Read 5 articles, get one page of notes — save, highlight, then write one card in your own words

Borrowing Tiago Forte's Progressive Summarization and Sönke Ahrens's permanent notes, turn five articles on one topic into a single note card you can write from directly. The five example articles and their content are fictional.

Where the method comes from

How to use this canvas

Every card is yours to edit.
The "Example" groups are made up: the people, products and articles in them aren't real. Clear them out when you start your own.
Checked to-dos are saved back to the file.
In Finder, the whole canvas is just a folder.

Progressive Summarization (Tiago Forte)

Compress in layers: the original → what you saved → bold the core sentences → highlight the most unique of those → a few lines in your own words.
Each layer happens the next time you come across the note; you don't do it all at once.
Source: Forte Labs, Progressive Summarization, published Dec 2017, updated May 2023 (official) https://fortelabs.com/blog/progressive-summarization-a-practical-technique-for-designing-discoverable-notes/

Permanent notes (Sönke Ahrens)

What you jot while reading is temporary; anything worth keeping becomes a card that stands on its own: your words, clear without the original, with the reference noted.
Cards like this can later be assembled straight into a piece of writing.
Source: zettelkasten.de on How to Take Smart Notes, Feb 2022 (third party) https://zettelkasten.de/posts/concepts-sohnke-ahrens-explained/

Example: five articles on writing a landing page

Article A: The first line of a landing page

Say who it's for and what it solves in the first line, not who you are.
https://example.com/a/first-line

Article B: Screenshots beat adjectives

One real screenshot beats "simple, powerful, elegant".
https://example.com/b/show-dont-tell

Article C: One page, one button

More buttons, fewer clicks.
https://example.com/c/one-button

Article D: Use your users' words

Put the words users actually say in the headline, not your team's internal names.
https://example.com/d/user-words

Article E: Answer "why switch?" first

Users already have a tool; the page has to say why switching is worth it.
https://example.com/e/why-switch

Three steps, 40 minutes

Step 1: save it, put the key sentence on the first line (5 min per article)

After each article, drop the link on the canvas, write the one sentence that matters most on the card's first line, and keep the link below it. (Borrowed from the "pick out the core sentences" layer of Progressive Summarization)

Step 2: compare the five first lines (5 min)

Line the five cards up, read only the first lines, and look for what they agree on and where they disagree. You can also tap "✦ AI Groups" on the canvas to let it arrange them first, then adjust.

Step 3: write one note card of your own (10 min)

In your own words, clear without the originals; list the five sources on the last line. (Borrowed from permanent notes)

Example: the one-page note

Landing pages: my four rules

1. First line: who it's for and what it solves.
2. Real screenshots instead of adjectives; users' own words in the headline.
3. Answer "why switch?" first.
4. One button per page.
Sources: articles A, B, C, D, E.

Still unsure

If there's more than one kind of user (individuals and teams), is one button enough? Look for articles on that next.

Try it this week / Sources

Pick a topic and run it once

Choose a topic you want to write about, save five articles, and follow the three steps in Group 3 to get one note card. (From: Progressive Summarization (Tiago Forte); Permanent notes (Sönke Ahrens))

Sources

| # | Source | Type | Date | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forte Labs: Progressive Summarization | Official (author) | published 2017-12-27, updated 2023-05-16 | 2026-10-29 |
| 2 | zettelkasten.de: on the concepts in Ahrens's book | Third party | 2022-02-10 | 2026-10-28 (used in batch 1) |

Note: the articles and content in Groups 2 and 4 are fictional; all links use example.com and don't refer to any real person or article. The screenshot was taken by the social team with the released put·here app in a temporary demo library; its content is fictional too.