note_taking_systems v1.0.0

name: "note_taking_systems" description: "Sets up evidence-backed note-taking systems for students: Cornell method pages with the 5 R's review cycle, a Zettelkasten-lite atomic-note knowledge base, and digital workflows (markdown templates, daily notes, spaced review loops). Use when a student asks for note-taking help, study notes, a note system setup, or personal knowledge management." metadata: { "includeInPrompt": true }

Note-Taking Systems

Purpose

Turn a student's messy notes into systems that actually produce learning. This skill covers three battle-tested methods and the digital workflow that ties them together:

1. Cornell method — capture lectures so the page itself becomes a self-test (Walter Pauk, Cornell; see references/cornell-method.md).
2. Zettelkasten-lite — build a durable personal knowledge base from atomic, linked notes (Niklas Luhmann's slip-box method, adapted; see references/zettelkasten-method.md).
3. Digital workflow — markdown everywhere, daily notes, and a spaced review loop so notes get revisited, not filed and forgotten.

The "why" (retrieval practice beats rereading; spacing beats cramming) is summarized in references/evidence.md. You don't need to lecture on it — just make sure every system you set up bakes in active recall and spacing, because those are the mechanisms that work.

Workflow

1. Diagnose the need (ask one short question if it's unclear)

• "I can't retain lectures" → Cornell method first.
• "I'm drowning in readings / I want a second brain" → Zettelkasten-lite first.
• "I want a full system for a semester" → scaffold everything with bin/init_notes.py and wire the weekly review.

2. Set up Cornell notes

Scaffold a Cornell page for each lecture using assets/cornell-template.md:

• Notes column (right): capture during class in your own words, telegraphic — key words and main points, not verbatim transcription.
• Cue column (left): within 24 hours of the lecture, reduce the notes to review questions, key phrases, or keywords aligned with the content opposite them.
• Summary (bottom): within 24 hours, write a 2–3 sentence summary of the page in your own words.

Then run the 5 R's cycle:

1. Record — capture as fully and meaningfully as possible during the lecture.
2. Reduce — distill to concise jottings in the cue column as soon after as possible.
3. Recite — cover the notes column; using only the cues, say the facts and ideas aloud in your own words; then uncover and verify.
4. Reflect — distill your own opinions; find relationships between this lecture and others.
5. Review — revisit cue columns on a spaced schedule (see below) to keep the material alive.

The review step is the whole point of the cue column: it turns a passive page into a built-in self-test.

3. Set up Zettelkasten-lite

Use for readings, ideas, and anything the student wants to keep and connect. Pipeline: fleeting → literature → permanent.

• Fleeting notes (zettel/inbox/): quick captures during the day. Process or delete within 24–48 hours.
• Literature notes (zettel/literature/): from a specific reading — citation + summary in the student's own words.
• Permanent notes (zettel/permanent/): one atomic idea per note, self-contained, written in the student's own words, with a unique timestamp ID (YYYYMMDDHHMM), from assets/zettel-template.md. Every new permanent note must link to at least one existing note — the links, not folders, are the organization.
• Maps of content (zettel/maps/): index notes that serve as entry points into clusters (e.g., "photosynthesis" linking to 12 permanent notes). Create one when a cluster reaches ~5+ notes.

Use bin/init_notes.py note --title "..." to mint a new permanent note from the template.

4. Wire the digital workflow

• One plain-text system: markdown files, synced folder or any notes app that reads markdown. No proprietary lock-in.
• Daily note (daily/YYYY-MM-DD.md): dated scratchpad — fleeting captures, today's Cornell lecture links, to-dos. Inbox zero by next morning: fleeting notes get processed into literature/permanent notes or deleted.
• Spaced review loop: at the start of each study session, pull up cue columns / permanent notes due that day. A practical heuristic (not a lab finding): revisit at expanding intervals — 1 day, 3 days, 7 days, 21 days. Track due reviews in REVIEW.md, which init_notes.py scaffolds.

Output Contract

When the student asks for a note-taking setup, deliver:

• A scaffolded notes/ directory (bin/init_notes.py --dir <path> --course "..."), with templates copied in and REVIEW.md seeded.
• For each course: Cornell pages for current lectures, cue columns and summaries filled in (never "to be filled later").
• For Zettelkasten-lite: the four folders plus the first 2–3 real permanent notes built from material the student already has — an empty box teaches nothing.
• A one-paragraph explanation of their review routine: when they review, what a review session looks like (cover cues, recite, verify), and how due notes are tracked.
• Never: a wall of method theory, invented study statistics, or folders of empty templates.

Operating Rules

1. Accuracy rule (non-negotiable): every factual claim must be verified or cut. Do not invent numbers, dates, quotes, or study results. The verified fact sheet is references/evidence.md — cite from it or from nothing.
2. Attribute uncertain numbers: Luhmann's output (~90,000 cards; 70+ books and 400+ articles) is "widely reported by secondary sources," not lab fact. Cornell page dimensions are "roughly" 2.5" / 6" / 2".
3. Active recall is mandatory, passive review is not studying. If the student wants to "re-read notes to prepare," redirect them to reciting from cues — that is what the cue column is for.
4. One idea per permanent note. If a note contains "and also," split it.
5. Links over folders. Never build deep folder taxonomies in the zettel box; create a map-of-content note instead.
6. Keep the student's words. Notes are rewritten in their words — verbatim pastes go only in literature notes with a citation.
7. No tool lock-in. Recommend plain markdown files; name apps only as examples of the pattern, never as requirements.
8. Sign as yourself only when speaking as yourself per your standing rules.