A Mind Map is a simple diagram representing words and ideas to help you complete a wide variety of tasks.
A central key word or idea written on a page is surrounded by tasks or other items in a radial fashion helping you to visualize, classify and structure your thinking. Mind mapping is a great way to get brainstorming ideas on to paper.
Mind Maps have been successfully used to:
- Aid with studying, revising – and recall
- Problem solving
- Decision making
- Team work
- Creative writing
- Helping to get brainstorming ideas on to paper
- Organizing information logically
- Visual thinking
- Note taking
- General clarifying of thoughts
Who can Mind Map?
- Individuals of course – you!
- Families
- Educational institutions
- Business
- Teams of any kind
Mind Mapping Developed by Tony Buzan
The Mind Mapping process was developed by psychologist and author Tony Buzan in the 1970’s as a way of improving learning, and is now used all over the world – from the boardroom to the classroom – as a way of improving performance, efficiency and personal effectiveness.
This idea has been used for centuries, but Tony Buzan has simplified the process and argues that its effectiveness is based on the fact that it allows the brain to scan the entire page in a non-linear fashion – where traditional notes require the reader to scan left to right and top to bottom.
Mind Maps can be drawn by hand, or even on the computer with more sophisticated methods and software packages. Color and pictures/diagrams help to illustrate ideas.
The best-selling fiction paperback (August 2007) in the UK , “The Naming of the Dead” by Ian Rankin, features a detective, Inspector Rebus who uses mind maps to solve crimes.
It doesn’t matter what a Mind Map looks like, but what the significance is for the creator.