Chapter 9

Mind Map: Using It as a Memory Technique

Map your thoughts and remember more…

Many of us have given a trial to myriads of ways to organize our thoughts and put them into a visual representation, but not many have tried using mind maps to do so.

What Are Mind Maps?

Mind maps have been around since antiquity, but they gained wider acknowledgment and acceptance when the British author and psychologist, Tony Buzan named and popularized them in the 1960s. They have gained even more popularity thanks to the internet, and of course; the needs of infovores!

A mind map is a diagram used to organize information visually. A mind map is a kind of hierarchical diagram created to show relationships between concepts by the use of lines; the concepts themselves can be represented by words or drawn as a picture.

Often, ideas linked together by lines in a mind map are sub-branches to another or connected to one another. While it is more often drawn by hand on a piece of paper, there are now applications designed for making mind maps too.

As Wikipedia explained more on the subject, mind maps are usually “created around a single concept drawn as an image in the center of a blank page, to which associated representations of ideas such as images, words and parts of words are added.” ^[1]

In a mind map, a major idea is first represented centrally in words or with a picture, other ideas then branch out from this major central idea.

Mind maps have the great advantage of serving as a mirror of how our brain thinks, generates, and connects ideas. Just like the way ideas spring up in our mind – each being linked or created along with the thought of another related one, mind maps are able to preserve our ideas in the non-linear way in which they are inspired in our minds.

Mind maps are also enjoyable, cool and fun to make, despite this, they still do not lose the seriousness of their content. They are a highly flexible and attractive way to organize our train of thoughts since it allows the use of diagrams, images, icons, doodles, words and colors (depending on the medium being used)!

When all these features of mind maps (lines, words, pictures, doodles, etc.) are neatly and attractively applied, an average mind map is very easy to memorize!

How to Make A Mind Map

Mind maps are very easy to make. But this doesn’t mean that all those who have been making them are getting them perfectly. To get the best out of a mind map, check out these simple but general rules of making a mind map before you make your first one!

1. Get a blank white paper (if you are not using an application) and align it in landscape orientation (recommended). Of course, we assume you already have a pen!
2. Write or draw your main idea in the middle of the blank paper.
3. Surrounding the main idea, write or draw several sub-themes derived from this main idea (This is the first level sub-theme).

Note: If you are using words, be very economical with words. A single word is best used in representing each entry, if not possible, use very short phrases instead. This is to prevent building up a very cluttered map. A cluttered mind map gets overwhelming and soon cease to be helpful.

Be careful with your handwriting too, especially if you are writing fast. Mind maps are excellent ways of taking down ideas as they occur in the mind, but it will be disappointing to go over them and find out that what you have written is illegible. If possible, write in upper case only (for short phrases and single words).

4. Draw lines linking the surrounding sub-themes to the main idea.
5. You can now create second level sub-themes around the first level sub-themes if necessary.
6. Draw lines linking the second level sub-themes to the first level sub-themes. Repeat this step if you are going to create third level sub-themes, fourth level sub-themes and so on. Always make sure to draws lines linking related sub-themes to each other across their different levels. This way, you will be able to clearly see how different parts of your information relates to each other.

Note: The first level sub-themes will be slightly further away from the main idea, and the second level sub-themes will be equally further away from the first level. This must go on indefinitely to allow enough space to link them with lines.

7. If you have been writing your entries with words, you can now add doodles, icons or images, if needed.

Having icons/images in a mind map is not a necessity. But icons/images have a greater impact than words and they can help spice your mind map in a more lively, interesting way. The images in the mind maps need not be detailed. In fact, simple doodles, symbols or icons can do the trick. This can be especially flexible if you are using an application to create your mind map rather than on paper and pen.

8. Employ different colors in various parts of the mind map.

You can use different colors for various components of the mind maps, either the texts, lines or icons. Colors can help to bring more organization to the mind map. For example, themes and lines joining them to each other can be color-coded.

Even without images, employing various colors in your mind map can make it more striking, attractive and memorable.

What Mind Maps Can Be Used For

Mind maps are versatile and can be applied to many different needs. Probably, its foremost use is to plan, especially to do a macro assessment of situations.

Mind mapping helps us appreciate the smaller details of an idea and it can help in drawing up plans for them accordingly. Using mind maps shakes out all the smaller details of a subject for assessment, and can aid their memorization, appreciation and can help improve our awareness of their true situation.

Among other uses mind maps can be employed for are:

1. Generating ideas and options.
2. Classifying ideas and options.
3. An aid to imagination and visualization.
4. It can serve as a study aid.
5. It’s the perfect tool for organizing complex information.
6. It can be used for structuring complex information.
7. It can be used for problem solving or assessment.
8. It can serve as an aid to decision making.
9. It can be an aid to creativity.
10. It’s the perfect brainstorming companion.
11. It can be used as a research tool.
12. It’s very useful in note-taking and writing.
13. Mind maps are very useful for memorization.
14. Mind maps are extremely useful for presenting information.

Characteristics of a Good Mind Map

First of all, mind maps are very customizable and versatile creations, so they can be created quite differently from one individual to another. There is no rigid way of doing mind maps. Each mind map has its unique quirks.

However, all good mind maps have some characteristics in common. If your mind map is lacking any of them, it can’t probably be called an excellent mind map. These are:

1. Their organizational structure naturally radiates from the center.
2. The words, symbols, lines and colors used in it are simple to understand and do not have obscure or surreal meanings.
3. It is able to present  a piece of information in an organized and hierarchical format without being linear.
4. All sub-themes must be traceable back to the main idea.
5. It must have transformed an otherwise linear list of ideas into a web of interconnected concepts.
6. It must be easy on the eyes and comprehensible to the average intellect.

Benefits of Mind Mapping

If you have never tried mind mapping, you probably lack an interesting experience in idea generation and presentation. Adopting mind map has the potential to make the adopter addicted to it for a long time. With mind mapping, the user is allowed to put his or her ideas down literally in any order – in the manner in which they are inspired to him or her.

Mind mapping allows the user to think more freely without fear that his or her ideas will get confusing or disorganized. The user is allowed to think in any form, even without hierarchy, since there is an assurance of linking connected concepts after the thinking process is finalized. Indeed, all ideas can be linked back to one single main theme with a mind map!

A physically completed mind map itself is a physical representation of a clarified thinking. Imagine how such a “clarified thinking” can be applied to solving problems in our businesses, schooling, financial planning, family, personal and social affairs. Using a mind map could increase our planning efficiency and help us see the larger picture.

Among sets of professionals that are liable to see the larger picture through the application of mind maps are financial experts, proofreaders, authors, environmental impact assessors and military planners.

However, this is not to say the benefits of using a mind map are closed to any other professional apart from those listed above. We have only listed it so that you can have an idea of how mind maps can be absorbed into professional applications when necessary.

In addition, within the circle of the young and the old; the professional and the amateur; the teacher and the students; mind maps have found a place too. In modern classrooms and workplaces, it is increasingly getting recognized as a good tool for the transference of knowledge. A research work recently suggested a 10-15% improvement in learning and memory when mind mapping is used instead of conventional note-taking. ^[2]

This good news has since been confirmed by various other studies. Cunningham in 2005, conducted a study to find out the effects of mind maps on students’ achievement in high school biology. When the results were in, it shows that 80% of the students are of the opinion that “mindmapping helped them understand concepts and ideas in science”.^[3]

A year earlier (2004), the research by Brian Holland, Lynda Holland, and Jenny Davies have similarly supported a similar finding that mind mapping leads to positive effects on students’ academic performance. ^[4]

These research works are by no means final, though. It is well known that users of mind maps who use it for different applications will (naturally) experience varying levels of satisfaction in their use of it.

For example, from the same research by Brian Holland et al., students of art and design reported a greater level of satisfaction (64%) using mind maps in their works than students of computer and information technology (34%), who reported a lesser utility derived from the use of mind mapping software in their works.^[5]

Mind Mapping: Between Paper And App

Mind maps are traditionally done with pen and paper. In fact, some purists will argue they are best done with them. However, applications created specifically for making mind maps are now generally available.

Choosing whether to start a mind mapping journey either by using pen and paper or by using an app is usually a slightly vexatious issue for beginners. However, each method has its own peculiar pros and cons.

Pen and paper allow you to put down your thoughts more quickly than the average app, and the act of putting it down can aid recall. App has the advantage of allowing users to easily modify their entries and may also allow them to duplicate entries for modification. It also allows users to add multimedia attachments to their mind maps. In addition, mind maps made with apps are usually searchable.

Many people have found the greatest advantage in using the drawing applications (preferably installed on tablets) instead, as this combines the advantages of pen and paper with that of software. Drawing apps gives you the freedom to draw your mind map with a (stylus) pen, while equally enjoying the advantages of using an app (i.e., allowing users to easily modify or duplicate entries, and to add multimedia attachments to their mind maps, etc.)

All in all, it’s very typical for a beginner to stick to only one of either methods, depending on which fits their needs most. If we are to recommend any though, it will be pen and paper. This is because it is easy to procure, convenient to use, and does not require a power source, unlike apps that must run on electronic devices.

We strongly believe that adopting mind mapping in your ideation will help you achieve clarity and remember more. Don’t forget you have now learned what they are, how to make them, what they can be used for, their characteristics, and which to adopt between paper and pen or app. It’s an additional tool to your mental arsenal.

We hope that whichever way you choose to go about adopting your own mind mapping trials, you will do it well.

In the next chapter of this guide on memory techniques, we shall be looking at how to use summary as a memory technique. Go here to access it now.

References:

1. Mind Maps – https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map (Retrieved 4-8-2019)
2. The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique (Farrand P, Hussain F, Hennessy E. 2002) – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12028392 (Retrieved 7-8-2019)
3. Glennis Edge Cunningham (2005). Mindmapping: Its Effects on Student Achievement in High School Biology (Ph.D.). The University of Texas at Austin. (Retrieved 4-8-2019 via https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map)
4. Brian Holland, Lynda Holland, Jenny Davies (2004) – “An investigation into the concept of mind mapping and the use of mind mapping software to support and improve student academic performance”. (Retrieved 4-8-2019 via https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map)

5. Ibid.