It has been my experience that law students take pride in their notebooks. Not everyone is as crazy as me about it, but the majority of my sectionmates definitely have a complex tagging / sorting system set up for OneNote, or whatever other program they use.
I thought I’d show off my notebook a bit in this post. Last summer, I spent some time testing out different note-taking software. I didn’t like anything on the market, so I decided to code my own. I didn’t want to start from scratch, however, so I settled on a MediaWiki.
Here are the features that I find useful.
#1 – No internet connection required - This may be a circular point, since not many notebooks will require an internet connection. MediaWiki would, however, if I weren’t running an Apache server on my MacBook Pro.
#2 – 
Brief Templates – The way this was coded is that whenever I make a [[WikiLink]], I search the link for a v. (indicating that it’s a case) and it auto-generates a blank template for me to fill in. This is really useful when professors yell out cases on the fly, or for briefing cases for homework purposes.
#3 – “Can I get your notes?” There have been a few times when my friends have missed class due to circumstances beyond their control. When they need to borrow my notes, I can give them a limited login, and they can take what they need via wireless network.
#4 – 
Table of Contents – One of my favorite features is the fact that a TOC is generated for me automatically. Seeing the structure of the course at a glimpse is extremely useful when deciding where a particular topic falls into the grand scheme of things.
#5 – Backups. Backing up is a trivial matter (a command-line program). I store the backup on a remote server, so I can access my notebook from anywhere with an internet connection (i.e. no need to have my laptop).
There are plenty of other reasons why I <3 my MediaWiki notebook, but to keep this post relatively short, I’ll cut it off here.
How do you take notes?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
thanks for such a service!
I just started lawschool and I think your notebook process is awesome. Could you help me get started? I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Tracy
@Tracy Phillips, thanks. unfortunately, the set up I was using here isn’t very easy to pull off. I wanted to host it locally (so I wouldn’t need the internet, in case of emergency) but it would be easier to just find a web provider that will install a MediaWiki installation for you. I can’t recommend any off hand, but a Google search would probably turn some up.
If you’re tech savvy, have a look at http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Running_MediaWiki_on_Windows which is roughly how I did it.
Good luck with law school!