Workshop / Obsidian
Obsidian for Deep Research
Build a research brain for your notes, ideas, applications, essays, thesis work, and long-term projects.
Most students keep notes everywhere: notebooks, PDFs, phone notes, screenshots, browser bookmarks, messages, and unfinished documents. The problem begins when you actually need those ideas again.
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sample note
[[photography-can-hold-evidence-and-feeling]]
Tags: [[memory]], [[evidence]]
Course Fee
₹15,000
Includes all 4 live sessions, recordings, templates, guided setup, and one month of personal doubt-clearing support.
Who this is for
For people whose ideas are scattered but serious.
- Masters students preparing essays, dissertations, or thesis work
- PhD applicants and researchers handling large reading lists
- Writers, artists, designers, and educators collecting ideas from many sources
- Working professionals who read, think, apply, write, and present
- Serious learners who want ideas to become useful over time
Why I teach this
A system tested through actual research work.
This method has helped me organise readings, applications, research ideas, conference notes, and creative projects. It has supported work around the Cambridge Cultural Heritage Data School, British Sociological Association presentations, RCA research practice, and the many small ideas that continue to collect and develop over time.
The point is not to make a perfect archive on day one. The point is to build a system where ideas can return to you when they matter.
Full module
Six stages for building the vault.
The workshop starts from the beginning and slowly turns your vault into a living research system.
Start Obsidian without fear
Open the Door
Create your first vault, understand the left sidebar, writing area, right sidebar, search, command palette, and the basic shortcuts you will use every week.
- What a vault is and where your notes live
- Creating your first note
- Opening, searching, and moving between notes
- Command palette, new note, search, and template shortcuts
Folders that keep your brain clean
Make the Room
Build a simple structure that supports research without turning the vault into a filing-cabinet maze.
- 1 - Rough Notes
- 2 - Source Material
- 3 - Tags
- 4 - Indexes
- 5 - Templates
- 6 - Main Notes
- 7 - Assets
The atomic note method
One Thought, One Note
Turn readings, lectures, links, and rough thoughts into clean notes that can return later for essays, applications, talks, and thesis writing.
- Writing one clear idea per note
- Using hyphenated note titles
- Rewriting readings in your own words
- Avoiding article dumps and building reusable notes
Templates that save time
The Note Recipe
Create reusable templates for main notes, rough notes, source notes, tag notes, and index notes.
- Enabling the Templates plugin
- Creating a template folder
- Adding note type, date, time, tags, references, and possible links
- Inserting templates into live research notes
Tags, links, backlinks, and graph view
Tag Doors and Idea Bridges
Connect notes so older ideas can return when you need them. This is where the vault begins to behave like a research brain.
- Tags as concept pages
- Internal links as bridges between ideas
- Backlinks as memory
- Graph view for clusters, isolated notes, and recurring themes
Advanced AI and PhD-level workflows
Research Lab Mode
Explore longer research workflows with Smart Connections, Graph Analysis, Dataview, Omnisearch, and Notebook Navigator while keeping your own judgement at the centre.
- Finding hidden connections between older notes
- Building research dashboards
- Tracking note types, tags, dates, and themes
- Using the vault for thesis chapters, applications, talks, and long-term projects
Examples
How notes begin to look and connect.
These examples use the same selected-text visual language as the research project pages: a dark field, a sharp box, and clear white note fragments that read almost like images.
Atomic note title
grades-reduce-student-autonomy
A grade can move attention away from curiosity and toward compliance. This note can later connect to motivation, assessment, childhood learning, and institutional design.
Concept tag page
missing
A tag is treated like a doorway. Every note linked to missing can come from grief, climate data, archives, photography, or a thesis chapter.
Research bridge
photography-can-hold-evidence-and-feeling
This note can link documentary photography to evidence, intimacy, visual testimony, and personal memory without forcing everything into one folder.
Course structure
Four live sessions over one month.
Session 1
Start Your Research Brain
- Install and open Obsidian
- Create your first vault
- Build the folder structure
- Create your first rough note
You leave with a working vault, a clear interface map, and a folder structure that makes sense.
Session 2
Create Better Notes
- Atomic note method
- One idea per note
- Hyphenated titles
- Source notes and references
You learn how to turn thoughts, readings, lectures, and links into useful permanent notes.
Session 3
Connect Your Thinking
- Tag notes as concept hubs
- Internal links
- Backlinks
- Search and graph view
You learn how to connect notes so the vault begins to show patterns in your thinking.
Session 4
Use It for Research, Writing, and Applications
- Essay and thesis outlines
- Graph clusters for topic discovery
- Application and project planning
- AI-assisted plugin introduction
You learn how to use your vault for academic, creative, and professional work.
After one month
You leave with a working research system.
Next batch
Build a vault that helps your ideas return.
The course is practical, live, and personal. We start from zero, then shape the system around your reading, writing, research, applications, and long-term projects.
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