Back to school? Personal Knowbase Can Help

With school starting, students have so many details to keep track of. Personal Knowbase can help you take control of your note-keeping, research, and records.

Personal Knowbase is note management software for Windows which stores information in free-format notes or cards, which it calls "articles." Assign keywords to your articles to index them for easy access. Build a personal knowledge base of your information.

Research

Organize research notes, using PK like digital index cards. Assign keywords by the topic and theme of each PK article. Use assigned keywords like virtual index card "stacks." Select a keyword to bring up a list of all notes with that keyword assigned, like a "stack" of index cards for that topic. By assigning multiple keywords to a note, you can make that note belong to multiple keyword "stacks" or lists.

You can store sources for information, citations, and bibliographies. By creating a keyword for each source, you can call up all notes assigned to that source instantly.

Here's more information on using PK for research.

Reference

Archive online messages and posts for future reference so that you don't have to worry about critical web pages disappearing when you need them. Store web clippings by dragging snippets from online sources into a PK article. Store abstracts from online databases.

Keep quick reference materials handy by copying them into PK. Save cheat sheets for definitions, programming references, historic timelines, and more.

Note-taking

Use PK for taking notes on your laptop. Index your notes with keywords immediately to streamline studying.

The software's flexible interface makes it easy to capture ideas. You can even use it for writing drafts for essays and papers.

Later, cross-reference your notes using hypertext links within PK's articles. Put notations and source information in separate articles and connect them to your notes with hyperlinks. Hypertext links can also point to URLs and external files.

Carry your notes with you on a USB drive for quick access from any Windows computer.

Website Information

Catalog the websites and online databases you use for research and for student services. Create a separate PK article for each site to save usernames, passwords, specific internal URLs, and a log of your website activity, such as changes to your profile.

You can password-protect your PK file to keep this type of information private.

Time Management

Use PK to help with inevitable administrative tasks. It's great for record-keeping. Store to-do lists, class and study group schedules, and faculty office hours.

Use PK reminders to alert you to appointments and classes.