As graduate students, we have to collect, consolidate, and absorb a great deal of information. It is rare for universities to train you on how to do this; therefore, keeping track of notes can quickly become a challenge.
I learned this the hard way. After desperately searching for a better note-taking app that has worked for me for more than six years, I learned that finding the right app can take a while. But it’s worth it in the end.
Several books discuss the importance of note-taking and provide ways and strategies to become an effective note-taker. Instead of covering all note-taking techniques, I will outline some modified methods I have developed over time.
Maintaining good grades requires taking excellent notes in class; keeping notes on books is essential for comprehensive exams, dissertations, and other publications. Keeping effective records of academic articles is crucial for all PhD programs.
By 2026, the note-taking tools market is expected to reach $1.35B. Good news: there’s an app for everyone. In addition, most of the best note-taking apps for graduate students are free. Not-so-great thing: new note-taking apps are popping up weekly, making it hard to decide which one you should use. This is the dilemma you have to face.
You don’t have to choose a note-taking app based on black-and-white criteria. Depending on your use case, you might need to combine two or more apps to achieve your goals, so you may need to use more than one. The goal should be to avoid creating a Frankenstein’s monster of a productivity system, which often would not be productive at all. It’s often better to keep things simple when taking notes and turning them into creative work.
The shiny toy syndrome is real, and using the “latest and greatest” wastes your time. It is worsened by the availability of different note-taking apps for graduate students.
Nothing is more valuable than a carefully selected note-taking app for a graduate student. It is imperative to stick with whatever tool you choose for a while before switching to another.
You probably have read articles that compare the best note-taking apps for graduate students in terms of features, with tables showing which ones offer which functionalities.
I will take a slightly different approach in this guide. Considering features in isolation is pointless, so let’s examine the benefits of note-taking apps based on how you take notes.
Digital or analogue?
Analog note-taking
When choosing the right note-taking app for graduate students, this is arguably the most frequently asked question for all the right reasons.
There is no harm in taking notes by hand. For some students, they work better than digital notes. However, I also think that it’s impossible to avoid digital note-taking in today’s digital world, where everything is digital, and many courses are also run digitally.
You can be creative when it comes to handwritten notes. You can color coat them, draw boxes, and do many other things to customize each page.
In addition, sometimes, it’s easier to take notes by hand than with a tablet or laptop. It is especially true if you have to jot down quick notes.
It can also help with memorization because you’ll be able to visualize the page in your mind when you’re stuck on an exam question.
Digital note-taking
Digital note-taking offers the convenience of storing everything in one place.
As long as you have internet access, you should be able to access all of your notes, which is convenient, especially if you commute or are always on the go.
It’s also easier to organize digital notes since you can sort them into files, look up things with keywords, and find what you need faster than flipping through many pages.
With so many note-taking apps for graduate students available on the market, you will be able to find an app that works for you to take digital notes.
Digital and paper have different characteristics and their own use cases.
In addition to handwritten notes, I have seen some graduate students use Apple iPads to make notes digitally (but still handwritten).
In addition to digital note-taking, I take handwritten notes when necessary. I prefer digital note-taking because handwritten notes have never worked for me.
I also prefer digital note-taking since I don’t like to carry physical items around all the time.
From now on, I will be focusing on digital note-taking.
Find your inner note-taking persona
Are you a connecter?
You are an architect.
Architect enjoys planning and designing processes and frameworks, and a note-taking tool helps them organize their ideas.
Are you a databaser?
You are a librarian.
Libraries enjoy collecting resources and need a note-taking tool that makes it easy to retrieve notes.
Are you somewhat in between or have no idea at all?
You are a gardener.
Gardeners like to experiment, connect different ideas, and need a tool that helps them grow their imaginations.
My note-taking journey
Disclaimer
I think that there isn’t an app that works for everyone. As a matter of fact, I think it’s nearly impossible because finding the best fit always depends on so many factors. It depends on your daily life and visual learning abilities.
My note-taking app of choice is Obsidian.
Having tried so many note-taking apps over the past six years, I have decided to use Obsidian exclusively.
Here’s why…
My six years of journey to find the best app
Of course, finding the right note-taking app for a graduate student is never a piece of cake. It takes time and lots of trial and error.
But if you know what to look for and where to look, you will find the best note-taking app in no time.
Discovering something that works best for you is non-linear because your requirements also change over time. Therefore, it is a non-linear process on two levels. Choosing an app that suits you best also involves figuring out what you really want. By the end of this process, you will have a better idea of what you need from a note-taking app than you did before.
For example, I wasn’t sure what type of note-taker I was. I used to think I was an architect when I heard the concepts of architect, gardener, and librarian.
However, after six years and so many failed attempts later, I found myself between an architect and a gardener.
Available note-taking apps for graduate students
I started with Evernote, which was the obvious choice at the time. Also, Obsidian was not even released at this time.
I had this idea of having an excellent note-taking system when I was an undergraduate student, and the most obvious option (Back in 2017) was Evernote so I went with it. As of now, I have more than 2000 entries in different notebooks in Evernote.
Then I realized something. I couldn’t build any connections between my notes using this app. It’s just a stack of notes piling up without giving me feedback. So I couldn’t “think” with Evernote.
So, I moved into OneNote, which had many more options than Evernote. But it has the same issue of not being able to link notes. Also, one note is just an infinite canvas, so it can sometimes be overwhelming.
Therefore, I moved into Notion, which I still use for different reasons. Although one can link notes and files in Notion, it is not built for that. Therefore, I worked against a system when I tried to link notes. And consequently, I felt mentally tired over time.
But still, Notion was one of my go-to apps at the time (But not for note-taking), so I stuck with it for a while.
Right before I graduated with my bachelor’s degree, I started questioning my judgment about the app I use for “thinking“. To be able to think freely, the app I utilize should not be “heavy“. Furthermore, I need to be able to “link my thinking” to make my notes more useful in the long run.
This is where I moved into Roam Research, which satisfied both of the requirements mentioned above.
Perfect!
I thought I found it after a handful of apps and three years of searching. But, mental fatigue developed each and every time I used Roam Research. Although this app had all the features I wanted, something was missing. And it took me another year to figure that out, just before I started my graduate degree.
Although Roam Research is a simple, elegant and lightweight app, the problem was we did not have much control over sorting the files and file management within the app. Because of this issue, I felt a resistance to thinking about “ideas” on this platform.
In the long term, the essential quality of a note-taking system is how efficient the sorting and file management functionality is. But the linking notes were one of the top features of Roam Research.
Therefore, the question was, what is the app I can use that already has the bi-directional linking option and better sorting and file management features?
This is when I first encountered Obsidian. And it has been my only note-taking app from that point onwards.
Lessons I learned from six years of note-taking
Visualized note-taking can be nothing but a huge mess in the long run if you do not know what you are doing.
Visualized note-taking can be appealing at times, but it can be really hard to sort your notes in the long run when the data fill in.
There is no guarantee that something will be useful just because it is visually appealing.
It is most effective to keep things simple.
In the long run, you should develop a system that works for you, not the other way around.
The apps we use shape who we are
As I took notes in Roam Research, I felt mental fatigue develop as I took notes, so I was always looking for alternatives.
This is where I found the YouTube video by Nick Milo’s video, Why Obsidian Will Overtake Roam. At this time, I was partially using Obsidian but did not fully commit to it.
Nick talks about a concept that I never thought of, which is that, the apps we use shape who we are.
When you are interacting with anything in day-to-day life, it has a huge impact on us. It also applies to the note-taking apps we use.
The purpose of some note-taking apps is only to jot down notes, not to write.
You are working against a system if you used one of these apps to write.
This is exactly what I was doing. I was working against the system.
This is why choosing the best note-taking app for a graduate student is not as straightforward as it seems.
I had already started my PhD at this point. The most accurate definition of a PhD holder is a person with a license to write. Despite wanting to write, I could not do so using an app designed for just jotting down notes. My mental fatigue piled up because of this.
As Nick mentioned in the video, at the end of the day, people will have to write.
The first app isn’t always the right app
When you find a visually appealing app, you are always reluctant to try another, even if it does not feel right.
This is a form of rebellion against the system. You are actually working against the system. You should be audacious enough to try something new until you find the best app.
But how do you know if you have the right app that works for you?
Well, the feeling that makes you want to use that app more and more will tell you if you like it or not.
I’ve been using Obsidian for the past two months, for example. Every day, I spend more than two hours on it, on average.
How to get the absolute most out of digital note-taking
I prefer non-visualized note-taking methods as a writer and since I like to organize my notes as a thinking hub.
My experience as a person coming from visually-oriented note-taking apps made me realize that non-visualized note-taking requires a different skill set.
Typing skills
Typing fast is a superpower for anyone who spends much time at the computer. It surprises me how many people ignore this simple logic.
Let’s say you can type 40 words per minute (which is about the same speed as an average writer). Writing 80 words per minute will make you twice as productive as writing notes by hand. It really is that simple.
This is clearly one of the advantages of digital note-taking over handwritten note-taking.
But, you have to invest time in increasing your typing speed to have that added benefit of digital note-taking.
Touch typing (typing without looking at the keyboard) was difficult for me at first. I typed 21 words per minute. Therefore, I would have been half as efficient as someone who takes notes by hand.
My typing speed needs to be increased at this point. I was able to increase my typing speed to 80+ words per minute after a couple of months.
I can type more than 90 words per minute on a good day. Taking digital notes, along with a million other things I do for my PhD, is made much easier by being able to type faster.
The process of learning to type is similar to learning to drive. Once you learn it, it won’t leave you. It is, therefore, highly recommended that you speed up your typing if you wish to take digital notes.
Here are my typing stats:
Programming skills
While this is not a requirement for digital note-taking, it can be very useful if you have some coding skills (any language will do).
So many great digital note-taking apps for graduate students are available for free. As a result, you can come up with macros or add-ins to customize your workflow.
Long-term benefits of having a note-taking app that works for you
It is almost autopilot
A perfect note-taking system works for you. You do not work for the note-taking system.
In the long run, your system will grow into an evergreen forest that will work as a second brain for you. The more notes you have, the better.
However, if you did not have such a system and just stacked up all of your notes, you would be able to find anything. This is the last thing a graduate student wants. Having nothing organized when you are about to write your thesis is not very empowering.
More thinking, less organizing
A modern way of procrastinating is spending more time on things than actually doing some work. With all the note-taking apps available nowadays, it is really easy to fall into this trap.
In the long run, when you look back, you just organize things without doing productive work. Having a proper note-taking system prevents this from happening.
The more notes you have, the more powerful they become
I realized down the road to finding the best app for note-taking because most of the apps I used work backwards.
The more notes I have, the more difficult it becomes to do constructive work, mainly because of the poor sorting capabilities of the app I chose.
Therefore, before choosing a note-taking app, you should ask,
Is this app suitable for sorting so I can use it long-term?
Conclusion
Finding the best app for note-taking that works for you is not easy. Ultimately, it’s worth your effort because it’ll be more rewarding than ever imagined.
Images courtesy: Image by storyset on Freepik
