Literature Note Template (Zotero + Obsidian)

How the Template Works

When you trigger the template in Obsidian, Templater runs a script that reads your frontmatter and optionally queries the Zotero API (if you supply the citekey). In the simplest version, you fill in the citekey manually and the template structures everything else.

The resulting note looks like this:

# Smith (2023) — Title of the Paper

## Abstract
[paste or auto-fill]

## Key Arguments
-

## Methods
-

## My Reading Notes
-

## Connections
- [[related-concept]]
- [[another-paper]]

Quick Setup

1. Copy the template file to your vault’s _Templates/ folder
2. Open Templater settings → set your templates folder
3. Assign a hotkey (e.g. Cmd+Shift+L) for triggering this template
4. Create a new note, trigger the template, and enter the citekey from Zotero

Overview

One Markdown template for literature notes that keeps every paper you read queryable: metadata fields that match Zotero’s Better BibTeX export, a claims/evidence/limitations structure that forces real reading, and a “connects to” section that builds your idea graph one paper at a time.

Why use it

Unstructured paper notes rot: you remember writing them but can’t search what mattered. This template’s discipline — one core claim, the evidence for it, its stated limitations, your honest take — is a comprehension test disguised as note-taking. If you can’t fill the fields, you haven’t read the paper yet.

How to use it

1. Drop the template into your notes app (Obsidian, Logseq, Zettlr — it’s plain Markdown).
2. Name notes by citekey (@smith2024title) so citations link back to notes.
3. Fill it in immediately after reading — the fields take five minutes while the paper is fresh, thirty when it isn’t.