Best way to take notes on Scripture

Hi,

I'm a new Logos user and still figuring things out.

What is the most effective and efficient way to take notes on Scripture that I am reading? Almost like making my own "study Bible" or commentary on passages. For instance, as I am reading Thessalonians, I'd like to make notes on specific verses. Once finished, I'd like for those notes to be easily accessed and be a part of my resources when searching in the future.

Is "notes" simply the best way or is there something else that would be better?

Paul

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Paul-C

For instance, as I am reading Thessalonians, I'd like to make notes on specific verses. Once finished, I'd like for those notes to be easily accessed and be a part of my resources when searching in the future.

Paul, welcome to the forums!

I'll answer the easy question first - When you make a note in your Bible, ensure you select "Reference" rather than "Selection" - this will mean that the note file you make will be viewable in other translations of the Bible you use.

If you tag a new note to the "Selection" only, it will mean that the note you created is viewable only in the specific translation you created that note in. One other benefit of the "Reference" selection is that your notes will also appear in commentaries too at the appropriate verse.

Here's a screenshot of the right-click menu on my Mac to show you what I mean:

Paul bowman

Great! Yes, I was wondering about that exact thing (being able to see my note in other translations). So thanks.

I'm guessing then, that it is best to use the notes tool and just simply connect it to the reference.

Paul

Paul-C

My own workflow for creating notes when studying the Bible is to:

1. Make lots of highlights in key passages for future reference;

2. If I'm studying a specific topic, say for sermon prep, I use clippings to collate in once place all the text I want to refer to again;

3. I use evernote to store sermon illustrations. If I'm reading a book and think X will make a good sermon illustration, I cut and paste it into evernote and tag and reference it properly for future use.

4. If I read something which I think would be useful to quickly reference when I'm reading the Bible, I'll create a note file at the appropriate verse and cut and paste that info into the note.

I'm sure others will be able to suggest better workflows, but it's highly subjective, and the above works for me... for now! [:D]

Paul-C

I'm guessing then, that it is best to use the notes tool and just simply connect it to the reference.

Yes, if you want to attach some information or thoughts to a specific passage that you'd like to quickly reference again the next time you read or study that passage - that's what I do!

When making notes in my Bible I personally use the "Reference" selection by default to ensure I don't miss that note the next time I read another translation.

Paul bowman

Awesome, thanks for the tips.

Doc B

What is the most effective and efficient way to take notes on Scripture that I am reading?

Paul, that's a tough question to answer succinctly because 'best' for one may not be 'best' for another. One's purposes may differ, and thus the best way to take notes will differ.

You already have had some useful responses. Paul-C's first response is critical...know whether you want the note to be visible in all your translations, or whether you want the note to be for a specific resource only. You'll find a small bit of frustration here...making a note for a reference means you can see it in all your translations, but it also means the note is for the whole verse, not a specific word or phrase within a verse. (If you think about it, you'll see why this is necessary, but it can still be a tad frustrating at times.)

As you probably already know, when you highlight, you create notes in a note file you specify with the highlighting tool you used. But these are 'Selection' notes, not 'Reference' notes. So simple highlighting may not be the best answer for you (but it may be).

As for how you structure the way the notes are stored, there are several options. Hopefully others will respond to this post with their methods and you can get a good picture of some of the different ways this can be done.

Personally, I have created a note file for every book of the bible. When I make 'Reference' notes, these all go to that specific book file. Here's a screen shot of some of my notes files-

As you can see, I have some topical note files (not all can be seen) and a note file for each book of the bible (again, not all can be seen at once).

I also keep note files for some specific resources. The 'Proverbs' in the previous screen shot is for notes from a book on Proverbs by Dan Phillips that is not yet in Logos (pre-pub), but where I've been taking notes for use in Logos from the paper copy. In the screen shot below, I've highlighted a file called Heresy Notes where I keep my notes from several Logos resources on Heresy, along with a few non-Logos works in paper copy. Three of the note files near the top (Questions, Key Verses, and Exegesis/Word Study) are all 'Reference' note files for work related to their titles. The file called Doctr of Grace is a 'Selection' note file where I highlight passages in both the Bible and in other references related to that topic. And so on.

This is just one idea of how to organize your notes. Others will certainly be more creative than I, but you'll have to decide which method(s) work best for you.

Welcome to the forums, and keep asking questions as needed. HTH.

Paul bowman

Great! Thanks Doc B. I like the way you've got things organized.

I'm loving Logos, just trying to figure out how to best utilize all the tools in a effective and efficient way....

David Medina

Paul, I highly recommend you check learnlogos.com. Tons of great tutorials and webinars that will help you uncover what a powerful tool Logos is. Very affordable.

When the webinars are live they are free and if you want to keep them it is just $4.99. The best and most affordable Logos education.

Paul bowman

Thanks! I'll check it out

Bill Shewmaker

You can also add your note files, clippings, Word Studies, etc., into Favorites and create your own Topical Filing System. You can create as many "folders" as you want/need under Favorites and it will automatically file them alphabetically for you. I have a Favorites Folder that includes many sub-folders for the Bible (sub-divided into OT and NT and further sub-divided by Division, i.e., Pentateuch, History, etc., and books divided by chapters) which makes for easier (at least to me) location later on. It will take a while for you to get it set up, but the paybacks later on will be tremendous.