(Shortform note: While non-fiction writers don’t generally get feedback from themselves at the note-taking stage, there are several techniques they use to get feedback from others before writing a final draft of their paper. If you can’t clearly and concisely summarize an author’s idea in your own words in a literature note, this is feedback saying that you don’t understand the idea well-and prompts you to clarify your understanding of the idea when you’re taking notes instead of when you’re writing a draft. Using the slip-box system provides this feedback earlier and thus avoids such interruptions. It Makes the Writing Process More EfficientĪs Ahrens notes, in the traditional method, you might try to write about an idea you highlighted in a book-only to realize that you don’t understand the idea well and thus interrupt your writing to review the idea. For example, by filing evergreen notes in your slip-box, you immediately learn whether a note is valuable: A note you can logically file behind another note and that connects to several other notes within the slip-box is probably a better idea than a note you find only a few connections to.īy providing regular feedback, Ahrens argues, the slip-box method provides three benefits that traditional academic writing methods don’t. The system provides immediate and regular feedback in various ways. In contrast, Ahrens argues that the slip-box method gives feedback at each stage of the process. For example, you might jot down an idea you’ve learned from a book-but you don’t learn whether it’s useful until you try to include it in your paper several steps later. The Slip-Box Method’s BenefitsĪhrens contends that in traditional academic writing methods, you don’t gain regular feedback. Let’s look at the three benefits of the slip-box method. The slip-box method has several benefits over the traditional writing process: For example, using it will make you more efficient and lead to more creative insights. In his book How to Take Smart Notes, Ahrens argues that the slip-box system is specifically designed to help you both have and share original insights. What is the slip-box system of note-taking? What are the benefits of the slip-box method over traditional techniques? Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading. This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "How to Take Smart Notes" by Sönke Ahrens.
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