Note-taking: quickly capturing content so we can refer back to it later
Note-making: deliberately crafting your own version so we can learn and create better
The Generation Effect: The phenomenon in which information is best remembered if it is actively created by one's mind rather than simply read passively.
Whenever you want to understand and remember something, the more engaged you are with that information, the more effort you put in creating your own version, the easier it is going to be to assimilate that piece of information so you can reuse it later.
How do you go from note-taking to note-making?
Use action-driven tags (e.g. #toRead, #toProcess, #toCreate) rather than category tags (e.g. #books, #science, #interview, #feynman) to track the stage of a piece of information in the creative process. This way you always know what are the next steps to take to make it move through the creative funnel to create original content.
Action-driven tags are a great way to progressively and continuously create and making sure that your creative input results in creative output.