As individuals we all process and retain information in slightly different ways.  A technique works for one person may not work for another, however, one of the most useful tools to help you structure your thought processes is to construct a mind map.

Tony Buzan is accredited with effectively inventing mind maps and developed this successful technique in the late 1960’s.  This is a technique which has been proven to work for many millions of people all over the world and to help organise their thoughts.

Mind mapping is particularly helpful when studying as it enhances the way in which you take notes and assists your creative problem solving skills. Mind mapping helps you to quickly identify and understand the subject matter and the way in which all the key pieces of information are associated and/or connected.  This method is more logical and can be less time consuming than taking regular notes as in most cases they only take up one side of paper.  An additional advantage over regular note taking is that if you forget to add one point or identify another key piece of information to include, this can easily be incorporated as a mind map structure allows.

The following points explain the process of mind map construction:

• Get a piece of A4 paper and place it in the landscape position. Then write the title of the subject you wish to mind map in the centre of the page and draw a line around it – this gives your brain more ’space’ to plot key information.  In the example above the subject is Time Management.
• Then you need to think about the key issues related to that topic.  For each key issue a branch will come from the main subject circle.  In the diagram above you can see all of these points marked with ‘2′ So in the case of Time Management our key issues are: more time; more effective use of time, assessing time, personal performance and time wasters.
• As you dig deeper into the subject and the sub categories and key issues, you will be able to draw out further branches related to the sub heading.  Therefore for more effective use of time, this can be broken down into planning; focus; meetings; delay and quality time (see the points marked ‘3′) Again each of these branches can also have further sub branches.  For example Planning can be further broken down into: Diaries; Priorities; goals and action plan.
• Mind maps are particularly useful for summarising and consolidating information, problem solving, presenting thoughts detailing the overall structure of your subject.  In addition they are incredibly useful tools to assist revision – they are effective mnemonics and by remembering the shape and structure of your mind map can help you to recall information easily.

Think of a subject and test the theory out for yourself!