Source to notes

Notes on a source are worth keeping when they answer three questions later: what was the author actually arguing, what backed it up, and what did I think? A summary alone answers the first. Notes that also keep the evidence, a few exact quotes with their locations, and the reader's own reaction are the ones that get reused in an essay, a decision, or a conversation months on.

The link and the locations matter as much as the content. A quote without a timestamp or page cannot be checked or cited, and a note without its source link is a rumor.

When to use it

• Someone shares an article, essay, or web page and asks for notes.
• They paste a video or podcast transcript.
• They want to save something they read so they can find and use it later.
• They are collecting sources for a piece of writing or a decision.