I have a Rocket Book but I don’t really use it. I use Scrivener on an iPad.
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Devonthink, Ulysses, and Zotero got me through my masters. Devonthink basically just ingested everything and made connections, especially near the end of my courses when papers started to become due.
My field was Ministry/Theology
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A lot of useful things are already mentioned, I will add, that you rather should look for some software, that you can use for your needs, rather than start “hunting” for the “best solution”.
A lot of us, me included, trend to get somewhat lost in the search for the perfect tools, and that might be useful, but only if you have enough time to do so, as, from my experience, you will rather not find the “one tool” that fits all your needs with a 100% fit.
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Thank you for the recommendation
I sometimes use an app called Carbo to digitise handwritten notes (without handwriting recognition or anything fancy. For me it’s just a quick and convenient way of capturing notes to store them digitally).
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I would try Apple notes for note taking with you laptop or other apple device along with Apple Pencil to add hand written notes to apple notes. That and Devonthink.
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You wrote your big project on Ulysses? Why not Scrivener?
I think Ulysses was the big thing at the moment. I got sucked into the hype and stuck with it. Also I think Scrivner was a bit intimidating to me and I couldn’t conceptualize how I would use it. And I bet if I was doing really big works (books or something) I’d be more open to exploring it, but this wasn’t at that level of writing.
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Yea.
I like and use Scrivener.
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I’ve done significant academic writing projects in both Ulysses and Scrivener, and I think both have their strengths. I haven’t used Scrivener in a few years, but if I remember, even if the OSX application is powerful and robust, however complex, the iOS app was a little underwhelming and not terribly user friendly. It didn’t make it easy to just sit down, open up my iPad, and start writing, especially if I had started the writing on another device. Ulysses did/does that well and with few distractions. (Easily adding writing goals, document tags, and ‘filters’ (i.e smart groups) is a bonus.)
Having not used Scrivener in a few years, I don’t know what their iOS app is like these days, so my comments may be out of date, and I suspect there are other writing apps that can provide the simple, bare bones writing environment that I find to be successful in Ulysses.
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I use the Scrivener iOS app to write/edit while “on the go” on existing, or even on new projects i may create on the go. Works really well and frankly is sort of like Ulysses on iOS. It does not have the expressive Compile power of the desktop version, but then that never needed. I think Literature & Latte did a great job of creating, but to compare with the desktop version on a real computer is misguided. To each is own though.
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If that works for you fantastic! The key, I think, is that your write what you hear whether it be on paper or a tablet. When I was an undergrad I always retyped my notes because I took notes so quickly that I needed to convert the notes into complete sentences. Even if your app digitizes your handwriting some useful editing will still likely be required.
I use Endnote, but it is pretty expensive.
Not if you are a dyslexic with fine motor control issues (aka illegible handwriting) like me. Back when I wrote longhand words would disappear — more accurately would not appear in my notes — inconvenient words like not — because the friction of the scribing tool (pen or pencil) on paper slowed my thought capture down. Not that I really knew words were missing as a) my dyslexia cut in causing me to read what I thought I had written and b) that illegible script which elsewhere I have described as WORN (wrote once, read never).
Back when I did my Masters degree (mid 1980s!) I was introduced to Buzan’s Mind Maps. Took an entire module’s notes as Mind Maps; one sheet per lecture. It probably saved my graduation. If I took longhand notes all those important words would have vanished. Buzan’s MindMap app, installed on my iPad, sadly behaves like longhanding pen on paper, too slow for real-time capture even with an Apple Pencil.
Unrelated I learned to touch type at school (exchange sessions with the adjacent girls school). Now typing notes is the only way to go me as my typing speed exceeds my audiological processing time. These days I type notes into Scrivener (one project per subject) and assign keywords and metadata to them. Post-lecture review of the material adds more keywords and metadata. I could but don’t also use Scrivener’s synopsis feature to summarise the notes and then organise them on its corkboard. All this searchable either as free-text or keyword/metadata. Cross-referencing via internal links or collections of related notes.
As an aside, I have never understood why Computing Science students are not, of necessity, taught to touch type. Shifting from coding sheets to Teletypes improved my coding productivity 1000 fold. Shifting from Teletypes to VDUs increased it a thousand fold again. IDEs, if I was still programming for money, would probably see another massive jump in production. The only advantage of coding sheets was the hike up 10 flights of stairs to the punch-card room and the overnight delay of batch oriented processing; it instilled code review as a necessity.
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Scrivener
I use both the macOS and iOS/iPadOS versions of Scrivener. The only caveat is that I make sure projects are synched via Dropbox before and after going mobile. With a Magic Keyboard on my iPad I can touch type as I would on my Macs; even manage to touch type on the on-screen keyboard.
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This is interesting. My wife and daughter are both dyslexic - they both hate handwritten notes and both either use audio notes or type directly into the computer. My daughter also used liquid text a lot so she could break down reading so it would become less overwhelming. I am always amazed at the way dyslexics I know adapt processes and actions to fit their needs
Well how much did it matter though in the end? Really, I have never taken notes during lectures or talks or during reading. I sometimes put a yellow marker in a book or bookmark on Kindle. I have to say I think we are drowning in words, images and online information sometimes.
I then have to look back over papers and so on quite often but then I see people doing that all the time however many notes they have. I used to write citations a lot in notebooks, I have a box full of them I hardly even look at, mostly a kind of rail for my thoughts is how I used them I think, I still put a lot of papers in DEVONthink 3 and a lot of citations of course.
Along with photo apps I think there is way too much note taking and ‘storage’ of thoughts,
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I dropped Ulysses then re subscribed! I like it I couldn’t say why. Maybe just because I am now used to it. I do use native DEVONthink 3 markdown too. I am able to use LaTeX but haven’t for some time needed it.
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I did this. My only advice is that it’s going to be harder than you think, and way more work than you expect. Say goodbye to your nights and weekends for a while. Pick your toolset now, and don’t screw around with it, it’ll be a distraction you can’t afford. In the end it’ll be worth it.
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This is excellent advice, sometimes that means using good old word with zotero/bookends instead of trying to learn new things like scrivener or Ulysses.
When I was in a rush I only used Devonthink, Word and Bookends. Got the job done.
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