning process into ZK. About part 2 I strongly not recommend starting with lecture notes. I would rather select an object of attention and build my understanding without looking to lecture notes.

Excuse my peacocking assumption, but I think I saw my initial misunderstanding of the method in your text. Your approach here is more close to the second brain methodology, imo. I suggest Sascha's work on depth and atomicity in general. Also I highly recommend Christian's processing the book Range in their YouTube channel.

KChousos

Hello @c4lvorias, thanks for the response!

As a first step, rather than categorizing by date, I suggest categorizing by theme. Start with a structure note, no lecture notes and try building a narrative. Reusable zettels emerge over time thanks to the initial attempt to create a position about something.

I probably could write/express it better in my original post, but what I meant was that date-based entries will be used only in a) effort-logging of my studying sessions and b) as identifiers for my engagement notes during lectures. It's important to note that these notes are the same as fleeting notes, only kept as a scratchpad for ideas I have during the lectures.

About part 1, I would suggest transferring learning process into ZK.

That's my plan and what I'm describing above. The idea is that I will use the above fleeting notes as a starting point/outline/inspiration for my studying, part of which will be my ZK notes that will be concept-based. The original lecture notes will only exist as a reference in my main note, mainly for archiving purposes, in case I want to revisit them for some reason.

About part 2 I strongly not recommend starting with lecture notes. I would rather select an object of attention and build my understanding without looking to lecture notes.

The lecture notes will help with remembering/deciding what "object of attention" to select, they will not be my primary source if that's what you mean. Basically, they will just be breadcrumbs of what material was covered and what I need to study, along with some gotcha's and stuff not found in the reading material.

Excuse my peacocking assumption, but I think I saw my initial misunderstanding of the method in your text. Your approach here is more close to the second brain methodology, imo. I suggest Sascha's work on depth and atomicity in general. Also I highly recommend Christian's processing the book Range in their YouTube channel.

I've read most of the articles in the site and seen part of Christian's series. I understand why you would think that, but what I'm discussing above regards the organizational base that my more "Zettelkasten Method"™ type-notes will coexist with, not the entire knowledge workflow itself. I don't know if that clears it up or not.

mlbrandt

I am a surgeon (now retired) and professor (still teaching) who wrote this for medical students. There are some similarities to what you are trying to achieve, so I hope this helps! https://wellnessrounds.org/2022/07/18/learning-medicine-smartnotes/

KChousos

Thank you @mlbrandt for the response.

Rule 2: Write the note only one time – don’t rewrite or retype notes. (If its’ a paper note, take a photo, or create a pdf to file in your google drive.)

Is there more to this tip besides the time-saving benefit?