A Look At My Work Commonplace Book

My work specific commonplace book.

Before I dive into the setup and the intricacies of my work specific commonplace book, I want to make it very clear that how I use my work commonplace book may not work for you. There's so many different jobs out there, and every job calls for different things. But hopefully, there are ideas here that can help you start your own work commonplace book should you find that interesting.

For some background, I am a forensic scientist. So I regularly read scientific journal articles, scientific standards, legislative statutes, and court rulings. Occasionally, I will also read textbooks and attend trainings. As part of my job duties, I perform forensic analyses, testify in court, and also assist in technical aspects of running the laboratory from maintenance of instruments to validations and verifications.

I am interested in keeping a work commonplace book because the information may come in handy for my day to day work, for a special project, or even while testifying on the stand. Trust me, it's not unusual for me to be asked about some random journal article or federal report on forensic science published decades ago.

I started a work commonplace book because:

1. I wanted a central location to reference my notes. (My notes from training are all over the place in different notebooks and binders, and I regret my lack of organization immensely.)

2. I 100% believe that writing things down helps me remember it.

With that all said, let's get into the commonplace book!

My Key and Table of Contents page in my work commonplace book.

For my work commonplace book, I am using a hardcover A5 Leuchtturm1917 with the dot grid layout. Specifically, I'm using the black one. I chose this notebook becaue it was already paginated, and I think that's important in order for me to reference things. (Being fountain pen friendly was also plus.) I also chose the hardcover because I like the idea of having a series of hardcover A5 notebooks full of information by the end of my career.

Generally, I write things in my notebook chronologically after I have consumed the media. My notes are organized by utilizing a color dot sticker sytem (stickers from RandiDotPlans), the Table of Contents in the front, and an Index in the back. The colored dot stystem notates the forensic discipline (or the general topic) the entry is associated with. The Table of Contents is a chronological listing of entries with associated page numbers. The Index is something I crated myself to help me find readings based upon some common keywords for my discipline.

The Index in my work commonplace book.

I hand draw my margin on the side (5 dot spaces from the left), and each entry starts with the reference title, month and year of the entry, and a color dot sticker. All writing in color is copied text, and anything in black ink is my personal notes and annotations. I circle keywords for emphasis, and I underline for emphasis. Things that I draw a rectangle around typically are references I would like to look into later. And I take notes in the margins or after the completed entry. The notes can be thoughts to myself, referencing connections to other pages in my commonplace book, etc.

As for how I go about utilizing my commonplace book at my job, I typically work on my commonplace book when I have the time between my other dutites at work. Consuming scientific literature and staying up to date is part of my job responsibilities. So it's something I am allowed to do on work time, but there's no set schedule.

Typically, I read things faster than I add things into my commonplace book. Sometimes there's a court ruling or a new scientific standard that is important for us to read immediately. So if I'm reading a PDF, I always highlight things that I may want to add into my commonplace book. If it's a textbook, I use sticky tabs. I'm pretty liberal with my highlights and sticky tabs during my inital reading. As I add things into my commonplace book, that's when I will evaluate my highlights and tabs to determine if it is worthy of being written down.

Example pages from my work commonplace book.

Unfortunately, for those of you that wish to know how long it takes me to do a single entry, I do not have an answer for you. It varies on the material I'm adding into my commonplace book. I always do it after I've finished the material, though. If it's a large piece of material, like a textbook, I'd likely add it in a chapter at a time to help reinforce what I read.

As for digital commonplacing, I don't currently have one for my work commonplace book. I have toyed around with the idea every now and again but have yet to come up with a good way to do it since I definitely want to handwrite my commonplace entries.

Ideally, I'd love to use a digital notebook device like the Supernote Manta for work commonplacing. The Supernote has features to mark keywords, create headers, and star entries that would make finding things very simple. It also has the ability to export your notes and convert handwriting to text. It would be the best of both worlds, but the technology isn't quite there yet for me. Namely, it doesn't have the capability to paste images, which I'd want in my commonplace book. So I have yet to buy a Supernote Manta or give it a try for work commonplacing. Using an iPad or other similar tablet would be an option, but I am personally not a fan of writing for long periods of time on my iPad no matter what screen protector I use.

I have thought about creating a digital work commonplace book or at least a personal lexicon on Obsidian, but I haven't had the time to start it yet. There's no easy way to do it from an analog system. I would just have to type stuff in. If anyone was wondering, I'd use Obsidian because it's stored locally on your device unless you link it to a cloud system. I also like Obsidian because it uses Markdown language, which I'm somewhat familiar with, and because I like the graphical view, which links notes together like a mind map.

I think that's everything I have to say about my work commonplace book. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or you can reach out to me on Instagram. I'd also love to hear about your own commonplace books, if you're willing to share!

Next week will be all about my personal commonplace book system.