To start, I analyze the problem I hope to solve. Then I create a new collection in Zotero, and begin the quest for papers.
CAPTURE
Zotero makes capturing items (papers, books, webpages, etc.) a breeze 🍂.
With the Zotero app open in the background, I click the little icon in the extension bar.
The extension extracts the necessary frontmatter including the paper title, author’s names, and abstract. It then saves a PDF copy of the paper (if available.)
ORGANIZE
I tag papers with at least one of these statuses. This keeps my library neat and organized.
- Red 🔴—Unread
- Yellow 🟡—Reading
- Green 🟢—Read and ready to process
- Lightbulb 💡—Interesting/ highly influential
- Checkmark ✔️—Processed and ready to export
- Brown leaves 🍂—Not important enough to take notes on
- Green leaves 🍃—Contains notes
DISTILL
I highlight papers with the following colors. This makes reviewing them faster and less disorienting. (Credits: Bryan Jenks & Artem Kisanov)
- Yellow 🟨—Interesting examples and resonant points
- Orange 🟧—Important note by the author
- Green 🟩—Assumptions, questions, goals, and problems
- Blue 🟦—Background information that could be important. (including non-obvious acronyms)
- Gray ⬜—Quotes
- Red 🟥—Methods
- Purple 🟪—Results, findings, and conclusions
EXPRESS
I then import notes and highlights made in Zotero into Obsidian and start connecting the ideas and thoughts together.