Mind Mapping

When I was taking a graduate-level writing class, one guest professor introduced us to the idea of mind mapping. Mind mapping refers to a visual approach or method used to organize and structure information. Mind mapping is useful as a tool to brainstorm, create, and communicate more effectively. Our professor showed us how you can use mind mapping to connect information or ideas around a central theme or topic of our writing task.

Typically, the central topic or idea is placed in the middle of the mind map. From the center, associated ideas or concepts are connected. The goal is to allow for the exploration of different connections and relationships between ideas that might not be immediately apparent. As a tool, mind mapping has had a great impact on our writing tasks, especially when it involved a lot of brainstorming before writing.