Distinction between atomic note and literature note
The last post on this subject encouraged me to do so. Below is an atomic note I took. However, since I take academic notes, there is a dominance of literature notes in atomic notes. Do you think this note has the characteristics of an atomic note? How do you distinguish between these two types of notes in practice?
The importance of Herman Pritchett in the study of judicial politics
[[C. Herman Pritchett]] has a pioneering role in the study of judicial politics. He was the first political scientist to demonstrate that judges' personal preferences influence their decisions. The author of The Roosevelt Court (1948), who analyzed the behavior of judges, emphasized that precedents serve no other function than to provide legitimacy to judges while substituting their preferences (as cited in Epstein and Knight, 2000, p. 628).
Source: Epstein and Knight (2000) Toward a Strategic Revolution in Judicial Politics
Related notes:
- [L§ Studies in judicial politics]]
- [[The importance of Glendon Schubert in the study of judicial politics]]
- [[Early examples of the study of judicial politics focus on the behavior of individual judges]]
- [[The place of judicial behavior in the judicialization of politics]]
06-09-2023 #atomic
Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
I don't know if this helps, but my literature notes are stored separately and are labeled as [author name],[year of publication] - [Title of publication]. I try to summarize the publication at the top of each reference note with a few sentences - and then use the bottom of the note for highlighted phrases, tables, or other things I want to save. I simultaneously put the reference in Zotero (but any reference manager would work) so that I always have the reference ready for anything I write in the future.
p.s. Your atomic note looks great!
Interesting question. One of the note types in my system is the person note. The person note keeps everything together, that relates to the person. The atomical unit here is the person. One person, one note. In your example maybe like this:
The person note links two zettels (aka thoughts, ideas):
and
The person note also links a literature note, that contains all the bibliographical data plus anything else I find interesting about this book.
I'd also use a timeline (a variant of a structure note), if the chronological sequence matters, or some other kind of other grouping. Maybe something like this:
This works for me, because my brain is organized around people, time and sources. When I discuss an argument or idea, it think in this pattern:
I find it much easier to retrace historical debates, when I can place each argument in a point of time and attribute each argument to a specific person and source. I also quote original sources for future reference. Using my own words is helpful while learning about an idea. But it's nice to have the original quotes ready, when proof-reading a paper before publishing.
@harr said:
It may be helpful here to point to the section "What is Atomicity", in @Sascha's post "The Complete Guide to Atomic Note-Taking", where atomic notes are defined as notes that contain exactly one knowledge building block. A knowledge building block could also be called, for example, a type of knowledge element or atom.
Everyone seems to have a different set of such types, if they have a set at all. In @harr's note system, person is a type, but I don't have such a type in my system, so @harr's person note on Herman Pritchett is an atomic note in his system but would merely be a strange unconforming random note in my system. (I also don't have literature notes in my note system proper; information about sources goes in my reference manager, which is referenced from the note system by BibTeX citekeys. I see advantages of putting such information in the note system, but I've been doing it my way for so long that it's impractical to change.)
So whether your note in the original post is an atomic note depends on whether it conforms to a type of knowledge atom that you've identified. (I would guess not, because you didn't mention any such type.)
Actually, I also take my literature notes on a separate page via Zotero in this way. But I am hesitant to create atomic notes from these notes. Thank you for your contribution. 🙏
Similarly, I make person and concept notes for academic use. However, your suggested use is quite clear and actually answers my question. It is actually an atomic note independent of the person but connected to the person. Thank you very much indeed.
Together with Zettelkasten, creating an archive/wiki of concepts and people seems particularly important for academic use. In this way, it becomes possible to establish a link between, for example, Weber or Marx and contemporary thinkers.
@eduman said:
You will have to evaluate the usefulness of such types for yourself. In my case, I don't think people notes are sufficiently useful to have them in my system, even though I reference a lot of academic literature. My brain seems to be very good at quickly building mental models of people, so I don't feel a need to duplicate that information in my note system, which is very intellectually "communistic" in that regard: the discourse is what is important in my note system, not the people who are saying it, although of course I reference sources where appropriate.