Titles in a Zettelkasten should be declarative
Titles in a Zettelkasten should be declarative. Titles with ambiguous names do not accurately represent their contents to the reader at a glance.
The two biggest benefits to specific note titles:
- Easier to find exactly what you are looking for when searching through notes. If you are using a digital Zettelkasten, the most typical way you will be looking for a note is by using its title, hence good titles are more likely to find you with the note you are looking for.
- Good note titles promote atomicity of notes. When a title is specific, it helps constrain you to writing about one thing. If you are editing and reading a note, non-relevant sections to the title will stick out.
A title acts as a condensed thesis summing up the content of the idea stored in the note. It should be a declarative statement rather than a descriptor. “Not all apples are edible” is a better title than “Apples and edibility.” The former tells the note maker what’s being said inside the note while the latter hints at the topic to which the idea might be speaking. [1, p. 38]