Concept Mapping
3 Creating a Concept Map
How to Create a Concept Map
To create a concept map, try to follow these steps below:
- Write your primary topic in the middle of a blank piece of paper and circle it
- Around your primary topic circle, write down ideas and concepts associated with it
- Group ideas according to themes
- Draw lines between concepts to show how they are related
- Save your concept map to refer during your search process
Tips While Creating a Concept Map
You don’t want to spend too much time making or editing a concept map. The process of creating a concept map is what you’re benefiting from the most, and spending too much time on exhausting little details or aesthetics will not improve your map.
Rather, you want a map to quickly show you how you organize your thoughts, identify gaps in your knowledge, where you connect relationships between topics, and show where you may need to be more concise.
Think of it like this: the less time you spend making a concept map, the more time you gain towards your actual research process!
Watch this brief video below for an overview of what your concept map may look like!
Caption: “How to Create a Concept Map” from University of Guelph Library. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Developing Your Search Strategy with a Concept Map
To develop an effective search strategy from your concept map, take the main concepts from your topic and think of alternate terms for each respective concept. An example can be if your main concept is teaching, alternative or related terms for that concept you can include might be instruction, schooling, training, learning, pedagogy, or more.
If you want another visual aid like a concept map, but just for search terms, you can try using an online graphical dictionary like Visuwords to make connections between keywords!
An example of what you could develop with the Visuwords application could be:
After you decide on your terms, you will combine these keywords or concepts by using Boolean Operators, such as AND or OR. If you don’t quite know what Boolean Operators are yet, you can check out our chapter on what they are, and how to combine keywords using these operators!
Sample Concept Map
In the following example, the primary topic is bolded, main concepts have been underlined with their connection to the primary topic in (parentheses), and alternate terms are given below each concept:
Primary topic: Diabetes Mellitus
- (can be) Types
- Type 1 Diabetes
- Type 2 Diabetes
- Prediabetes
- Gestational diabetes
- (uses) Treatment
- Insulin Therapy
- Diet
- Exercise
- Alternative medicine
- (may have) Complications
- Chronic renal failure
- Cardiovascular disease
- Retinal damage
- (exhibits) Symptoms
- Weight loss
- Increased thirst/hunger
- Increased urination
Media Attributions
- Visuwords Example
- Diabetes Concept Map © CJ Nyssen is licensed under a CC BY (Attribution) license
