The second-most-important distinction within PARA is between Areas and Resources (the middle letters A and R).
At first glance, they might seem very similar, especially considering that a given topic (such as “Nonprofit fundraising” or “Nutrition research”) could be located in either one.
It depends on what that category of information means to you.
If you are a public health professor at a major university, responsible for several lecture classes while also publishing your own research, then “Nutrition research” will definitely be an important area of responsibility for you.
But if you are a student at that same university, majoring in anthropology in another department, with nutrition as a minor side interest, then it will be a resource for you.
The key here is to realize that there is a big difference between things you are directly responsible for and things you are merely interested in. I use uppercase titles for areas and lowercase titles for resources to constantly remind myself that one is more important than the other.
Once again, any confusion between these two categories will produce a lot of friction and wasted energy.
Let’s look at a few examples.