Use mind maps to write better essays.

Students have a great deal on their plates: homework to finish, exams to revise for and projects to research. In short, there is an enormous amount of information to work through.

Today, the real challenge is not getting hold of information but finding what you actually need within a mountain of it. If we try to soak up everything like a sponge, we become what we call ‘information obese’. What we need instead is to reach the information that matters and to learn with purpose.

Breaking information down into manageable chunks gives you a real advantage, both for understanding it and for remembering it.

As mind mapping software, Foramind helps you structure and organise information. This makes it ideal for the planning stage of an essay or any other piece of extended writing.

Good writing needs an effective structure. Strong content on its own is not enough.

With a mind map created in Foramind, you can build the structure of your essay quickly and easily. Your mind map becomes the framework for what you are going to write, which means you can write faster and with far less effort. The shape of the mind map and its branches will mirror the structure and sections of your essay.

How to plan your essay as a mind map

1. Place an image that represents the main idea of your essay in the centre of the map.
2. Show each section of your essay as a main branch radiating out from the centre.
3. Expand the map by adding related sub-branches beneath each main branch.
4. Add keywords to the main branches and sub-branches that capture what each section of your essay will cover.

Now you are ready to open a blank document and write an essay that follows the structure you have built in your mind map. You will find example essay-planning templates in the categories section of Foramind.