Dissertation is proved to be a milestone in a research scholar’s life as it helps him/her to entrench the foot in the academics. However, crafting a perfect dissertation is a tough row to hoe. Majority of the time, while working on your dissertation you might find it hard to pen down your ideas or organise multiple chapters in an apt manner. This is when the ‘mind map’ technique comes into the picture. Although the term mind mapping is relatively new, utilising diagrams to ‘map’ the information has been around for decades.
So, what exactly is a mind map?
A mind map is nothing but a diagram that is used to visually organise the information. A mind map is developed around a single concept and is drawn in the center of a blank page to which associated images sentences/words are added.
Importance of mind mapping
Today, mind map is used by the research scholars all around the world to organise their academic documents such as dissertation, thesis etc. Some of the benefits of mind mapping include:
- Helps you generate ideas for your dissertation
- Structures/organise your thoughts
- Lets you visualise the execution of the ideas
Learning to mind map can be a tedious task. To help you out with the process, we with the help of team offering professional dissertation help, have enlisted 3 steps to mind mapping.
- Brainstorm – Brainstorming can be done in a group or individually. Possible ways of brainstorming are
- Writing down everything you can think of about your research topic in a piece of paper.
- The purpose of brainstorming is to merely gather the information and put in onto the page. Hence Do not try to organise the information at once.
- Make use of phrases or keywords to write your ideas.
- Organise the information – Once done with the brainstorming, organise the information by identifying the critical themes and linking the relevant information to the main themes as follows:
- Circle/highlight the major themes
- Connect the sub-points to crucial categories
- Complete the mind map – In the final step, rewrite the information under suitable headings as a sub-points to make the mind map easier to read.
Tips:
- Use codes, diagrams, symbols, and dimensions throughout the mind map.
- Starting from the central theme, the lines should be connected to the different headings.
- For visual stimulation, use multiple colors throughout your mind map.
- Use radial hierarchy to keep your mind map clear.
Mind map, when done in the right manner, can benefit your dissertation writing process. Hence it becomes a necessity to take immense care while mind mapping. However, if you are not confident with your mind map or need some help with your dissertation, take aid from the team providing professional dissertation help.