Managing references

The general approach is as follows: if the source is useful enough that you want to process it on its own or you anticipate using in other locations, create its own feed page to establish a stub and link to it there. Otherwise, if you’re just pulling snippets or quotes from a source, use a reference link inline where relevant, and paste the link at the end of document. This allows quick distinction of sources that have been “processed interally” (i.e. those that show up inline with title as prose) and those that are included at the bottom of the page.

Note that this process needn’t be nearly as formal as this; it’s perfectly acceptable to link to a source inline directly and be done with it. However, using reference links provides some formality and makes it easier to see all the external links in one place. Additionally, feel free upon revisiting a previous note to refactor things and work an external link into an internal feed reference. We may find that a source is more useful than anticipated, and tracking where that source gets used could be useful.

As seen in Andys working notes, Andy creates direct references at the end of evergreen notes that have taken ideas or were inspired by that source. They also usually include a relevant snippet from that source for context. I think this is actually a bit different than what I’ve described above; the references section (with contextual snippets) is denoted as a separate part of the Zettel. This is to distinguish quotes (I’ve only seen Andy use direct wording from the source in this section) from his own words, while listing the references used. This begs the question: where do reflections go? I, like this very paragraph shows, like to reflect a bit on a source and compare it to my own processes or opinions. And while I can absolutely build these opinions or thoughts into zettels in my system, does the anecdote that generated the note get to remain? I do see Andy referring to people (like Luhmann) casually in the notes, reflecting on their work the same way I’m doing now for Andy himself. For example,

This concept evolves in large part from Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten, which he regards as the independent intellectual partner in writing his 70 books 1

I think this kind of thing is perfectly acceptable, as it’s still part of the topical discussion. Reflecting on another approach or someone else’s take is still your work, distinguishable from a literature note, that contributes to your world model web that the Zettelkasten represents.