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Mind Mapping

Like all the great ideas in life, Mind Mapping is one of those simple concepts that can be learnt in a few minutes and applied to very wide range of problems for the rest of your life. But, even though it is a simple technique to learn, it is something that will get easier to use and more effective the more you use it.

What is Mind Mapping?

Mind Mapping is a way of representing information in a very compact way, and which also makes the relationships between the levels of information very clear. The Mind Map is created by starting with the Subject or Title written in the center of a piece of paper, usually oriented as landscape. The main themes of that subject are placed on arms radiating from the center and then the sub-themes branch off further, and so on.

The usual practice is start with the first branch towards the top right corner (as shown above) and to work clockwise from there. However, the nature of a Mind Map is that it evolves as more information comes to light and it is not possible (or even desirable) to get the structure perfect immediately. Once all the information is collected on the Mind Map (which is sometimes called a Mind Dump or a Brain Dump) it can be numbered or labelled in the correct order and redrawn if necessary.

One of the most prolific authors on Mind Mapping is Tony Buzan and he recommends that only a single word be written on each branch or sub-branch. In my experience it has often been necessary to write a bit more than a single word, but I do agree that the branch labels should be kept very short. It will depend on what the purpose of the Mind Map is, and what works best for you.

There is software available for developing Mind Maps, but in my opinion this destroys the essence of the Mind Map. The development of the Mind Map is an organic, evolutionary process and you will find yourself jumping back and forth between the different sections of the diagram as it grows. If it is necessary to produce a clinically neat Mind Map for publication then by all means use software to produce the final copy, but during the development phase it is hard to beat a pencil and paper. It is the imperfection of a hand drawn Mind Map that makes it unique and a more effective aid to learning (more on this below).

Uses for Mind Mapping

Mind Maps are mainly used as aids in preparing for speeches or written articles and reports, and as aids to studying and revision. It is also a very useful way to record the ideas developed during a Brain Storming exercise because it allows information to be recorded in a non-linear fashion - and of course during Brain Storming the information arises very much randomly.

Mind Maps as an Aid to Studying

Students will find that Mind maps are very useful tools for taking notes while studying (but less so during lectures). When studying it is usual to have to use several sources and then to combine the information into one consolidated set of notes. The structure of the Mind Map allows you to insert information more easily as you work through your sources than you could into a traditional, linear "start at the top and work down" set of notes.

However, even with the advantage of being able to insert information you may find that once it is completed it is not very neat and if you want to keep these notes for later revision and studying it may be worth redrawing the Mind Map more neatly. The graphical nature of the Mind Map also makes the relationship between the headings and the detail so much clearer than in plain text.

Notes recorded as a Mind Map are an excellent tool for revision and studying because the human brain is good at storing information in the form of images - this is why we can immediately recognize the faces of hundreds of people. Each Mind Map will have a unique form and shape, and when you need to recall the information you need you will be able to "see" in your mind's eye where it was on the Mind Map and what other information was associated with it.

This useful property of Mind Maps can be further exploited with the use of color and small drawings. A little sketch or diagram next to the label on a branch will make it much easier to recall in an examination situation. Make your Mind Maps fun and they will be even more memorable.

Another "trick" to use with Mind Maps that will be used for revision and studying is to number the branches and sub-branches. If you go into an examination knowing that there are 6 themes to a subject it will be easier to make sure that you have covered all the material in your answers. You can also use these numbers as memory pegs, or you can create acronyms or mnemonics from the titles to aid memorizing them.

If you produce your Mind Maps with software rather than by hand they will all look very similar and you will lose a lot of the "unique image" property and they will not be as easy to recall later.

Do not use the Mind Map as a total replacement for your detailed notes. You still need to know the detail. But once you know the detail, the Mind Map is an excellent way to bring it all together during the final revision process. It is also a good way to test yourself as you can try to reproduce the Mind Map from memory either on paper or just in your imagination.

Preparing for Speeches or Written Articles

When preparing a speech or written article the research is often similar to the note taking process described above, and you will need to consolidate the information gleaned from the various sources. Again, the Mind Map is ideal for this. The information structure starts off linear in each source, and you will eventually deliver the combined information in a linear fashion either as a speech or a written article, but the intermediate processing stage needs to address the relationships between the various elements and the Mind Map is a powerful means for doing this.

If you are producing a very formal speech or a written document then you can probably work directly from your first draft of the Mind Map as the Mind Map is not the final product. However, if you will be giving a less formal speech and you need brief notes to prompt your memory during the speech then a Mind Map makes a very compact (single page) set of notes. In this case you will probably want to redraw the Mind Map getting it nicely spaced out and using the shortest possible labels that will remind you of the section you want to talk about. While standing stressed out in front of an audience you do not want to be battling to read untidy detailed notes. A few well chosen words, written large and clear on the Mind Map, will be all that you need to keep you on track with your well prepared speech.