JinnoroGuides · Students · 5 min read
Keep a reading list and turn it into study tasks
Track course readings and books as projects, break books into parts, and use a label for notes you still need to write.
A reading list helps only if it turns into actual reading. The way to do that is to treat each reading as a task with a date, and each book as a task with parts.
This guide sets up a Reading folder with two projects, one for course readings and one for books, and uses a Notes needed label so that finishing a chapter never means forgetting to write it up.
Step 1
Create the folder and two projects
Create a project called Reading, then two subprojects: Course readings and Books. Course readings have deadlines; books usually do not, and that is why they get separate projects.
Step 2
Add each reading with a date
Add one task for each assigned chapter or article, with the date it has to be done by. Use the Reading label so you can see them all together, whatever course they belong to.
Step 3
Break a book into parts
Add the book as a task and open it to add subtasks, one per part or chapter group. You can finish one part on the bus and tick it off. Add a last subtask, “Write a one page summary”, so the book ends with something you can keep.
Step 4
Mark what still needs notes
Create a label called Notes needed. Add it to any reading you have finished but not written up. At the end of the week, open the label and turn each item into notes, then remove the label.
Notes written within a week are worth far more than notes written before an exam. If your reading is for an essay, see writing a thesis one section at a time.
