My Obsidian Workflow for Research
How I use Obsidian for note-taking, literature reviews, and connecting ideas across research projects.
As a researcher, managing notes and references is crucial. I’ve tried many tools, but Obsidian has become my go-to for almost everything.
The Setup
My Obsidian vault is organized into a few key folders:
- Literature — Notes on papers I’ve read
- Projects — Active research project notes
- Daily — Daily logs and quick captures
- Templates — Reusable templates for different note types
Key Plugins
The plugins that make my workflow possible:
- Dataview — Query notes like a database
- Templater — Dynamic templates with logic
- Citations — Import references from Zotero
- Git — Auto-sync to a private GitHub repo
The Workflow
When I read a paper, I create a literature note using my template. It captures the key claims, methodology, and my own thoughts. I then link it to relevant project notes.
Over time, these connections surface unexpected relationships between ideas — exactly what you want in research.
Why This Works
The beauty of this system is that it’s just Markdown files. No lock-in, no proprietary format. I can write a blog post in the same environment where I take research notes.
This very blog post started as a note in my vault.