Zettelkasten Forum


How do you organize and refer to your final work

I have just finished the first article or a substantial post if you like , where Zettelkasten did help me to gather ideas, combine them and produce something valuable (on how to choose the statistical significance level for your AB-tests and what effect does the choice have).

I happily published it and.. what do you, guys, usually do with the articles of yours then?

The final article definitely does contain some valuable knowledge (valuable to me certainly). If I have found something like this on the internets, I would probably compose several zettles out of it and saved to the local storage for references (I tend to not just link to the web, but also store referred things locally so they don't disappear).

But in this particular case, zettels the article was based on do exist already, there's nothing new to extract. What do you usually do with the work of yours?

  • Do you still add it to your Zettelkasten as a giant Zettel?
  • Or do you store it and make a dummy zettel just so that you have a link to this reference in ZK?
  • Or do you review your existing zettels that contributed to the article and add a reference to the final target?
  • Or do you do nothing as all the knowledge from this article is in your ZK already and that's good enough?
  • Or something else?

Comments

  • @Artem

    I just file mine away - in a place where I can find them again easily :smile:

  • I don't add the full text to my archive, just as I don't add the full text of other people's work to my archive.

    Imagine you'd encounter this post as a reader. You notice you have all the pieces of basic information already. Is there something new in their combination? Is there benefit in capturing how this Artem Merchenko person connected the dots? Could you extract the outline of this post and assemble a list of your notes based on this and add something new to your archive this way? -- If you already have a structure note that more or less resembles the article (or goes even beyond that), then I don't see much you could do.

    I do have large structure notes about technical topics regarding text editors. Some chapters of this huge outline were published years ago on my blog. In the meantime, I've added items to these sections in the outline, but I'd still add a literature reference to my own blog if appropriate. -- E.g. to recreate "how did I assemble this post from 2018 again...?"

    Author at Zettelkasten.de • https://christiantietze.de/

  • I treat it as some new reference to support notes already in my collection. I add references where they make sense and maybe add new notes.

    The references in my notes are more about being complete rather than necessarily sticking to a single source, so it works nicely to just pile on references as it makes sense.

  • @Artem congratulations.

    If I have found something like this on the internets, I would probably compose several zettles out of it and saved to the local storage for references (I tend to not just link to the web, but also store referred things locally so they don't disappear).

    But in this particular case, zettels the article was based on do exist already, there's nothing new to extract.

    If there is nothing new in this article that has yet too be atomized, I'd treat this article as a posthoc reference for all the associated zettel.

    I'd place it where I place reference articles like this.

    I'd print a PDF and store "locally so it wouldn't disappear" by putting it in ~/zettelkasten/media/ making it visible where appropriate with the link
    ![](media/Statistical_Significance_Leve_for_your_AB-tests.pdf).

    And then I'd start another article. Don't slowdown. Keep the foot on the pedal of the creative engine.

    Will Simpson
    I must keep doing my best even though I'm a failure. My peak cognition is behind me. One day soon I will read my last book, write my last note, eat my last meal, and kiss my sweetie for the last time.
    kestrelcreek.com

  • @Artem said:
    I have just finished the first article or a substantial post if you like , where Zettelkasten did help me to gather ideas, combine them and produce something valuable (on how to choose the statistical significance level for your AB-tests and what effect does the choice have).

    I happily published it and.. what do you, guys, usually do with the articles of yours then?

    The final article definitely does contain some valuable knowledge (valuable to me certainly). If I have found something like this on the internets, I would probably compose several zettles out of it and saved to the local storage for references (I tend to not just link to the web, but also store referred things locally so they don't disappear).

    I treat my own articles as any other articles: I process them (with my own texts I call this "processing-back".

    1. A lot of parts can be just copied and pasted because it is my own work anyhow.
    2. Some parts are not worthy to be processed because they are fillers.
    3. Some parts are not worthy to be processed because they are already in my Zettelkasten as Zettels.
    4. Some parts were created while writing the article, so I process them and incorporate the essence of the thought in my archive.

    The details depend on the nature of the article. Sometimes, I write an article that is based on a single note. Then there is no processing-back necessary. Other times, I was hit by my muse and I wrote the article without any content of my Zettelkasten. Then, I consider every paragraph as a new note.

    I am a Zettler

  • @Will

    That’s a good approach, and looking back over my Zettelkasten, I see I’ve actually done it twice. I think I’ll incorporate that as a regular practice. I like the concept because it keeps your written material close by and referenced from within your Zettelkasten. Thanks!!

  • Thank you, guys! I will probably do a mix :)

    I will put it to References and make sure there is at least one zettel mentioning it somehow (so that there would be at least one link to it).
    And then will probably mention it from some existing zettel and/or add it to some structure note on the topic.

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