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How to Create a Mind Map for Essay Writing

Last Updated: December 1, 2023 Fact Checked

Generating Your Map

Organizing your map for writing, expert q&a.

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 285,245 times.

If you’re a visual learner or just looking to switch up how you outline your essays, mind maps can be a game-changer. They make coming up with ideas for your essay and organizing them super easy. If you’ve never used a mind map for essay writing before, don’t worry—we break down everything you need to know to get started in the steps below.

Things You Should Know

  • Get out a piece of paper and write your topic in the center. This can be a single word or sentence.
  • Then, write down any words and ideas that relate to your topic. Circle them and then draw lines or arrows to connect them to the topic.
  • Label each bubble idea according to where it fits into your paper. This can be a specific paragraph or a general section, like the introduction.

Step 1 Set up your supplies.

  • Lay out the colored markers or pencils to which you have assigned meaning.
  • Orient your paper so that it is in landscape position.
  • If you don't have colored pencils or markers, don't worry. You can still make a mind map with just a pen or pencil!

Step 2 Write your topic in the center of the page.

  • Circle your topic.

Step 3 Write down your associations.

  • Each thing you write down may give you another association. Write that down as well. For instance, writing "Impairment vs. disability" might remind you of "wheelchair ramps."
  • Try to cluster related thoughts together ("wheelchair ramps"—"access to public life"), but don't worry if it doesn't always happen—you can draw a line between things you wish to connect.
  • Look for connections between your unrelated thoughts and jot them into the picture.

Step 4 Draw empty bubbles if you're stuck.

  • You might also label them "supporting argument," "evidence," "counterargument" etc.

Step 5 Sketch, don't draw.

  • Include doodles if they occur to you, but again, don't get caught up in making them perfect.
  • Depending on your age and essay topic, you might want to focus more on drawing pictures than writing out words.

Step 6 Use an online template instead.

  • While there are plenty of programs available for purpose, you can also use free online mapping tools like Bubble.us, Mind42, or Coggle.

Step 1 Label your map.

  • Add details as you go. For instance, you may write some of the sources you are planning to use to the sections of your essay to which they apply.

Step 2 Redraw the map if it gets messy.

  • If you do this, you can start by drawing bubbles for the sections and continue by filling in the thoughts and associations.
  • You can also organize your revised mind map into bubble for topic sentences that branch into smaller bubbles for supporting arguments and evidence.
  • Once you've done this, you practically have a rough draft of your paper.

Step 3 Keep your map by your side as you write.

  • Start each paragraph with a sentence that introduces the ideas of that paragraph, and write until you have incorporated all the information for that section.
  • If you end up adding things that weren't on your map, look at your map to check that they fit, and consider penciling them in. One of the virtues of the map is that it keeps you on topic.
  • Make sure you're not cramming too many points from your mind map into a single paragraph.

Alexander Peterman, MA

You Might Also Like

Make a Mind Map

  • ↑ https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/sites/default/files/docs/learningguide-mindmapping.pdf
  • ↑ https://emedia.rmit.edu.au/learninglab/content/how-create-mind-map
  • ↑ https://learningcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/using-concept-maps/
  • ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.

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how to write essay with mind map

Mind Maps for Essay Writing: A Comprehensive Guide with Examples and Tips

5 minutes read

Mastering essay writing is an essential skill for academic success. One valuable tool to enhance this skill is mind mapping, a dynamic and visual approach to organize thoughts. This article will guide you through the benefits, creation process, practical examples, and expert tips for effective mind mapping.

Mind Maps for Essay Writing: A Comprehensive Guide with Examples and Tips

Understanding Mind Maps: Definition and Benefits

A Mind Map is a powerful graphic technique which provides a universal key to unlock the potential of the brain. It harnesses the full range of cortical skills – word, image, number, logic, rhythm, colour and spatial awareness – in a single, uniquely powerful manner.

Utilizing mind maps in essay writing offers several benefits. Not only does it provide a visually engaging way to organize ideas, but it also enhances understanding and memory recall. The science behind this phenomenon lies in the way our brain works. By representing information spatially and with images and color, mind mapping stimulates the brain in a much more rich and varied way than traditional note taking.

How to Create a Mind Map for an Essay

Mind mapping is an easy process which can be mastered with practice. Here's a step-by-step guide:

  • Start in the center : Write your main idea or essay prompt in the center of the page and draw a circle around it.
  • Branch out : From your central idea, draw lines out towards the edges of your page representing main thoughts or ideas related to your topic. At the end of each line, write a single word or phrase that summarizes the point, then draw a circle around that word or phrase.
  • Add details : Draw smaller lines branching off from each main idea line that represent supporting details. At the end of these lines, write a brief detail or example and circle it.
  • Colour your thoughts : Add colours to your different ideas to highlight them. Use pictures or symbols wherever applicable.

Essential tools for mind mapping range from simple pen and paper to advanced mind mapping software like Boardmix or EdrawMind.

How to Use Mind Maps for Effective Essay Writing

Mastering the use of mind maps for essay writing entails three primary steps – identifying an apt essay topic, kickstarting the research process, and finally, outlining your essay within a mind map. Here's a detailed exploration of these stages:

Step 1: Using a Mind Map to Find a Good Topic for Your Essay

Selecting an engaging and manageable topic forms the bedrock of an impactful essay. Mind mapping can be instrumental in this process by helping to generate and connect ideas creatively and logically.

Brainstorming Topic Ideas with a Mind Map

To brainstorm topics, start by jotting down a general area of interest at the center of your mind map. Let's say, "Climate Change." Now, let your mind flow freely and create branches from this central node, each representing a different aspect or question related to Climate Change - "Causes," "Effects," "Solutions," "Controversies," etc. From these primary branches, draw secondary branches for further thoughts, arguments, or subtopics. After creating this mind map, assess the feasibility and interest level of each potential essay topic, and choose the one that resonates the most with you.

Step 2: Start the Research Process

Once you've chosen your topic, it's time to delve into research. A well-researched essay strengthens your arguments and adds credibility to your work.

Collecting Research in a Mind Map

Begin by creating a new mind map with your chosen topic at the center. As you start reading relevant resources - books, articles, or websites - extract key points and note them as branches on your mind map. For instance, under the "Causes" branch for Climate Change, you could add sub-branches like "Industrialization," "Deforestation," or "Carbon Emissions." Under each of these, note relevant data or quotations from your sources. This approach helps to visualize how various bits of information relate to each other and makes it easier to structure your essay later.

Step 3: Outlining Essay Paper in a Mind Map

Having gathered adequate research material, it's time to structure it coherently through an essay outline. Creating this outline within a mind map ensures that no crucial point is overlooked and allows you to visualize the logical flow of your essay.

From your research mind map, create another one specifically for your essay outline. The central node should be your essay title or thesis statement. Create major branches for each key argument or point you plan to discuss. Attach supporting evidence, examples or sub-arguments as sub-branches. Under each major branch, ensure that there is a claim or unique viewpoint that you will defend or explain in your essay.

In essence, this mind map will act as the skeleton of your essay, providing a clear roadmap for your writing process.

5 Examples of Mind Maps for Essay Writing

Analyzing examples of mind maps for essay writing can provide a better understanding of how this powerful brainstorming tool works. Here are five detailed examples that demonstrate different ways to utilize mind mapping in academic writing.

Example 1: Argumentative Essay Mind Map

Let's consider a mind map developed for an argumentative essay about "Climate Change". The central node, in this case, states "Climate Change". From this central idea, branches emerge that represent the main arguments for the essay. One branch could say "Evidence of Climate Change," with sub-branches exploring different scientific studies that support climate change. Another branch might state "Effects of Climate Change," delving into the impact on polar ice caps, rising sea levels, and wildlife extinction. A third branch may argue "Solutions to Climate Change," examining renewable energy sources, deforestation reduction, and government policies. Each branch further divides into smaller branches providing details, examples, or counterarguments.

 Argumentative Essay Mind Map

Example 2: Descriptive Essay Mind Map

Now, imagine a descriptive essay about "A Winter Morning". The central node would depict the essay's main theme. Major branches could represent sensory details, such as sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. For instance, the sight branch might have sub-branches like "white snow," "gray skies," or "bare trees." Each of these would break down into more detailed descriptions.

Descriptive Essay Mind Map

Example 3: Compare and Contrast Essay Mind Map

In a compare and contrast essay on "Traditional Classrooms vs. Online Learning," each of these educational modes could form a major branch from the central node. Sub-branches would then depict aspects for comparison, such as learning flexibility, student-teacher interaction, technology usage, assessment methods, etc. Each of these sub-branches would further branch out into specific points for both traditional classrooms and online learning environments.

Compare and Contrast Essay Mind Map

Example 4: Cause and Effect Essay Mind Map

For a cause and effect essay on "Smoking", one major branch might represent "Causes of Smoking" such as peer pressure, stress, and advertising influence. Another major branch could depict the "Effects of Smoking," branching out into health impacts (lung cancer, heart disease), financial costs, and societal effects. Each point could further elaborate through additional branches.

Cause and Effect Essay Mind Map

Example 5: Narrative Essay Mind Map

A narrative essay on "My First Camping Trip" would involve major branches for each key event in the story's progression - setting up camp, exploring the forest, facing a wildlife encounter, handling a campfire accident. Sub-branches off these main events would provide specific details and dialogue to enrich the narrative.

Narrative Essay Mind Map

Some Tips and Tricks for Effective Mind Mapping

For effective mind mapping, follow these tips:

  • Be creative and make your map vibrant.
  • Use single words or simple phrases for information brevity.
  • Keep your mind map clear by using radial hierarchy or outlines to embrace your branches.
  • Review regularly to reinforce memory.

While creating a mind map, avoid cluttering information on one branch. Use balance across your mind map while distributing information.

Reinventing Essay Writing with Mind Maps

Mind mapping, when mastered, can be a game-changer in your academic writing. It helps organise thoughts, enhances memory and understanding, and can make the essay writing process smoother and more efficient.

Through this guide, you've learned the benefits of mind mapping, how to create a mind map, seen some examples, got expert tips, and learned how to incorporate it into your essay writing process. Now it's time to put this knowledge into practice and start revolutionizing your essay writing with mind maps!

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Free Mind Map for Essay Templates by GitMind

mind map for essay

Making an essay is a common piece of advice offered to you along with your writing assignment. In that case, this post will teach you how to make mind maps as well as how to use pre-made mind maps for essay models. Mind mapping organizes information in a way that mirrors how our brains truly operate, as opposed to standard note-taking or linear text that you’ve been taught or have grown accustomed to. It can also help you avoid the stumbling blocks and overload created by overt analytical thinking. It lets you view more than one notion at a time, which helps to clarify your thoughts.

Free Mind Map for Essay by GitMind

Effective essay writing, essay topic template, paragraph essay organizer, mind map for essay benefits, how to create a mind map for an essay.

mind map for writing an essay

A mind map for writing an essay is a written piece in which you convey a certain topic and then back it up with facts, claims, analyses, and explanations. The five-paragraph essay is the most common style of an essay, though an essay can have as many parts as necessary. A 5 essay is comprised of five paragraphs. An essay, on the other hand, is divided into 3 sections: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

mind map essay example

According to the mind map essay example, an essay is a written piece in which you convey a certain topic and then back it up with facts, claims, analyses, and explanations. The five-paragraph essay is the most common style of an essay, though an essay can have as many parts as necessary. A 5 essay is comprised of five paragraphs. An essay, on the other hand, is divided into 3 sections: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

essay mind map template

Plan essay mind map template with this paragraph organizer. The introduction should begin with a broad statement and end with a thesis statement that zooms in on the themes you will discuss in considerable depth. The proof of your idea should be included in the body paragraphs. Lastly, the conclusions affirm your topic and the key ideas of your work and then zoom out with an assessment or comment on the greater issue.

Mind map for essay may be an excellent method for you to try if you want to attain higher levels of attention and creativity, as well as the improved organization and more succinct communication. The advantages of concept maps are numerous and diverse. In essence, they include: presenting an overview of a vast subject/broad issue and enabling you to portray it in a more compact manner and also creating a more appealing and entertaining structure for your ocular to look at, ruminate over, and remember.

Creating a mind map essay example is always challenging, even if you are a superb writer and are well-versed in the subject. In contrast to other types of writing, you need to cultivate an interesting way of thinking in order to persuade readers of your point of view. In this instance, a program like GitMind might be useful. It will enable you to write essays that need ordered thought. While there are various strategies for arranging the thoughts you want to include in your essay, many people connect using a mind map for essay writing to utilizing a mind map. This program makes it easy to brainstorm, convey your ideas, and clarify your position.

  • To get started, go to the GitMind official website. and then press the “Get Started” button.

GitMind official site

  • Start designing your mind map for writing an essay by clicking the “Create MindMap” button.

Start New Mind Map

  • Select your favorite layout and begin entering data into each node.

Layout modes

  • When you’re finished, just click the “Save” button to save your changes.

Saiving Midification

In summary, making a mind map for essay writing is a basic yet very efficient method of brainstorming and outlining your thoughts. A mind map represents your topic by using a primary thought and branches that explain the center notion. Terms and keyphrases, color codes for phrases and branching, and visual materials like doodles or symbols are all used in well-drawn mind maps. On a single page, you may generally summarize all of your essay’s main points.

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How to Use Mind Map In Writing – A Thorough Guide

This guide is brought to you by Zen Mind Map, the simplest mind map maker.

Before we can delve into using a mind map for writing, we must first understand what a mind map is. Apparently, there are many self-published authors who launch successful book releases by a creative writing exercise called mind mapping.

Mind mapping is one of many idea-generating strategies that rely on the association, which then comes out as a diagram with figures, facts, concept maps, phrases, keywords, etc. Overall, it is a powerful writing habit inspiration, especially for first-time authors.

There can never be two similar mind maps, even if you use the same mapping software . However, there are some arbitrary steps that you must follow for this approach:

  • Choosing a central idea
  • Creating ideas connecting to this subject
  • Adding in colors / images to associate with these ideas
  • Rearranging the map so that it doesn’t look confusing
  • Reviewing and storing the map for a subsequent writing process

How To Use Mind Map For Writing Process?

Using a mind map to find your topic, choose the central idea .

Indeed, the very first thing to do is to decide on the backbone of your essay, which is the subject. The best approach is to pick a topic that allows you to provide new findings/conclusions. 

Mind Map in Writing

The ideal topic should interest you, as it makes the process much less unbearable. At this stage, put something like “My Essay” in the center of your piece of paper.

Write Down Areas Of Interest (Potential Topics) 

The next thing to do is surround the center with ideas, which is very easy if you have some mind mapping tools. They can range from suggestions from your professor, subjects discussed in class to anything relevant.

Subsequently, quickly start noting down some areas in which you find interesting - They can be anything, as it does not need to be related to the main topic at this step strictly. Remember to use mind map templates with a clear color scheme.

All you need to do is write down anything that pops up in your mind, preferably instinctively. 

Review Their Relationships/Intersection 

Now you have two sets of branches, one being the relevant ideas and the other being your personal interest. Find areas where these two sets intersect with each other.

This process results in a set of ideas that are both relevant to your goal and your interest. 

Weigh Them Against Each Other With Pros And Cons 

The next step is to weigh every idea in the set, analyzing each idea’s pros and cons. 

Start The Elimination Process

Start the elimination process once you get the pros and cons of every single concept. Compare the list of advantages and disadvantages carefully, but mostly on the disadvantages. 

Yet, remember that challenges are inevitable, but they should never hinder you from turning in your work.

Eliminate the choices until there is only one.

Using A Mind Map Standard To Compile Research Materials

Make a new branch for each source .

With this approach, the topic will be listed in the center of your map, and the child branches will be the secondary sources. From these branches, create smaller ones consisting of the secondary source’s topic, central idea, and quotes.

This method most benefits projects that do not require you to focus entirely on primary source material. Instead, find other similar types of writing and present the link between them to enforce your point.

Make A Branch For Each Area Of Your Topic

There are some involvements from the secondary sources, but they are not prominent.

Mind Map In Writing

Note everything you need onto the map while working through the source’s text. You need to work a lot more, but the payback will absolutely be worth it. 

Using A Mind Map To Layout Your Outline

You will get a well-structured thesis outline out from the mind map. It allows you to generate a coherent structure consisting of examples, quotes, arguments, counter-arguments, etc., without losing grasp.

The visual representations of mind maps mean that you can quickly review your outline whenever you need to. All it takes is one look, and you can track your entire text structure from the thesis statement.

However, there certainly are some specific things that you need to pay attention to for a better creative process:

  • Put a link between each topic with a corresponding research map created independently. 
  • Next, put in some notes or deadlines at each level, ensuring that the writing project is never behind schedule. 
  • Going over the deadline is always the clearest sign of bad writing.
  • The last thing to do is export your finished mind map for easier access.

The Rules Of Mind Map For Writing Process

  • The subject you want to discuss should always be at the center of the map. 
  • Branches should be going out, each representing one single idea relating to the subject.
  • The last rule to keep in mind is the use of visuals such as images, icons, and color themes. They will serve as mental triggers, sparking more ideas within your brain to create a positive loop within your brain.

What Are The Benefits Of Mind Map For Writing?

  • Newbie authors will have a complete overview of the entire topic and a clear flow of ideas. 
  • The second benefit of mind maps is that they let you see how the main topic connects with its supporting pieces. This results in an easier time planning resource materials and when to use them.
  • Finally, this approach provides a much more enjoyable and attractive format to supply information to your brain. You will, in turn, remember the information more clearly, improving your writing potential.

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Mind Maps For Essay Writing (Guide + Examples)

In this article we’ll show you how to use mind maps for essay writing. Mind maps can not only make this often dreadful task a whole lot easier, but also save you a huge amount of time. If you want to learn how this simple yet effective technique works, just follow the steps as outlined below. What Is a Mind Map? A mind map is a diagram that displays information visually. You can create mind maps using pen and paper, or you can use an online mind mapping tool such as MindMeister. Write the subject in the center of your paper / canvas. Draw branches that point away from the center. Each branch symbolizes one thought or idea related to the subject. Use meaningful keywords to write these ideas onto the branches. From each branch more ideas can branch off. Use colors, icons and images whenever possible. These function as mental triggers and can help spark new ideas in you, which is important during brainstorming sessions. Now that you know how to create a basic mind map, let’s go over how you can use mind maps for essay writing.

If you have the opportunity to choose the topic for your paper yourself, try to find one that’s been covered by other researchers before, but still gives you a chance to come up with new findings and conclusions. If you choose a topic that has already been explored in depth by a gazillion other researchers, you might be hard pressed to develop a unique perspective. Ideally, the topic should be something you are also personally interested in, or at least something you can relate to in some way. This will make the whole task of writing your essay a little less dreadful. The best way to find such a topic is a brainstorming session. Create a new mind map and simply write “My Essay” or “My Paper” in the center of the map. Now, start adding ideas around the center. These can be things your professor suggested, related subjects you discussed in class, or anything else relevant to get you started.

Next, note down your own areas of interest and see where they intersect with the former. Once you have a few good ideas for the subject of your paper, you can start weighing them against each other, noting down pros and cons. Eliminate topics until you’re left with only one. This will be the topic of your paper. In the example below, the only requirement that had been given was to write a paper about literature from the English Renaissance. You’ll see various famous writers of this time mentioned in the map, as well as various aspects of their work that could be examined in a paper, such as the symbolism, dramatic conflicts or themes. While working through both primary and secondary sources, it’s quite easy to get confused about the numerous arguments and counterarguments. Many students get frustrated and waste a lot of time just trying to figure out how to make all the different pieces of information fit together into a coherent text. What you need, therefore, is a system to collect and structure all this information in one central place, so you can easily review the materials while you write.

Create a new mind map for each source (book, article, essay) you read and take notes in this mind map while you work through the text. Alternatively, you can use one single map where you list all your sources and create child topics for every page/paragraph/quote you want to use in your paper. In the map below, you’ll see that – based on our initial brainstorming session – we chose ‘Love in Romeo and Juliet’ as the topic of our paper. For our research map, we wrote this topic in the center and created individual branches for each source we read. Next to the book title, we noted down the topics covered in the source, its central question as well as important passages that we thought we might want to quote in our essay. Use colors, arrows and icons to indicate connections between the arguments and quotes. Be sure to add the page numbers to the topics in your map so you can quickly go back to do some more fact checking if necessary. If you’re working with online sources you can also attach their links directly to the topics in your map.

As you go along, you can restructure the sources according to topics, which usually provides a better overview of the material you have available for each section of your paper. Here’s another example of a research map. This is the map we used to take notes while reading Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the subject of our paper. As you can see, we created branches for each of the text passages we wanted to analyze in the essay. Before you start with the actual writing, it’s very important that you first create an outline of your paper. This will help you create a coherent structure of your arguments, counterarguments, examples, quotes, and the sources you want to reference in each argument. You can quickly review this outline whenever you get sidetracked in your writing process, or when you’re unsure about how to continue. A mind map is a great format for such an outline because it provides you with a visual overview of your thesis statement and the entire text structure. Link the individual topics in your map with the respective research maps you’ve created. Add notes and deadlines to each step to make sure your writing stays on schedule. Export your finished outline as a Word document and use it as the basis for your paper. Using mind maps to plan and outline your essay will not only make the writing process a lot easier, it will also enable you to work through sources more efficiently and help you find information more quickly. Of course, you can use mind mapping for all types of writing assignments – from essays to short stories and from book reports to blog posts.

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How to Use Mind Maps for an Effective Essay Writing

Edraw content team, do you want to learn more about using mind maps for an effective essay writing.

EdrawMind specializes in diagramming and visualizing. Learn from this article to know everything about How to Use Mind Maps for an Effective Essay Writing !

Being a student, writing an effective essay is a difficult task for you. But you can make it easy if you know how to use mind maps. Creating a mind map for essay writing helps you visualize the idea before writing it.

So, do you want to create mind maps? If yes, read this article explaining how to use mind maps for essays .

Mind mapping

1. What Are Mind Maps for Essays

A mind map is a technique for centrally organizing thoughts on a particular concept. This visual thinking tool makes it easier to analyze, remember, understand, summarize, and develop new ideas by managing the data. Let us know by taking a mind map essay example . You want to write about your best friend, including his hobbies, details about his parents, and his likes and dislikes. Mind mapping would be the technique you will use to visualize the content going along in your 'best friend' essay.

Mind mapping

Here are some benefits of using a mind map for writing an essay:

  • The student can order the segments according to their subtopics.
  • The student can refer to the mind map to see if they missed any important topics.
  • If a student includes a mind map in an essay, it will help a reader to understand the issues quickly.
  • The student makes sure they have all the necessary information before writing the essay by creating a mind map.
  • Before an exam, a student can quickly review his mind maps for revision.

2. How to Prepare the Essay Using a Mind Map

Now that you know what a mind map is and how beneficial it is for essay writing. So, let's learn how to prepare an English essay mind map for essay writing .

2.1 Research the essay's topic

Finding a unique concept or a less popular subject is the first step in essay writing. If you choose to write about a topic for your essay that has already been discussed, it may be difficult for your research to take a real stand.

Instead, choosing an essay topic that interests you personally, or at least isn't too difficult for you to discuss, is advised. The process of writing an essay will be less tedious if you select a topic that is personal to you. To research the case of an article, do brainstorming.

To brainstorm, take a piece of paper and write down everything you know about a particular topic. Then, write your ideas by using keywords.

Research topic

2.2 Planning the essay

One of the critical steps in writing an essay is research. Unfortunately, students often waste a lot of time simply attempting to put all the various pieces of information together. So, creating an essay planning mind map is essential so students can easily organize and collect their data.

Moreover, making notes in a mind map as you read each source (book, article, or essay) helps you retain the information. You could also use a single map where you list all your references and make branches for each page, paragraph, and quote you plan to use in your essay.

To organize the information from the brainstorming, decide on the main categories. Then, tie the additional information to those in the manner described below:

Planning an essay

2.3 Outline and write the essay

The third step is to create an outline of your essay before you start writing it. It will help you to organize your arguments, counterarguments, examples, and sources in a logical order. A mind map makes it simple to review the outline and find the data one needs for their essay.

Whenever you find yourself getting off track while writing or when you are unsure of where to go next, you can quickly review this outline. Then, once outlining is done, start writing.

Outline an essay

3. Mind Map Templates for Different Essays

There are different kinds of essays in academic writing. You can make a mind map as a student for various essays and then use these procedures to write the essay. Let's see 5 different types of essay outlines explained with mind maps. These essay mind map templates help you to write outstanding essays.

3.1 Argumentative Essay Mind Map

Argumentative Essay Mind Map

To write an argumentative essay, a student must be analytical. He must research a subject, gather information, come up with points, analyze the evidence gathered, and take a position.

So, use an argumentative essay mind map. By doing so, you will have different segments while outlining the essay's investigative and evaluative stages.

3.2 Comparative Essay Mind Map

Comparative Essay Mind Map

Students write this type of essay when they need to highlight the similarities and differences between two or more subjects. Writing this type of essay is a fantastic way to show those topics or concepts frequently misunderstood by one another. It is easy to see the differences and similarities between the two subjects in this essay by using a comparison essay mind map.

3.3 Research Essay Mind Map

Research Essay Mind Map

A research essay is an essay that offers information on a specific subject that you have looked into and is unrelated to you. By doing research, you can find out more about the subject. The research outline mind map gives students a plan of action, especially at the beginning of the research. It can be applied as a critical thinking technique for problem-solving. Looking at this essay mind map template, you can easily concentrate on and comprehend the target ideas.

3.4 Thesis Statement Essay mind map

Thesis Statement Essay Mind Map

A thesis statement is a statement that summarizes the key idea of your essay. Usually, it follows your introduction. Your thesis will be slightly different depending on the type of essay you are writing. But the main point you want to make is always stated in the thesis statement. For this, follow the thesis statement essay mind maps. This essay mind map template is beneficial in deciding the best thesis statement for your essay.

3.5 Interpretive essay mind map

Interpretive Essay Mind Map

An interpretive essay is a form of writing that recognizes, assesses, and analyzes the author's methods in a specific work. This essay offers an interpretation of a previously published form of writing.

4. Tips for Essay Mind Maps

If you adhere to some tips for  mind maps for essays , writing essays can be enjoyable. So, here are some tips for essay mind maps that you must follow:

  • Always place the topic you want to talk about in the middle of the mind map. 

You should save money to cover any unexpected financial needs.

  • Use images, icons, and colors whenever you can. These serve as mental triggers and can help in your ability to generate fresh ideas.

Investing is essential for growing money so that you can achieve your goals.

  • To write the ideas on to the branches, always use relevant keywords.

Financial security through insurance ensures that you and your family can get through difficult times.

  • Draw lines to indicate cross-links between the information in different parts of a mind map.

5. Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed everything that you must know. So, if you want to save time and other resources, use mind map templates for different essays.

You can find these templates on EdrawMind . Unlike other software, this has an excellent user interface with straight forward drag-and-drop features. So what are you waiting for, then? Create a mind map for the essay right away by downloading EdrawMind.

EdrawMind

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How to Create a Mind Map for an Essay

It’s always challenging to write an essay even if you know the subject well and are an excellent writer. Unlike other types of writing, you must come up with an interesting line of reasoning to convince readers of your point of view.

Essay writing requires structured thinking. A good essay writer not only reads and makes notes but also uses critical thinking and analysis before penning the essay.

While there are many ways to structure the ideas you want to include in your essay, few, if any, can compare with using a mind map for essay writing. This tool makes it easy to brainstorm, organize your ideas, and argue your case.

Mindmap

Table of Contents

Benefits of Mind Mapping

Mind-mapping is a useful way to make notes, revise all your ideas, and organize your information. A mind map for essay writing helps you visually represent and connect ideas on a topic.

A mind map is effective for the following reasons:

  • It will help you get clear on your key concepts around a central topic.
  • It will help you define your concepts and show the relationships between them.
  • It will make it simple to see all your ideas at a glance because you’ll spread them out on a single page.
  • It will trigger your memory to associate previous ideas with the new ideas you’re developing.
  • It will make it easier to write an essay because you’ll have identified what to say and how to say it.

3 Simple Steps to Create a Mind-Map for Your Essay

Step #1: brainstorm what ideas to include in your mind-map.

Brainstorming is a thinking process that you can do alone or with a group.

Brainstorm your essay by writing everything you can think about the topic. It’s unnecessary to write out sentences. If you use keywords and keyword phrases rather than write out a sentence, you’ll be able to come up with more ideas at a faster rate.

So, for example, if you are writing an essay about King Lear, you would not have to write out a sentence like, “William Shakespeare wrote a tragedy about King Lear, a man who bequeathed his power and land to his two daughters after they fawningly declared their love for him. ”

Instead, you only need to write: “William Shakespeare,” “King Lear,” “Tragedy,” “Power” “Land,” “Two out of three daughters,” “Obsequious declaration of love.” These keywords and phrases are enough to recall your ideas.

During the brainstorming phase, you need not organize information. Just get them out on paper.

Step #2: Organize Your Ideas Into Groups

Circle your key ideas and draw arrows to connect them to supporting ideas. Use colors to differentiate between various classes of ideas. You could, for example, write keywords about King Lear’s wealth and power in red and keywords about his daughters in blue. You could also choose different colors for arrows to designate different types of connections.

Step #3: Create Your Mind Map

The central circle of your mind map should be the title keyword.

From the central circle, draw arrows to other circles that represent smaller categories. For instance, you might have a circle for the introduction, a circle for the body, and a circle for the conclusion. Of course, you don’t have to use circles. You can choose another shape, like rectangles, if you like. You can also group similar categories into clusters by using wavy lines to show a group.

Finally, connect the supporting ideas you had brainstormed to their main ideas. For instance, under the keyword “daughters,” you could use supporting ideas adjectives like “fawning,” “manipulative,” “obsequious” to describe them.

When you’ve finished mind mapping, your diagram should resemble a spider’s web.

Although this may all sound rather complicated, it’s only because they are verbal descriptions of a mind map. Once you look at an example of your mind map, the idea of circles or rectangles, categories and subcategories, main ideas and supporting ideas, and the use of colors and lines to show connections between ideas will become instantly clear.

Tools for Mind Mapping

You can use a large piece of paper horizontally and several colored pens.

You can also use mind-mapping software. The primary difference between free mind-mapping software and paid mind-mapping versions is the number of times you can use the software and the number of templates you can use. Still, the main thing is that a free version of mind-mapping software is just as robust as a paid version. It will give you all the functionality you need to draw out a comprehensive mind map for your essay. You can also try out a trial version for 30 days to try out all the features of a mind-mapping app if you can’t decide whether you should use a free or paid version.

Enhancing Your Mind Maps

Technically, all you need is a blank sheet of paper and a pen to start mind mapping. But you might find it useful to use a variety of colored pens to make it easier to identify different categories of ideas. It’s also a good idea to keep your keywords short rather than use long phrases because this saves you space. Additionally, try adding doodles alongside keywords.

If you use mind-mapping software, you’ll find it easier to visually represent your information because you’ll have many more options, such as icons, colors, shapes, and other such features.

Mind Mapping Is Better Than Notes or Outlines for an Essay

Mind mapping is actually just another way of taking notes or outlining. But a graphic representation of your ideas is much more meaningful because your brain processes images better than interpreting the meaning of words. If, for example, someone had never seen an apple, it would take a lot of words to describe one, but if you just showed him or her a picture, they would instantly understand the features of the fruit.

Traditional notes use linear notes that start in the upper left corner of a page and go from left to right. With mind mapping, your subject starts from the center of a page and radiates outwards. Consequently, all your ideas are clearly visible at once. Similarly, it’s easier to understand a mind-map than a formal written outline .

How to Practice Mind Mapping

The best way to learn mind mapping is to look at examples. You will instantly understand how they work.

When creating a mind-map here are some ideas to keep in mind:

  • Always begin with a central idea for your mind map.
  • Use the first tier of your thoughts to describe your main ideas, the second tier to describe your supporting ideas, and the third tier to describe ideas that expand on your supporting ideas.
  • Continue to reorganize your mind map until it outlines your argument in a logical sequence.

The more you practice and learn about mind mapping, the better you’ll get at it.

In summary, creating a mind map for essay writing is a simple yet highly effective way to brainstorm and outline your ideas. A mind map uses a central idea to represent your topic and branches that describe the central idea. Well-drawn mind maps use keywords and keyword phrases, color codes for words and branches, and visual cues, such as doodles or icons. You can usually outline all the primary ideas of your entire essay on a single page.

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The Benefits of Mind Mapping for Writing (And How You Can Get Started Right Away)

mind mapping for writing

Crafting a bestselling novel isn’t for the faint of heart. And not just because of all the writing, editing, and marketing. Trying to keep all those plot points, characters, settings, and other details straight can be a major challenge. And the further in you get, the more difficult it becomes. 

Fortunately, there is a way to streamline your writing process and reign in the complexity of your story’s world. Mind mapping for writing can help you get organized, stay focused, and write faster. And that means you’ll reach the finish line of your story sooner. 

But mind maps aren’t just for writing fiction. They can be used for all types of writing. And you don’t even need a stash of pen and paper. With mind mapping software at your side, you’ll be able to write better blog posts, research papers, and more .

Keep reading to discover how a mind mapping tool could be just the jumpstart your writing process has been needing.

What is mind mapping anyway?

Mind mapping is a technique that can be used to brainstorm ideas, organize your thoughts , or remember something more easily. The basic idea is to create a map of your thoughts by connecting related ideas with lines and arrows. This can help you to see the connections between different ideas and to remember information more effectively. 

Mind maps come in a variety of styles, from timeline mind maps to Venn diagrams . And each kind of graphic organizer offers unique benefits.

How can mapping be useful in writing fiction?

As any novelist knows, writing a book is no easy feat. You don’t just have to come up with a compelling story. You’ve also got to keep track of all the different characters and plot threads. 

Mind mapping can be a helpful tool for keeping everything organized. By creating a mind map, you can visualize the different elements of your story. 

For example, you might brainstorm story ideas for a single book or an entire series. Then, you could create a timeline mind map to give yourself a clear picture of when events take place. You could even include significant events that happened before or after your story. Mind maps can also help you flesh out your characters. They offer a place to describe them physically, psychologically, and in other ways. 

And with mind mapping software , you can even add images and links to show relationships to other characters or places.

Character development - an example of mind mapping for writing

How do you create a mind map for a story?

Want to know specifically how to mind map for fiction?

First, you’ll need to think through the kinds of mind maps you’ll need. Will character maps be beneficial? Could you use mind maps describing particular scenes or settings? Would a timeline be helpful? How about a mind map that divides your story into its various beats?

Story summary mind map template for writing

Once you’ve decided which mind maps will be best for your story, choose mind map templates that fit your need. Mindomo has a host of templates specifically for literature and writing. There, you’ll find everything from characterization study maps to story maps and more.

Once you’ve finished your mind maps, they can be used as a guide when writing the actual story. They’ll make it easy to ensure all of the important elements are included.

Title TBD an arthurian fantasy - mind map for writing

But a mind mapping tool won’t just help you keep each individual story straight. You can also use them to track your progress, setting yourself milestones for each section of the book. And if you ever get stuck, mind maps can provide a handy way to jump-start your creative juices. After all, they’re the perfect tool for brainstorming.

How can mind mapping be useful in other types of writing?

Maybe you’re not a fiction writer.  That doesn’t mean mind mapping isn’t for you. Mind mapping benefits extend to any type of writing.

Start by brainstorming your ideas and then organize them into categories. Once you have the structure of your post, use your mind map to identify your central topic. You can also use the mind map to come up with good ideas for supporting points. Then, you can add them as child branches on your map.

With a clear outline of your post or article, it will be much easier to write the actual content. And if there’s something you’d like to add or change while writing, simply update your mind map accordingly.

benefits of mind mapping for writing

For maximum efficiency, you can also use a digital mind map for outlining and organizing the flow of the post. And you may even be able to create a mind map to illustrate your central topic or a supporting idea. Having all these elements at your fingertips will ensure that your blog posts are well thought out and organized. You can use mind mapping to structure an essay with ease.

structure an essay - mind mapping for writing

With a mind map, you’ll save yourself from wasting valuable time and energy on unnecessary rewrites. Having a clear plan in place before starting your writing makes it much easier to stay organized. That way, you can produce better content faster. 

Use mind maps to structure your paragraphs:

Structure paaragraphs using mind maps

Use mind mapping software like Mindomo to create mind maps

While mind mapping may sound like a complicated process, it can actually be quite simple. All you need is a piece of paper and a pen, and you can get started. However, pen and paper will only take you so far. If you really want to take full advantage of creating a mind map, you’ll need mind mapping software.

Mind mapping software like Mindomo makes it easy to create mind maps. You can start with a blank canvas or use one of the many mind map templates available. The software provides a variety of tools for adding text, images, links, and other information to your mind map. You can also customize the appearance of your mind map, including the color scheme, shape, font, size, and lines. Best of all, mind mapping is a fun and effective way to learn and remember information.

No matter what you’re looking to write, Mindomo has mind map examples and templates you can use to get started. Simply choose a template that fits your needs, add your own central topic, and edit it to your heart’s content.

That’s everything you need to know about creating a mind map for your next project.  From brainstorming ideas to tracking progress and getting organized, mind mapping can be a valuable tool for any type of writer. With the help of mind mapping software like Mindomo, you’ll be able to take your writing to the next level. 

So, what are you waiting for? Start mind mapping today and see how it can help you produce better stories, articles, and papers than ever before.

Keep it smart, simple, and creative! The Mindomo Team

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Using mind maps to develop writing

Mind maps can be used for a multitude of purposes. This article outlines how they can effectively be used to help support and develop students' writing skills.

Using mind maps to develop writing - writing article

  • A mind map is ...
  • The advantages of mind maps
  • Choosing a topic
  • Note making
  • Organising mind maps
  • Continuation

A mind map is ... A mind map, or spidergram, is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing. It is a structured strategy, which shows the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas, as opposed to an unstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which students produce notes at random on paper.

Having an organised display of information from the outset of the writing process may help some students, as it is more easily converted into a draft, whereas in brainstorming, the random recording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students' texts.

The advantages of mind maps Making a mind map should be a spontaneous pre-writing activity. Students start with a topic at the centre and then generate a web of ideas from that, developing and relating these ideas as their mind makes associations.

Mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed. Mind maps work especially well when created in groups, since the discussion this engenders aids the production of ideas, and makes the task livelier and more enjoyable.

How to make mind maps with your students Choosing a topic Traditionally, students are given a topic to write on by the teacher. However, with certain classes, students may prefer to nominate the topic themselves. This can lead to greater interest in the task on the part of the student, as well as, perhaps, greater knowledge of the topic under study.

The mind map strategy can be used to explore almost any topic, though discursive essays and narrative work particularly well as they front students' ideas and lend themselves to discussing ideas in groups.

I usually start by writing the topic on the board. In the last writing class I taught, with a group of upper-intermediate students, I chose a discursive essay with the title "Why do people start smoking?" I chose this genre as we had recently been looking at the language used to give reasons and explanations. The discursive text is useful in highlighting this feature of English, and in raising awareness of the noun phrase, a particularly tricky area for intermediate students.

Note making Once the topic has been introduced, I encourage my students to close their eyes and think about it for a minute or two, in silence. They then have two minutes in which to note down their ideas. If they do not know a word in English, they can write it in L1 at this stage, as dictionaries or too much teacher intervention tend to halt and inhibit the creative flow.

Then, working in groups, they can compare and discuss their ideas, perhaps adding to their mind maps as they go. This stage also provides the opportunity for peer teaching, as other students may be available to provide the English word for the idea that was noted down in L1.

Feedback The next stage, in which the teacher makes a collective mind map on the board, is optional, but is useful for students who are new to the idea of mind maps, or for weak classes. It is also in this feedback stage that any remaining language problems can be ironed out. As the teacher elicits students' ideas, and reformulates expressions or corrects, students will learn how to express their ideas in English. Such personalisation is said to aid vocabulary learning.

Download an example of the mind map at this stage 90k

The map is fluid and changeable, and new connections or subgroups can be made, or branches added, as the students make suggestions. The end result should be an organised display of information, showing the central topic, and a number of subtopics and further points that stem from it. Organising mind maps In the next stage the students organise their mind maps into a linear format to decide the best way in which to present their points. They should first think about the overall structure, i.e. the order in which to relay the information, and then focus on the precise function each paragraph will have in their final text, as this helps to clarify their writing. This can be done in groups, or as a class with the teacher leading the discussion.

However it is carried out, it is important to provide a context and audience. I told my class, who were writing about drugs, that they were writing for their college magazine. Having an audience in mind helps students to decide which ideas are most important, and also helps students to choose the appropriate style.

Writing Students should then begin to write their compositions, working in pairs if they wish. After two paragraphs, they should exchange their compositions, so they become readers of each other's work. This allows for feedback, and possible re-writing. Once they have finished, they should again exchange their texts. This gives their texts a communicative purpose, as well as developing an awareness of the fact that a writer is always producing something to be read by someone else, rather than for the display of writing alone.

Continuation Once students are familiar with the idea of making mind maps, they can be encouraged to use this skill for further writing activities. It is a useful technique and often improves the clarity and organisation of student texts.

Further Reading 'Process Writing' by Ron White and Valerie Arndt 'How to Teach Writing' by Jeremy Harmer 'Writing' by Tricia Hedge 'Discourse Analysis for Language Teachers' by Michael McCarthy

Vanessa Steele, British Council, Barcelona

Techniques like this will help our students plan and perform their writing tasks in a very productive way

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Mind Map for Writing: How a Mind Map Help You in Writing an Essay

A mind map helps in writing an essay, which is the fact that others still don't know about. You are probably reading this article because you want to know how a mind map helps a learner in writing, or perhaps you already know that it does, and just want to find out how to make a mind map effectively for you to create a persuasive essay. Whichever your reason is, we assure you that after reading this post, you will understand how a mind map could improve your writing skill, especially in making an essay.

In addition, you will not only have a profound understanding, but we will also show and help you how to plan an essay using a mind map. And so get ready to create essays wisely using a mind map anytime and anywhere, and let’s start it today.

Mind Map For Writing

Part 1. How Does a Mind Map Help in Writing?

Part 2. how to outline an essay in a mind map, part 3. bonus: how to create a mind map for essay writing, part 4. questions frequently ask about mind mapping.

To begin with, let us learn what does a mind map means. A mind map is a graphical illustration that depicts the gathered information regarding the subject matter. Furthermore, studies have discovered that the mind mapping in writing an essay , solving a problem, decision making, brainstorming, and organizing research is the most effective method for the students and other learners to increase their analytical and thinking skills.

After all, it is easier for the human brain to retain a piece of information presented photographically than via write-ups. In line with this, as mentioned previously, a mind map is the best aid in writing an essay, for it is the tool that shows the expanded and collaborated information of your topic. Believe it or not, a learner can come up with much more ideas and information by organizing his thoughts first through a mind map before writing them in paragraphs.

Suppose that you are about to write an essay about the iconic Harry Potter. Without using a mind map, how will you organize and develop a better and more precise piece of writing? Imagine your ideas are floating and couldn't decide where to allocate them. We hope you are getting it by now.

Moving forward, let us now learn the proper ways to outline an essay. Well, you know pretty well that the outline will be your guide or your roadmap in writing your essay, so it should be structured wisely. Therefore, let’s see the standard and the tips to consider in creating a mind map for writing an essay .

Essay Standard Outline

1. Introduction - An essay should have an introduction, and we are not just talking about a typical opening, but an attention-grabber one. This means that it should catch your reader's attention as soon as they read it. It is the most crucial part of the essay, aside from the title, for it will be the deciding factor of the readers if they will continue reading or just leave it behind.

2. Body - Of course, your essay needs to have the body. This part should have everything, especially the most important message you want your readers to acquire. Like creating a mind map for letter writing, the body includes your point of view, opinion, justification, and evidence about the subject.

3. Conclusion - This is the end part of your essay. Remember to always close your essay with a remarkable conclusion. It should be as brief as possible but contain the summarized points you tackled in the introduction and the body.

How to Make a Mind Map to Unleash Your Imagination

how to write essay with mind map

Did you know that mind map ideas for students, a technique that has revolutionized the way students approach their studies, were inspired by the intricate structure of the human brain? Just as our brains interconnect ideas through billions of neurons and synapses, mind maps offer a powerful visual tool to mimic this organic process of idea generation and organization.

The concept was first popularized by British author and psychologist Tony Buzan in the 1960s. Buzan was inspired by the brain's natural inclination to think in a nonlinear and associative manner. He realized that traditional note-taking methods often failed to capture the true essence of how our minds work. In response, he developed mind maps as a way to replicate the web of thoughts and connections that occur within the human brain.

How to Make a Mind Map: Short Description

In this complete guide, we'll explore how to use the mind mapping method to assist you in organizing your thoughts more effectively and generating fresh ideas. Whether you're tackling a challenging research project, preparing for exams, or simply aiming to enhance your brainstorming skills, this guide will revolutionize your approach to schoolwork. By following these steps, you'll harness the power of mind mapping to excel in your studies:

Step 1 : Choose a Focus Topic

Step 2 : Start with a Central Node

Step 3 : Branch Out Key Ideas

Step 4 : Add Sub-branches

Step 5 : Use Visual Elements

Step 6 : Color and Highlight

Step 7 : Organize and Align

Step 8 : Review and Refine

Keep reading for a deeper dive into each of these steps and discover valuable insights!

What Is a Mind Map for Students

Within the mind mapping definition, it is a dynamic and creative tool for students designed to transform the way they organize and interact with information. Unlike traditional note-taking or linear text, a mind map offers a visually captivating approach to capturing and connecting ideas and concepts. At its heart, it's a visual thinking technique that mirrors the intricate way your brain processes information. The true magic of a mind map lies in its simplicity, allowing you to engage your cognitive functions in a more profound and enjoyable way.

Picture this: As you engage in the process of drawing mind maps, you're not just compiling information; you're actively participating in a process that's both analytical and artistic. This unique blend of creativity and logic enriches your thinking and problem-solving skills. It's an enjoyable way to study, brainstorm, plan, and even remember information.

mind map

Now, let's take a closer look at what a mind map actually looks like. Imagine a visual representation of interconnected ideas and concepts branching out from a central theme. Each branch represents a key idea or topic, while sub-branches delve into supporting details and related concepts. While it might appear a tad chaotic at first glance, mind maps are designed to emulate the nonlinear nature of thought. Once you embrace this unconventional approach to note-taking, you'll discover its transformative power in enhancing your learning process. So, let our essay writing service team dive deeper into the world of mind maps and explore how they can revolutionize your academic journey.

Exploring the Benefits of Mind Maps

Now that we've established what mind maps are let's delve into the benefits of mind mapping in education, including how they can aid in learning how to write a reflection paper .

  • Enhanced Creativity : Mind maps encourage free thinking and association, fostering creativity in problem-solving and idea generation.
  • Improved Understanding : The visual nature of mind maps makes complex topics more understandable by breaking them down into digestible components.
  • Efficient Note-Taking : Mind maps streamline note-taking during lectures, helping you capture key points while maintaining a clear structure.
  • Enhanced Memory Retention : Creating and reviewing mind maps enhances memory recall, making it easier to remember important information for exams.
  • Effective Organization : Mind maps provide a structured overview of a subject, making it easier to see connections and relationships between ideas.
  • Boosted Productivity : By helping you prioritize tasks and set goals, brainstorming mind map ideas increases productivity in both academic and personal pursuits.
  • Enhanced Problem Solving : Mind maps facilitate the breakdown of complex problems into manageable components, aiding in effective decision-making.
  • Visual Appeal : Their colorful and engaging format makes mind maps visually appealing, making studying a more enjoyable experience.

How To Create A Mind Map to Boost Your Creativity

In this section, let's unlock the steps on how to make a mind map—a vibrant and dynamic tool that will revolutionize the way you approach learning and idea generation.

Step 1: Choose a Focus Topic

  • Begin your mind map adventure by selecting a central topic. This is the big idea, the core concept around which your mind map will revolve. It's like choosing the star of the show!

Step 2: Start with a Central Node

  • Imagine this central topic as the heart of your mind map. Write it down in the center of your canvas or paper and draw a circle or box around it. This is your mind map's anchor point.

Step 3: Branch Out Key Ideas

  • Now, let's breathe life into your mind map, drawing inspiration from mind map examples. Imagine branches sprouting from the central node, like the limbs of a tree. These branches represent your key ideas or main categories related to your central topic.

Step 4: Add Sub-branches

  • Each key idea deserves its own set of branches. These are like mini-branches growing from the main ones. They contain supporting details, examples, or subtopics. It's like building a family tree for your ideas.

Step 5: Use Visual Elements

  • Make your mind map a masterclass in visual analysis by incorporating images, symbols, or icons. These visual elements add depth and personality to your map, making it more captivating and enhancing your ability to analyze and understand complex ideas.

Step 6: Color and Highlight

  • Let your artistic side shine! Color-code your branches and sub-branches. Highlight essential points to draw attention. It's like giving your mind map a vibrant coat of creativity.

Step 7: Organize and Align

  • Arrange your branches in an orderly manner. This organization ensures your mind map is easy to follow. It's akin to tidying up your room – everything has its place.

Step 8: Review and Refine

  • Your mind map is a living creation. As you use it, periodically revisit and refine it. Update information, add new branches, or make it more visually appealing. It's like nurturing a garden, tending to it so it flourishes.

Ever Thought Your Assignments Could Use a Touch of Mind Map Marvel?

Let's turn the page on dull assignments and add a splash of mind map magic with our expert team!

7 Mind Map Ideas for Students

In this section, we'll introduce you to 7 practical mind map ideas that can supercharge your study skills and help you succeed in your academic pursuits. Whether you're looking for better ways to take notes, brainstorm ideas, or tackle complex subjects, these strategies have got you covered. Let's dive right in and explore how mind maps can be your secret weapon for student success.

Brainstorming

Imagine your mind map as a launchpad for creativity. Mind map brainstorming encourages free thinking and idea generation. Start with a central idea and let your thoughts branch out like fireworks, sparking new connections and innovative solutions. It's the ultimate tool for turning your wildest ideas into actionable plans.

brainstorming

Note-taking

Mind maps transform the way you capture information. They replace linear note-taking with a dynamic, visual format. Use them during lectures to organize key points and concepts effectively. With mind maps, your notes become engaging visual snapshots, making revision a breeze and improving information retention.

Mind Map for Note-Taking

Creative Writing

They're also perfect for crafting compelling stories, characters, and plotlines, as demonstrated by mind map examples. Starting with a central theme, branch out to explore character backgrounds, plot twists, and thematic elements. Whether you're penning a novel, screenplay, or poetry, real-life mind map examples can inspire your storytelling journey.

Creative Writing

Language Learning

Mastering a new language becomes more engaging with mind maps. Use them to visualize vocabulary, grammar rules, and language concepts. Connect words and phrases to form a web of associations, making language acquisition a dynamic and enjoyable process.

language learning

Book Summaries

Mind maps condense complex books into manageable summaries. Begin with the central book title and branch out to capture key plot points, character developments, and important quotes. These visual summaries provide a quick overview, helping you grasp the essence of a book in a fraction of the time.

Whether you're a student tackling a challenging novel or an avid reader pressed for time, mind maps offer an efficient way to comprehend and retain key information from literary works, offering benefits akin to the convenience of ' pay for essay ' services in the academic world.

book summary

Project Management

Streamlining project planning with cute creative mind map ideas adds a delightful and engaging dimension to the otherwise conventional project management process. Rather than relying solely on text and tables, you infuse your project with a burst of visual appeal and playfulness.

Consider using adorable icons, colorful illustrations, or charming doodles to represent tasks and milestones. These whimsical elements not only make your mind map visually appealing but also serve as memorable markers, ensuring that everyone involved in the project stays engaged and informed.

project management

Travel Planning

Now, prepare for unforgettable adventures by creating mind maps for traveling. Begin by centering your map on your destination, which is one of the main branches of your travel mind map. Branch out to cover essential details like accommodation, activities, and budget, nurturing the growth of new ideas for your trip. Use sub-branches to explore local cuisine, must-see attractions, and transportation options, creating a comprehensive travel plan. With a well-structured map, you'll map out the perfect itinerary and ensure nothing is left to chance, making your journey even more exciting.

travel planning

5 Useful Mind Mapping Tools

Let's explore the world of mind mapping with these top-notch tools, each offering unique features and capabilities. Whether you're brainstorming ideas, planning projects, or even using an essay writing app , these tools can revolutionize your productivity and organization.

MindMeister

  • MindMeister is a popular online mind mapping tool that allows you to create, edit, and collaborate on mind maps in real time. It offers a user-friendly interface, various templates, and integrations with other productivity apps like Google Drive and Dropbox.
  • XMind is a versatile and feature-rich mind mapping software that offers both a free and paid version. It provides a wide range of customization options, including themes, styles, and layouts, making it suitable for various mind mapping needs.
  • Coggle is a straightforward online mind mapping tool known for its simplicity and ease of use. It's great for brainstorming sessions and collaborative mind mapping. Coggle also allows real-time collaboration, making it perfect for group projects.
  • Developed by Tony Buzan, the pioneer of mind mapping software programs, iMindMap offers a comprehensive platform for creating visually appealing mind maps. It provides various features like 3D mind mapping, brainstorming mode, and integration with other applications.
  • FreeMind is an open-source mind mapping software that's simple and lightweight. It's an excellent choice if you prefer a desktop application and want to create mind maps without any distractions. FreeMind is especially useful for creating straightforward mind maps quickly.

To Wrap Things Up

To wrap things up, employing mind map ideas can transform the way students approach their studies. By harnessing their versatility, students can conquer complex subjects, improve memory retention, and elevate their creative thinking. So, don't hesitate to dive into the world of mind mapping—it's a game-changer for your education and beyond.

Feeling Like Your Assignments Need a Creative Spark?

Our expert writers are here to craft your next mind map-infused assignment with precision and creativity!

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Tips on essay planning and writing

What is an essay, brainstorm your topic by creating a mind map, check you understand what your essay question is asking you, academic writing style, signposting, building an argument and summarising other people's ideas, what is paraphrasing, essay structure, useful links.

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Traditional academic essays are pieces of writing which are designed to demonstrate the following points:

  • that you understand a particular subject
  • that you have undertaken some kind of research
  • that you can produce a clear and coherent argument

This means that you have to combine important ideas, examples, and interpretations from other writers with your own. All of these have to be put together in a linear, written format (making one point, then moving on to the next), which persuades the reader that your line of argument is a convincing one.

Note : There may be variations in the approach you need to take depending on the discipline you are studying. Check with your tutor/department for discipline specific guidelines.

When you choose, or are assigned, an essay question, you are asked to focus on something very specific. It's not just a case of writing down everything you know about the subject. An essay question instructs you to do something with the knowledge you have, and to put it into a certain context, which will allow you to demonstrate the range of your critical thinking.

Essay questions therefore have  instructional verbs  to determine what your approach should be. These are words such as: discuss, analyse, argue, compare, review, evaluate, examine, outline, illustrate .... These tell you how to answer the question and what your essay should do. It is important that you understand exactly what these words mean so that you don’t misinterpret a question.  

how to write essay with mind map

  • For more examples check 'Terms that may be used in essays or examinations'

You will usually be expected to write using academic language and specialist vocabulary from your subject area. Academic writing normally contains these features:

  • Formal writing in an impersonal or objective style and often takes the 'passive' voice.  Passive constructions can be used to avoid using 'I' in essays, e.g. 'It can be argued...'
  • Vocabulary appropriate for particular academic contexts is used which may include technical and specialist words. 
  • Contains references to other writers’ publications which are used to support the arguments in the text
  • You may notice that cautious language is frequently used in reporting research and making claims.  'Cautious language' indicates reservations or tentativeness about the conclusions that may be drawn from the evidence presented. Useful phrases are:  'it may be concluded', and  'we can assume'. 

how to write essay with mind map

Major Signposting

Major signposting is used to signal the introduction of key sections or aspects of the work. These might include the aim, purpose, or structure.

In the introduction:

  • This essay will…
  • The aim of this essay is to…
  • The major issue being discussed is…
  • This essay will define and describe…
  • This essay will critically examine…
  • This essay will first define…then discuss…before making recommendations for…
  • This essay is organised in the following way;

In the conclusion:

  • To conclude,
  • In conclusion,
  • To summarise,
  • It is evident that

Minor Signposting

Minor signposting are linking words and phrases that make connections for your reader and move them through the text.

  • They may be as simple as: First, second, third, next, then, last, lastly, finally
  • To offer a counterpoint: However, although, though, yet, alternatively, nevertheless
  • To indicate an example: For example, notably, for instance, in this case

Linking words and phrases help give your writing more fluidity. Linking words and phrases will help the flow of your academic writing.

Linking words are particularly useful for use in comparing and contrasting ideas and to move from one idea to another.

Check these resources for examples of linking words and phrases:

  • Examples of linking words and phrases (University of Reading via Future Learn)
  • Transitional devices (Purdue University)
  • Signposting (Queen's University Belfast)

Source: Academic Writing Skills by Patricia Williamson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0

Illustrations vector created by stories - www.freepik.com

how to write essay with mind map

Often the clearest way to combine different points of view and to show that you have understood those points of view is to summarise them. Each summary of a different viewpoint can include direct and indirect quotations of key points, plus your understanding of what they mean and a comment on the weaknesses and strengths of the idea or viewpoint. Having described, interpreted and analysed other people's ideas, you can then go on to describe your own point of view and explain why you have chosen it.

Writing which ignores any of the parts described above, can become unbalanced. For example, if there are none of your own ideas, the piece becomes a review of everyone else's work. In these circumstances you could be accused of being uncritical. If the writing does not refer to other people's ideas (directly or indirectly), there is a problem of being too personal and non-academic (this partly depends on your subject). Neither of these would be persuasive arguments.

Paraphrasing is expressing someone else’s writing in your own choice of words, while keeping the same essential meaning. As Pears and Shields (2019, p. 15) explain, it is ‘an alternative way of referring to an author’s ideas or arguments without using direct quotations from their text’.

Paraphrasing is generally more highly valued by academics than direct quoting because it allows you to demonstrate a greater understanding of your source and helps you to maintain your personal writing style and the smooth flow of your essay.

Don’t forget to include in-text citations (author and date) in the text of your assignment and full references at the end of your assignment every time you paraphrase someone else’s words or ideas.

  • Paraphrasing - an overview A guide on paraphrasing, academic writing, citing and referencing
  • Introduction
  • The main body
  • Bibliography

The introduction is the official start of the essay and it usually includes some or all of the following:

  • a statement introducing the topic
  • an explanation of why it is important
  • a brief mention of work on the same topic written by other writers
  • a gap or problem in previous related work which will be solved or answered in this essay
  • an outline of the structure of the essay
  • definitions of key terms
  • an anecdote or vignette (short story) which highlights the main point of the essay

The body is the largest part of your writing and this is where you guide your reader through your main ideas and arguments. These ideas and arguments come from your brainstorming and research. It is therefore a mixture of other people’s ideas and your own. These points should be organised into a logical order which allows your reader to follow your train of thought. 

The balance of discussion between your own ideas and information and those from external sources is crucial to the development of your argument. Without this balance, the writing can become either a summary of other people's ideas and theories, or a description of your personal ideas and experiences with no evidence of research. Both of these would lack analysis, a core component of a good essay. It is therefore vitally important to ensure that a mixture of positions are presented.

Each main point will be described, supported and analysed using examples from your own experiences, and information and theories from external sources (books, journals, websites, lectures, etc.). The main points should be clearly organised by using paragraphs. 

In short pieces of writing (< 3,000 words), there will be groups of paragraphs which together form one part of your argument. Usually these sections in "short" essays do not have specific headings. However, they can be clearly identified by using linking phrases which show for example:

  • how many elements the section consists of:

There are four main reasons why ...

  • the connection of additional points:

Another important point to consider is ...  A further issue of importance is ...  Moving on the the issue of ...

  • or the introduction of a contrasting point:

On the other hand, ...  In contrast to the above, ...  An alternative understanding of the issue is ...

Longer pieces of writing and dissertations

In long pieces of writing (> 3,000 words) it is sometimes useful to identify clear sections by using sub-headings. Each section (or chapter of a dissertation or thesis) with a sub-heading is like a short essay which could stand alone. The sub-headings may come from your brainstorm and/or your research. However, the best order for the sections in long essays may only become clear after you have started writing them. When the best order becomes clear, chapter introductions and conclusions can be written in each section.

A short chapter introduction should briefly outline the contents of each section and where possible, should also refer back to the sections before and explain how they are related. Similarly, each section needs a conclusion. This should summarise what has been written in this part and should again make connections to other sections. In particular, it should describe the relationship between this part and the next. These are crucial in order to tell the reader what each part is about and how it fits with the other sections. It is like tying knots between separate pieces of string in order to make a single, stronger cord: your argument. 

The conclusion is the closing part of the essay and, like the  i ntroduction, connects the body of the essay to the title. However, whereas the introduction often starts generally, becomes more focussed and often includes an outline of the main points; the conclusion attempts to summarise the main ideas and arguments, then leads to a final statement.

It should not include new ideas which have not been mentioned before, although you can join ideas you have mentioned in a new way. You may also want to restate questions which you could not answer in your essay, but which you think deserve further study. As the final part of the essay, the conclusion is the last thing which the reader sees. Therefore, it should tie together the different points you have made.

Conclusions often include the following elements:

  • language 'markers' showing that this is the conclusion (e.g. to conclude, in summary, this essay has given an account of...)
  • a summary of the ideas in the main body
  • a comment about the limitations of the scope of the essay / study
  • a glance to the future: a prediction, recommendations for action, suggestions for further research, implications for future policy

A bibliography (or reference list) comes after the conclusion (or appendices and final figures) and includes all the information about the sources you have mentioned in the essay. For more information on referencing please see the Write it Right guide.

  • Academic Writing Basics (Author: Megan Robertson)
  • Academic Writing Essays in English (© 2021 UEfAP)
  • Academic Writing Handbook
  • OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab
  • The Writing Process by English Language Studies group at the MIT Understanding and using the information on this site should make writing not only less anxiety-provoking and more efficient and effective for you, but ultimately it should also help you feel more creative and more satisfied with the products of your writing efforts and learn more in your classes as well.
  • Last Updated: Apr 11, 2024 10:13 AM
  • URL: https://lit.libguides.com/tips-writing-essays

The Library, Technological University of the Shannon: Midwest

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Mind Map Gallery How to Write An Essay

How to Write An Essay

How to write an essay · Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.

Fiona_

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Getting Started

The first thing you'll want to do is to create a new FreeMind file for your essay. Select File-&gt;New on the menu, and a blank file will appear.

Next, click in the centre of the map, and replace the text there with the essay title you have chosen. It's good to have the question you're answering before you the whole time, so you can immediately see how your ideas relate to it.

You're now ready to start work on the essay.

The process of research

If a question is worth asking at all (and be generous to your teachers, and assume that their question is!), then it's not going to have the kind of answer that you can just make up on the spot. It will require research.

Research requires both finding things out about the world, and hard thinking.

FreeMind helps you with both aspects of research. FreeMind helps you to capture all the new information you need for your essay, and also to order your thoughts.

FreeMind does this by facilitating:

Taking Notes

Brainstorming

Sifting and Organising Your Ideas

Making an outline

When you've made your outline you can

Print your map

Export to your wordprocessor

Make a presentation

Planning an Essay

Brainstorming is a way of trying to geting all your ideas about a topic down on paper as quickly as possible.

The key to successful brainstorming is to let everything come out -- don't worry if it sounds goofy or dumb, just put it down! There'll be plenty of time for editing later.

To brainstorm with FreeMind, you'll need knowledge of two keys, plus your imagination.

Pressing Enter adds another idea at the same level you currently are at.

Pressing Insert adds another idea as a subidea of the one you've currently selected.

(The imagination you'll have to supply yourself!)

Different people take notes in different ways. Whichever way you take notes, you should find FreeMind helpful.

One good way of using FreeMind is to add one node per book or article you read. Name the node a short version of the article title.

Then add your notes on the article as a node note. To insert a note, go to the View menu, and select "Show Note Window". You can then add your notes below.

The Notes WIndow can get in the way (particularly if you have a small screen). So you may find it helpful to hide it after you've added your note, by selecting "Show Note Window" again from the menu.

Don't forget to take full references for all the quotations you use.

FreeMind can also do some clever things with web links and email addresses.

If you're researching on the web, then FreeMind can automatically link your note to the web page you're writing about.

Make your note, then select -&gt;Insert-&gt;Hyperlink (Text Field) from the menu.

A dialog box will appear. Type (or cut and paste) the web address ino the box, and select OK.

Here's an example hyperlink!

You can also make links to files on your own computer. To do this select -&gt;Insert-&gt;Hyperlink (File Chooser) from the menu.

To link a node to an email address, select -&gt;Insert-&gt;Hyperink (Text Field) from the menu. Type "mailto: " plus the person's email address.

Here's an example email address!

Sifting and organising your ideas

After you've done a bit of brainstorming, and have written all the ideas you can think of, it's time to start sorting your ideas out.

You may well find that you've surprised yourself in the brainstorming process, and that you've come up with ideas that you didn't think you believed. Well done if you've managed to surprise yourself!

The next thing to do is to take a step back and just look at the different ideas you've come up with. What central themes do you notice? Which ideas seem to be more fundamental, and which less important?

After you've looked at your map for a bit, it's time to start rearranging your ideas. You can either rearrage your ideas by dragging and dropping them, or with the cursor keys. (CTRL + UP and CTRL DOWN move an idea up or down; CTRL LEFT and CTRL RIGHT move it left or right)

The first think to do is to move all the ideas together that seem to belong together. Are there duplications? Could some ideas usefully be combined? Could some ideas be usefully split?

To split an idea, select it, type backspace (the editor appears), then select "split" and then okay.

You should carry on sifting and organising till you feel that you know what the main point is that you want to make in the essay.

You should also make sure that the main point you're making in the essay provides a full answer to the question you have been asked, or you will probably be marked down for irrelevance.

When you've done this, save a NEW copy of your map. We'll use this to make the outline of the argument for your essay. (It's a good idea to save a copy under a different name before you make major changes -- this way you can always go back.) To do this, go to File, and then Save As on the menu, and call the new one it something like "Essay_Outline v1".

Now you know what your main point is, you can write an outline of the argument of the essay.

The point of producing an outline is to work out how you will argue for your essay's main claim.

The first thing to do is to change the text of the central node to your main claim. (Tip: a quick way to go to the central node is to press Escape)

The next thing to do is to look at the material you've collected, and divide it into the following categories.

Background material you need to understand the main claim.

This will form your introduction.

Reasons in favour of the main claim.

These will form the core of your agrument.

Reasons against the main claim.

These are objections you will need to take into account.

Things which are irrelevant to whether or not the main claim is true.

You should cut these to a separate file.

You should end up with something like this:

Open source software is superior to closed source software.

Introductory material

Define Open Source

Define Closed Source.

Brief History of Linux, and of Free Software Foundation

Arguments in favour

Open Source is More Efficient

Open Source Is More Innovative

Sharing Sotware is Good

Arguments Against

Open Source is Communist

Open Source Destroys the Ability to Make Money Frm Software

Open Source Software Is Hard To Use

Taking account of objections

Now you can be pretty sure that someone who thinks that closed source software is superior to open source software will have already heard of your arguments in favour, and might have some objections or counter-arguments to them.

So you also need to think about the objections someone might have to your arguments in favour of your main point.

For example, many people dispute that open source software is more innovative.

And you also need to think about how you would respond to the arguments against your main point.

Add your responses to these potential objections into your outline.

From Outline to Finished Work

Writing the outline of your essay is the hard part. Once you have a good outline, it's much easier to write a good essay or a good presentation.

You'll probably find it easier to to the actual writing of the essay in your wordprocessor.

Exporting your outline to your Wordprocessor

FreeMind currently exports much better to OpenOffice than to Microsoft Word. So if you don't yet have OpenOffice, it's well worth downloading it (it's free).

But if you don't want to use OpenOffice, you can export your map to HTML, and then load this into Microsoft Word.

Once you've finished your outline, you're ready to export.

You should be aware of the difference that folding makes.

Nodes which are visible will come out as numbered headings, whilst nodes which are hidden come out as bullet points.

So take a minute to fold and unfold the nodes how you want them before you export.

For a normal length essay, you will probably only want two levels of headings showing.

Export to OpenOffice by selecting File, then Export, then As OpenOffice Writer Document from the menu.

Note: FreeMind does not (yet) have a spell checker. So you'll probably want to spell check the document before you do anything else.

Once you've got your outline into OpenOffice, you can write the rest of the essay in your wordprocessor as normal.

Making a presentation

FreeMind also provides a good way of outlining PowerPoint presentations.

You'll need OpenOffice again.

Follow the instructions above to export your outline to OpenOffice.

Once you have the outine in OpenOffice, select (from OpenOffice!) File, then Send to, then AutoAbstract to Presentation.

This automatically creates a PowerPoint presentation from your outline.

I've found that setting "Included Outline Levels" to 2, and "Subpoints per level" to 5 gives the best results.

Things to check before you submit your essay

(This advice doesn't tell you anything about how to use FreeMind, but it may help you get a better mark in your essay!)

Does my essay have a main claim?

Another way of asking this question is can you sum up in a sentence what the main point is that your essay is making?) If you don't have a main claim (or don't know what your main claim is!), then your essay will not get a good mark. You are assessed on the quality of the argument you put forward for your main claim, and in order to be able to do this we (and you) need to know what your main claim is.

Does my main claim provide a full answer the question that I have been asked?

You must be honest with yourself at this point: if you suspect that you haven't fully answered the question, then you must either (a) revise your answer so that you do have a full answer to the question, or (b) provide an argument for why it is that the angle you want to bring to the question is legitimate (for example, explain why it is legitimate to focus on just one aspect of the question).

Have I made it obvious what my main claim is?

You should state what your main claim is in at least two places, first in the introduction, and second in the conclusion. (The bits in between should be devoted to arguing for your main claim).

Do I have an argument for my main claim?

What reasons have you put forward as to why a reasonable (but sceptical) person should accept that your main claim is true? If you don't have any reasons (but merely a gut intuition) then you need to go back and revise, and find some arguments.

Is my argument for my main claim sound?

Do I have an introduction which provides an overview of the structure of my argument?

It is not enough e.g. to say that “I will be looking at arguments on both sides of this issue and coming to a conclusion”. You should tell us which arguments you will be looking at, whatyour evaluation of each of these arguments will be, and howthis analysis justifies the overall main claim you will be making. There are two reasons to give an overview of the structure of your argument: (a) it makes it much easier for the reader to grasp what you are saying, and why; (b) writing a summary of the structure of your argument is a good way of testing that you do in fact have a coherent argument.

What reasons might a reasonable person have for doubting my main claim?

Remember that in any academic debate, anything worth saying will be disputed. If you can't think of any reasons why someone might doubt your main claim, it's likely that you are in the grip of a dogmatic certainty that you are right. This is not good: your essay will come across as a rant, which is the last thing you want.

Have I responded to these reasons for doubting my main claim in a convincing way?

To be convincing, you might show that the doubts, while reasonable, are not well founded; or you could make your main claim more specific or nuanced in deference to them.

Is there any material in my essay which might seem irrelevant to establishing my main point?

If there is, then either delete this material, or explain why this material is after all relevant.

Have I fully acknowledged all my sources, and marked all quotations as quotations?

If not then you are guilty of plagiarism. This is a serious offence, and you are likely to fail your course.

About this map

Version 0.1, Jan 2 2008

James Wilson

Notes on this map

This map is intended to help someone who has to write an argumentative essay in a subject such as history or philosophy to write better essays with the help of FreeMind. Copyright for this map resides with the author. Released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike licence v.2.00. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/uk/ You are free: * to copy, distribute, display, and perform the work * to make derivative works Under the following conditions: * Attribution. You must give the original author credit. * Share Alike. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a licence identical to this one. For any reuse or distribution, you must make clear to others the licence terms of this work. Any of these conditions can be waived if you get permission from the copyright holder. Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author's moral rights.

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What is ampere mind cards loose wits diagram templates & examples.

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  • Tags: Academic Writing , Essay

Whether you’re writing an essay, creating an presentation, or thinking strategies with your team, it’s a challenge to sort ideas effectively. There’s adenine simple solution to which, used by students and established writers alike: mind maps! A mind map helps you organize your ideas in a systematic manner and reveals clues for you to arrange your material better. Mind mapping is an effective means to take notes and brainstorm writing topics. A mind map involves writing down a central research and thinking of new and ...

In this article, we’ll explore what mind mapping is and learn how to make a innovative map for your ideas. We’ll also capture one viewing at some mind map examples to show you unique and innovative routes to creation a mind map. But to we starting, let’s establish a mind mapping definition.

Which exists a mind map?

A mind map will a visual device used for brainstorming, problem-solving, and organizing brainstorm. It is one image that starts with a central idea also subsidiaries out to related subtopics and details.

As you lay exit differently topics and subtopics visually, you bottle evidently see the connections between them. In this way, mind map helps you see the our between different concepts and understand complex topics easily. It’s zeitlich to throw away those burly notes and make note-taking a fun activity!

Let’s understand how you may use adenine mind map are different ways.

Why use mind maps?

Is go any advantage to mind image beyond that clear joy of representation out your thought process? It’s every very well that you avoid what like a muffig associate, but which outside this?  And General Of Mind Map For Writing Process · The subject you want to discuss should always breathe at the center of aforementioned map. · Branches should be going out, each ...

Here are some benefits of utilizing a mind map:

  • Educational becomes a stimulating process.
  • Difficult topics can be simplified and easy to appreciate.
  • You bottle imagine complex points to easily remember and recall dense pieces of information.
  • The freedom to connect ideas free a specific click leads to creative and innovative solutions.
  • You can come up with a hierarchy of points by easily differentiator between primary and secondary topics.
  • The engaging act of making a mind card speeds up brainstorming and improves productivity.
  • Easy collaboration allows a ganzem team oder band to work together on a presentation or project.

Mind image allows they to check connections and relationships with different ideas. The process makes it easier to understand comprehensive topics and make the right decisions. In diese way, a mind map expanded your memory, appreciation, furthermore productivity.

Whereby go make a mind map

It’s quite easy to create a mind map. Show you need has a pen and paper! While you prefer working on a laptop, there are several tools i can use, unseren minds map template being one starting them. Scroll gloomy and you’ll find our template.

Obey these steps to makes a mind map:

1.  Starts use a central idea

Write down the central idea or topic in the heart of a blank page. To could be your article title, an area of doing, either a problem you requirement to solving. Make sure you leave enough space on all sides to create a spreading map. Mind map simplifies complex topics and helps it make the right decisions. Find out what a mind map is press learn how to make an mind map in 5 basic steps!

We’ll add a step-by-step mind map example to help yours perceive the process. Let’s say you had to brainstorm the essay on types of self-government. Your beginning step becomes begin under the central point. How to Spell an Essay with Xmind? | Mind Mapping with Me ...

2. Add related ideas

Think of the most important subtopics or areas of support and arrange them nearly the central idea. Connect these to the main topic with lines or arrows to markieren the relationship between the two.

So for an article mind map, the initially relevant bubble wishes will the essay introduction, any will further take to your thesis comment . For now, we’ll show yourself the second stage of mind mapping is this example:

3. Create a hierarchy of ideas

Keep adding more layers until you get a spreading map that starts with your center idea and ends with specific evidence, evidence, and examples. As you break down your information into tiny and smaller total, you’ll also need to denote the connections between them. 2: Planning an essay exploitation an mindmap. - YouTube

If any facts from separate subtopics are affiliated, draw a dotted line button bolt between them to indicate this. When to start your mind map later, all class and connections should be instantaneously clear to you. Kommt up with a system of arrows and lines to denote other types of connections between points furthermore subpoints.

Our mind map example will sketch this for it:

4. Review and polish the map

If you don’t have ampere roughing essay outline in your mind, she can just focus on getting totality out on the page. For vision which rough layout, her can decide on the final pick of total and removal everything else. Comprehensiveness guide on how to create one head map from scratch or using one template provided by Lucidchart. It's free in create mind maps in Lucidchart, so sign up today!

Hence, the last step is to review their mind diagram the refine it pending you are satisfied with the outcome. To this stage, you’ll add all of tiniest details to your mind get and establish important connections through pipe.

In a mind map for essay writing, the last low points will be the evidence yourself use to support your argument. It’s a good idea to mark one page numbers or other citation key so you don’t do to go looking for them later.

Your mind map should seem something like the example below:

5. Add symbols and art to support you remember

While making mind maps for writing essays, it’s essential to use any techniques that can support you remember information greater. A great way until ensure this exists to use symbols and idols to signify specific things. Using a mindmapping program to plan the structure of somebody essay; (examples given exploitation Mindview 5).

You can develop a system of meanings for other signs. AMPERE star can depict important data figures, while a vertical arrow can highlight ascending or descending order. Whilst you can utilize understanding mapping tools and software to leisten like, it helps to use symbols such are personal to thee. Save way, it’s much easier on memorize things!

Let’s add some symbols to our mind map example and breathe life on a.

If you’d like us to hinzusetzen more mind assign examples, let us know in the commentaries below!

Note: Remain your mind maps clean! Add only the most centralization points for one or two words closer than writing entire phrases or sentences. Making a littered and chaotic mind map serves none purpose. Keep our focus on the bigger picture and what you what to achieve through the mind map.

If you’re using the mind map for write writing, you should know how to transfer ideas and information from your blueprint to your paper. Knowingly how to record an MEAL paragraph can help! 

Done brainstorming and writing the essay? Let’s make it perfect Get started

Free mind map templates

If you need innovative mind map ideas and templates, us have no shortage of them! Mind mapping for type diverges from mind mapping for a presentation instead brainstorming session. Accordingly, mind mapping methods also differ from one another.

So, we’ve generated fourth blank mind map generated to helps you find the format that works best for you. Based on thine requirements, you can choose from one heed map templates available below. 

1. Basic map that radiates outward

2. template to brainstorm a main, 3. mind map for writing an essay, 4. spiritual map that usages arrow for cause-and-effect.

Supposing you’ve created a mind show for your submission and need on editing and proofreading service , we’re here until help.

Keep reading with more resources from respective loyal editors and proofreaders:

  • Top 10 Essay Editing Benefits of 2023
  • 5 Elements by a Shortcut Story & 6 Stages of a Plot  
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  • Research Paper Outline: Custom & Examples  
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Frequently Asked Your

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how to write essay with mind map

  • Solar Eclipse 2024

What the World Has Learned From Past Eclipses

C louds scudded over the small volcanic island of Principe, off the western coast of Africa, on the afternoon of May 29, 1919. Arthur Eddington, director of the Cambridge Observatory in the U.K., waited for the Sun to emerge. The remains of a morning thunderstorm could ruin everything.

The island was about to experience the rare and overwhelming sight of a total solar eclipse. For six minutes, the longest eclipse since 1416, the Moon would completely block the face of the Sun, pulling a curtain of darkness over a thin stripe of Earth. Eddington traveled into the eclipse path to try and prove one of the most consequential ideas of his age: Albert Einstein’s new theory of general relativity.

Eddington, a physicist, was one of the few people at the time who understood the theory, which Einstein proposed in 1915. But many other scientists were stymied by the bizarre idea that gravity is not a mutual attraction, but a warping of spacetime. Light itself would be subject to this warping, too. So an eclipse would be the best way to prove whether the theory was true, because with the Sun’s light blocked by the Moon, astronomers would be able to see whether the Sun’s gravity bent the light of distant stars behind it.

Two teams of astronomers boarded ships steaming from Liverpool, England, in March 1919 to watch the eclipse and take the measure of the stars. Eddington and his team went to Principe, and another team led by Frank Dyson of the Greenwich Observatory went to Sobral, Brazil.

Totality, the complete obscuration of the Sun, would be at 2:13 local time in Principe. Moments before the Moon slid in front of the Sun, the clouds finally began breaking up. For a moment, it was totally clear. Eddington and his group hastily captured images of a star cluster found near the Sun that day, called the Hyades, found in the constellation of Taurus. The astronomers were using the best astronomical technology of the time, photographic plates, which are large exposures taken on glass instead of film. Stars appeared on seven of the plates, and solar “prominences,” filaments of gas streaming from the Sun, appeared on others.

Eddington wanted to stay in Principe to measure the Hyades when there was no eclipse, but a ship workers’ strike made him leave early. Later, Eddington and Dyson both compared the glass plates taken during the eclipse to other glass plates captured of the Hyades in a different part of the sky, when there was no eclipse. On the images from Eddington’s and Dyson’s expeditions, the stars were not aligned. The 40-year-old Einstein was right.

“Lights All Askew In the Heavens,” the New York Times proclaimed when the scientific papers were published. The eclipse was the key to the discovery—as so many solar eclipses before and since have illuminated new findings about our universe.

Telescope used to observe a total solar eclipse, Sobral, Brazil, 1919.

To understand why Eddington and Dyson traveled such distances to watch the eclipse, we need to talk about gravity.

Since at least the days of Isaac Newton, who wrote in 1687, scientists thought gravity was a simple force of mutual attraction. Newton proposed that every object in the universe attracts every other object in the universe, and that the strength of this attraction is related to the size of the objects and the distances among them. This is mostly true, actually, but it’s a little more nuanced than that.

On much larger scales, like among black holes or galaxy clusters, Newtonian gravity falls short. It also can’t accurately account for the movement of large objects that are close together, such as how the orbit of Mercury is affected by its proximity the Sun.

Albert Einstein’s most consequential breakthrough solved these problems. General relativity holds that gravity is not really an invisible force of mutual attraction, but a distortion. Rather than some kind of mutual tug-of-war, large objects like the Sun and other stars respond relative to each other because the space they are in has been altered. Their mass is so great that they bend the fabric of space and time around themselves.

Read More: 10 Surprising Facts About the 2024 Solar Eclipse

This was a weird concept, and many scientists thought Einstein’s ideas and equations were ridiculous. But others thought it sounded reasonable. Einstein and others knew that if the theory was correct, and the fabric of reality is bending around large objects, then light itself would have to follow that bend. The light of a star in the great distance, for instance, would seem to curve around a large object in front of it, nearer to us—like our Sun. But normally, it’s impossible to study stars behind the Sun to measure this effect. Enter an eclipse.

Einstein’s theory gives an equation for how much the Sun’s gravity would displace the images of background stars. Newton’s theory predicts only half that amount of displacement.

Eddington and Dyson measured the Hyades cluster because it contains many stars; the more stars to distort, the better the comparison. Both teams of scientists encountered strange political and natural obstacles in making the discovery, which are chronicled beautifully in the book No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity , by the physicist Daniel Kennefick. But the confirmation of Einstein’s ideas was worth it. Eddington said as much in a letter to his mother: “The one good plate that I measured gave a result agreeing with Einstein,” he wrote , “and I think I have got a little confirmation from a second plate.”

The Eddington-Dyson experiments were hardly the first time scientists used eclipses to make profound new discoveries. The idea dates to the beginnings of human civilization.

Careful records of lunar and solar eclipses are one of the greatest legacies of ancient Babylon. Astronomers—or astrologers, really, but the goal was the same—were able to predict both lunar and solar eclipses with impressive accuracy. They worked out what we now call the Saros Cycle, a repeating period of 18 years, 11 days, and 8 hours in which eclipses appear to repeat. One Saros cycle is equal to 223 synodic months, which is the time it takes the Moon to return to the same phase as seen from Earth. They also figured out, though may not have understood it completely, the geometry that enables eclipses to happen.

The path we trace around the Sun is called the ecliptic. Our planet’s axis is tilted with respect to the ecliptic plane, which is why we have seasons, and why the other celestial bodies seem to cross the same general path in our sky.

As the Moon goes around Earth, it, too, crosses the plane of the ecliptic twice in a year. The ascending node is where the Moon moves into the northern ecliptic. The descending node is where the Moon enters the southern ecliptic. When the Moon crosses a node, a total solar eclipse can happen. Ancient astronomers were aware of these points in the sky, and by the apex of Babylonian civilization, they were very good at predicting when eclipses would occur.

Two and a half millennia later, in 2016, astronomers used these same ancient records to measure the change in the rate at which Earth’s rotation is slowing—which is to say, the amount by which are days are lengthening, over thousands of years.

By the middle of the 19 th century, scientific discoveries came at a frenetic pace, and eclipses powered many of them. In October 1868, two astronomers, Pierre Jules César Janssen and Joseph Norman Lockyer, separately measured the colors of sunlight during a total eclipse. Each found evidence of an unknown element, indicating a new discovery: Helium, named for the Greek god of the Sun. In another eclipse in 1869, astronomers found convincing evidence of another new element, which they nicknamed coronium—before learning a few decades later that it was not a new element, but highly ionized iron, indicating that the Sun’s atmosphere is exceptionally, bizarrely hot. This oddity led to the prediction, in the 1950s, of a continual outflow that we now call the solar wind.

And during solar eclipses between 1878 and 1908, astronomers searched in vain for a proposed extra planet within the orbit of Mercury. Provisionally named Vulcan, this planet was thought to exist because Newtonian gravity could not fully describe Mercury’s strange orbit. The matter of the innermost planet’s path was settled, finally, in 1915, when Einstein used general relativity equations to explain it.

Many eclipse expeditions were intended to learn something new, or to prove an idea right—or wrong. But many of these discoveries have major practical effects on us. Understanding the Sun, and why its atmosphere gets so hot, can help us predict solar outbursts that could disrupt the power grid and communications satellites. Understanding gravity, at all scales, allows us to know and to navigate the cosmos.

GPS satellites, for instance, provide accurate measurements down to inches on Earth. Relativity equations account for the effects of the Earth’s gravity and the distances between the satellites and their receivers on the ground. Special relativity holds that the clocks on satellites, which experience weaker gravity, seem to run slower than clocks under the stronger force of gravity on Earth. From the point of view of the satellite, Earth clocks seem to run faster. We can use different satellites in different positions, and different ground stations, to accurately triangulate our positions on Earth down to inches. Without those calculations, GPS satellites would be far less precise.

This year, scientists fanned out across North America and in the skies above it will continue the legacy of eclipse science. Scientists from NASA and several universities and other research institutions will study Earth’s atmosphere; the Sun’s atmosphere; the Sun’s magnetic fields; and the Sun’s atmospheric outbursts, called coronal mass ejections.

When you look up at the Sun and Moon on the eclipse , the Moon’s day — or just observe its shadow darkening the ground beneath the clouds, which seems more likely — think about all the discoveries still yet waiting to happen, just behind the shadow of the Moon.

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how to write essay with mind map

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  1. Mind Map for Essay: Complete Guide With Useful Tips

    how to write essay with mind map

  2. Mind Map for Essay: Complete Guide With Useful Tips

    how to write essay with mind map

  3. Mind Maps for Essay Writing (Guide + Examples)

    how to write essay with mind map

  4. Steps to write an Essay: MindManager mind map template

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  5. Mind Mapping for Essay Writing

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  6. Essay Planning Mind Map

    how to write essay with mind map

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  1. How to MIND MAP (in your journal!)

  2. Creative Writing || Learn Essay through Mind Map || Essay on My School

  3. HOW TO SOLVE A MIND MAP.// MODEL PAPER CLASS 8TH 2023

  4. Creative Writing,Learn Essay through Mind Map || short Essay on My country through mind map

  5. 10 Lines Essay On Map

  6. Interactionism: Mind-Body Relationship

COMMENTS

  1. Mind Maps for Essay Writing (Guide + Examples)

    A mind map is a diagram that displays information visually. You can create mind maps using pen and paper, or you can use an online mind mapping tool such as MindMeister. Whatever you use, the rules for creating a mind map are simple: 1) Write the subject in the center of your paper / canvas. 2) Draw branches that point away from the center.

  2. How to Plan an Essay Using a Mind Map: Useful Tips & Examples

    Orient your paper so that it is in landscape position. If you don't have colored pencils or markers, don't worry. You can still make a mind map with just a pen or pencil! 2. Write your topic in the center of the page. This can be just a word or two, or it can be the thesis you have already decided on.

  3. Mind Map for Essay: Complete Guide With Useful Tips

    In a mind map, the student can dedicate a specific portion to their SOP, add their academic record in other subtopics, and then work ahead to showcase their achievements. Once the mind map for the admission essay is created, the student can follow the basic steps to writing an essay. 3. Persuasive Essay.

  4. Mind Maps for Essay Writing

    Example 1: Argumentative Essay Mind Map. Let's consider a mind map developed for an argumentative essay about "Climate Change". The central node, in this case, states "Climate Change". From this central idea, branches emerge that represent the main arguments for the essay.

  5. Mind Map for Essay: Guide, Models, and Examples

    A mind map for writing an essay is a written piece in which you convey a certain topic and then back it up with facts, claims, analyses, and explanations. The five-paragraph essay is the most common style of an essay, though an essay can have as many parts as necessary. A 5 essay is comprised of five paragraphs.

  6. How to Use Mind Map In Writing

    The Rules Of Mind Map For Writing Process. The subject you want to discuss should always be at the center of the map. Branches should be going out, each representing one single idea relating to the subject. The last rule to keep in mind is the use of visuals such as images, icons, and color themes. They will serve as mental triggers, sparking ...

  7. What Is a Mind Map? Free Mind Map Templates & Examples

    3. Mind map for writing an essay. 4. Mind map that uses arrows for cause-and-effect. If you've created a mind map for your assignment and need an editing and proofreading service, we're here to help. Keep reading with more resources from your loyal editors and proofreaders:

  8. How to Create a Mind Map for Essay Writing

    For type, typing "Impairment vs. disability" might reminding you about "wheelchair ramps." Being an college, writing at effectiveness essay is a difficult order for them. But them can make it easy is you know wherewith to how mind maps. Create a remember map since essay writing helps you visualize the idea before handwriting it.

  9. Mind Maps For Essay Writing (Guide + Examples)

    A mind map is a diagram that displays information visually. You can create mind maps using pen and paper, or you can use an online mind mapping tool such as MindMeister. Write the subject in the center of your paper / canvas. Draw branches that point away from the center. Each branch symbolizes one thought or idea related to the subject.

  10. Mind Map: The Essential Steps for Writing an Outstanding Essay

    This mind map breaks down the process into easy-to-follow steps, from researching the topic to editing and r... Are you struggling to write a top-quality essay?

  11. How to Use Mind Maps for an Effective Essay Writing

    2.3 Outline and write the essay. The third step is to create an outline of your essay before you start writing it. It will help you to organize your arguments, counterarguments, examples, and sources in a logical order. A mind map makes it simple to review the outline and find the data one needs for their essay.

  12. How to Create a Mind Map for an Essay

    Step #3: Create Your Mind Map. The central circle of your mind map should be the title keyword. From the central circle, draw arrows to other circles that represent smaller categories. For instance, you might have a circle for the introduction, a circle for the body, and a circle for the conclusion. Of course, you don't have to use circles.

  13. How to use Mind Mapping for Writing

    Start by brainstorming your ideas and then organize them into categories. Once you have the structure of your post, use your mind map to identify your central topic. You can also use the mind map to come up with good ideas for supporting points. Then, you can add them as child branches on your map.

  14. PDF MindManager

    Step 1: Brainstorm. Open a new Map and enter your essay question in the 'Central Topic'. Break down your question into its component parts and enter them as topics with an appropriate hierarchy. Move your ideas around and start to develop the beginnings of a structure. Finally, identify some initial direction for your research.

  15. Using mind maps to develop writing

    A mind map, or spidergram, is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing. It is a structured strategy, which shows the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas, as opposed to an unstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which students produce notes at random on paper. Having an organised display of information from the outset ...

  16. Mind Map for Writing: Upgrade Writing Skill With a Mind Map

    Mind Map Essay Outline. 1. Subject - In creating your essay outline in a mind map, you should prepare the subject of your essay. The subject is usually the title of the essay itself. 2. Branches - Your introduction, body, and conclusion should be added as branches of your mind map in writing an essay. In addition, other foundations such as the ...

  17. What Is a Mind Map? Free Mind Map Templates & Examples

    In a mind map for essay writing, the last few points will be the evidence you use to support your arguments. It's a good idea to mark the page numbers or other citation indicators so you don't have to go looking for them later. Your mind map should look something like the example below: 5. Add symbols and images to help you remember

  18. How to Make a Mind Map: Guide to Visualizing Your Ideas

    Step 1: Choose a Focus Topic. Begin your mind map adventure by selecting a central topic. This is the big idea, the core concept around which your mind map will revolve. It's like choosing the star of the show! Step 2: Start with a Central Node. Imagine this central topic as the heart of your mind map.

  19. How to Write Essays Using Mind Mapping Techniques For Students

    How to write an academic essay writing? For writing one to perfection, we will be helping you out with our step-by-step guide for building a perfect outline ...

  20. Library Guides: Tips on essay planning and writing: Home

    Once you have understood exactly what the essay title is asking you and brainstormed or mind mapped your ideas, you will need to start your research and find out what other people have written or published about your topic. In an essay you apply those ideas, alongside your own interpretations, ideas and conclusions, to the question.

  21. Mind Map for Essay: Guide, Models, and Examples

    A mind map available writing an essay your a written play in which you convey a certain topic and then back computers up with fakt, claims, analyses, and explanations. The five-paragraph essay is the most allgemein style of an essay, though an essay can have as many parts as necessary. A 5 essay is comprised of five paragraphs.

  22. How To Write Essays with AI & Mind Maps

    Discover how to harness the power of AI combined with Mind Maps to generate content, refine your ideas, and improve your writing style. Plus, learn to struct...

  23. How to Write An Essay

    151. 2. Release time:2020-10-08. How to write an essay · Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.

  24. What is a Mind Map? Free Mind Map Templates & Examples

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