Atomic NotesThe term was (as far as I know) coined by Christian Tietze in his article Create Zettel from Reading Notes According to the Principle of Atomicity. The majority of my thoughts here on atomic notes are informed by Prem Sundarams What is an Atomic Note and How to Create Atomic Notes?. are the cornerstone of many systems of Knowledge Management, particularly the kind we engage in with note-taking via software like Obsidian or web sites that are digital gardens.

In addition to being atomic, notes should be autonomic. Each note should be autonomous, meaning it should be self-contained and comprehensible on its own. This allows notes to be rearranged independently. It also ensures that notes existing on their own not reliant on another source.

Anatomy of an Atomic Note

A unique ID

So that it can be connected / linked / referenced to another card in some way. Most note taking apps already have this internally either as a unique key number or a creation date. The title can also be used but one should be careful in case two notes have the same title. You could also ‘connect’ notes together using tags. But in the most traditional sense this is where the linked-notes / Zettelkasten / backlink idea comes into play. This is trivial in a digital garden because URLs serve as the unique identifier.

A Title Header

An atomic note should have a title that is unique, and forms the unique portion of the URL of the note. The title should be descriptive and not too clever.

A Subtitle

Expanding on the title, every atomic note should have a subtitle, in the form of a single sentence sumation of the note. Think of this as the main topic, to which the remainder of the note is supporting points.

Body

There should be a ‘Body Section’ for the note - where the main content goes

Links

Inside the body one may want to link to other content. Whenever you add a note, make sure to link it to already existing notes. Links come in multiple types:

• inline links in the summary and body of the note
• Category tags, which can assign each atomic note to a containing topic
• Tags, which can, if used well, provide another level of thematic organization

And of course, Make No Stubs.