How to Use Mind Mapping

Photo by Husniati Salma on Unsplash

Cowritten by Kelsey Schultz and Tchiki Davis.

Mind mapping is a technique through which you develop and visually organize thoughts, ideas, and information. This technique involves identifying a central topic (often represented as an image) and creating branches indicating the relevant categories that are related to the central topic extending radially from the central idea (Budd, 2004).

​A mind map essentially provides a scaffold that helps structure complex concepts and allows for a better understanding of the relationship between concepts (Zhao et al., 2022). In other words, a mind map allows you to take advantage of the vast neural real estate dedicated to visual processing and leverage it for breaking down complex topics into digestible or actionable bits.

The process of creating mind maps can have numerous benefits. For example, a mind map allows you to get into the details of a concept without losing track of the big picture. Mind maps can also help show the non-linear relations between different categories within a given concept. Additionally, mind maps can be an optimal method for collaborative brainstorming.

Psychological research has also shown that mind mapping is an excellent tool for enhancing learning and understanding. For example, in a sample of 120 8th-grade students, researchers found that students who were taught using a mind-mapping technique performed better on a subsequent test than students who were taught using traditional methods (Parikh, 2016).

Other studies have found similar results. For example, a study involving college freshmen taking a writing class showed that students who were taught to use mind maps to organize their ideas made greater improvements in their writing ability than students taught to organize their ideas using traditional methods (Al-Jarf, 2009).

How to Do Mind Mapping

1. Define your central topic. First, consider what the focus of your mind map should be and write it out in the center of the page. For example, if you are mind mapping out a to-do list, you would simply write “to-do list."
2. Identify your first-level concepts or topics. Next, consider the broader categories related to your central topic. These categories will become the first nodes branching off from the central point of your mind map. Sticking with the to-do list example, your first-level categories might include home, work, errands, and personal health.
3. Expand your branches. Each of the first-level categories you defined will branch off into different sub-categories, or second-level categories. For example, branches from the first-level category “home” might include cleaning and preparing for visitors. Each of these second-level categories might also have branches. For example, the category “cleaning” might include vacuuming, laundry, and dishes, and the category “preparing for visitors” might include changing the sheets and making snacks. Each branch can expand as many times as necessary.
4. Add images or annotations. Many people find it helpful to include images that represent different categories or different levels of priority. Using annotations or different colored pens when creating your mind map can also be a helpful way to indicate urgency or to set your different categories apart.

Pen and Paper

Pen and paper are easily accessible and provide ample flexibility in how your maps are structured. You can keep them simple with just a single pen and notebook paper, or you can get creative with different colored pencils, pens, stickers, and drawings. It might be helpful to get erasable pens if possible, in case you decide to reorganize some aspects of your map. Computer software can also be a great tool for mind mapping because it allows you to organize a vast amount of information in one convenient place.

Adapted from a post on mind mapping published by The Berkeley Well-Being Institute.