CONCEPT MAPPING.

"Concept-Mapping" is a tool for assisting and enhancing many of the types of thinking and learning that we are required to do at university. To do a Map, write the main idea in the centre of the page -- it may be a word, a phrase, or a couple of juxtaposed ideas, for example -- then place related ideas on branches that radiate from this central idea. How to do a Map *.Print in capitals, for ease of reading. This will also encourage you to keep the points brief. *.Use unlined paper, since the presence of lines on paper may hinder the non-linear process of Mapping. If you must use lined paper, turn it so the lines are vertical. *.Use paper with no previous writing on it. *.Connect all words or phrases or lists with lines, to the centre or to other "branches." When you get a new idea, start again with a new "spoke" from the centre. *.Go quickly, without pausing -- try to keep up with the flow of ideas. Do not stop to decide where something should goi.e. to order or organize material -- just get it down. Ordering and analyzing are "linear" activities and will disrupt the Mapping process. *.Write down everything you can think of without judging or editing -- these activites will also disrupt the Mapping process. *.If you come to a standstill, look over what you have done to see if you have left anything out. *.You may want to use color-coding, to group sections of the Map. Common Organizational Patterns *.Branches.An idea may branch many times to include both closely and distantly related ideas. *.Arrows.You may want to use arrows to join ideas from different branches. *.Groupings.If a number of branches contain related ideas, you may want to draw a circle around the whole area. *.Lists. *.Explanatory/Exploratory notes. You may want to write a few sentences in the Map itself, to explain, question, or comment on some aspect of your Map -- for example, the relationship between some of the ideas. Advantages Of Mapping Mapping may be seen as a type of brainstorming. Both Mapping and brainstorming may be used to encourage the generation of new material, such as different interpretations and viewpoints: however, Mapping relies less on intentionally random input, whereas, during brainstorming, one may try to think up wild, zany, off-the-wall ideas and connections. Brainstorming attempts to encourage highly divergent "lateral" thinking, whereas Mapping, by its structure, provides opportunity for convergent thinking, fitting ideas together, as well as thinking up new ideas, since it requires all ideas to be connected to the centre, and possibly to one another. Paradoxically, the results of brainstorming usually appear on paper as lists or grids -- both unavoidably linear structures: top to bottom, left to right. Mapping is less constrictive -- no idea takes precedence arbitrarily (eg. by being at the "top" of the list). Here are some advantages of Mapping, which will become more apparent to you after you have practiced this technique a few times: *.It clearly defines the central idea, by positioning it in the centre of the page. *.It allows you to indicate clearly the relative importance of each idea. *.It allows you to figure out the links among the key ideas more easily. This is particularly important for creative work such as essay writing. *.It allows you to see all your basic information on one page. *.As a result of the above, and because each Map will look different, it makes recall and review more efficient. *.It allows you to add in new information without messy scratching out or squeezing in. *.It makes it easier for you to see information in different ways, from different viewpoints, because it does not lock it into specific positions. *.It allows you to see complex relationships among ideas, such as self-perpetuating systems with feedback loops, rather than forcing you to fit non-linear relationships to linear formats, before you have finished thinking about them. *.It allows you to see contradictions, paradoxes, and gaps in the material -- or in your own interpretation of it -- more easily, and in this way provides a foundation for questioning, which in turn encourages discovery and creativity.