research proposal mind map

How to Use a Mind Map to Prepare Your Research Proposal

Plan out and finish your research proposal in no time using a mind map. Learn how to prepare it by following the steps described in this article. The examples generated by a mind mapping tool define each step.

Mind mapping is a great tool to help you come up with your research proposal. The mind map will guide you through the process of research proposal preparation and even the whole study with less effort as you become more systematic in your approach. It will help you plan out in detail those things that you want done within a specified period and at the same time, monitor your progress.

How does mind mapping work? To those who are not familiar with this excellent tool that has many applications, the following example is given to show how it works.

Mind Mapping as a Tool in Research Proposal Preparation

Let’s say you already have finished most of the required subjects in your chosen course and is now faced with the task of preparing a research proposal. You can come up with your mind map by following the three steps outlined below. You may do this without XMind using a clean sheet of paper, marking pen, and a set of colored pencils.

Step 1. Identify your main goal.

Since you intend to prepare your research proposal, your goal will be “Prepare Research Proposal.” Type in XMind as the central idea or write in bold strokes at the center of the paper.

Step 2. Figure out what major activities you should do to prepare the research proposal.

Preparing your research proposal involves at least three things. These are:

Link each major activity to the central idea using a line, preferably a curved one. Allocate enough space between these major activities to make way for the more detailed activities. XMind does this automatically when you add a subtopic to the main idea.

Step 3.  Specify those things that you will actually do.

Under each of the major activities, specify those things that you will actually do. These should be action statements. Link these statements with lines to the corresponding major activities. In XMind, just add the specific activities as subtopics.

Output of the Mind Mapping Software

Following the steps above, the corresponding examples for each step were arrived at using the mind mapping software. Below is the mind map output that aided the preparation of the given examples (click the figure to enlarge).

You can add more or change items in the mind map as well as define a time frame for each of the activities that you have identified. In so doing, you will be able to make a rough estimate how long you should be able to prepare your research proposal. If you have a fixed period within which you have to submit your draft proposal, you can allocate specific time periods for the accomplishment of each activity. Thus, you can submit your proposal on time.  

© 2013 September 14 P. A. Regoniel

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How mind maps make researching easier

When you’re first brainstorming a new idea or researching a topic, you don’t know what ideas you’re going to come up with. As such, it’s hard to plan a layout for the information in a typical report format. A mind map allows you to free yourself from a predefined structure, and lets the ideas grow as you develop them, ensuring that you don’t lose track of your thoughts.

• What is a mind map?

A mind map is a visual tool for structuring thoughts. It can be used on an individual or team basis, and results in a hierarchical diagram of everything that has been discussed. The diagram is focused on a single element, where it is discussed, ideas are written down, spreading outwards from the original focus. This spreading and recording of key ideas helps trigger further ideas, and results in their natural grouping.

Records of the use of mind maps date back as early as the third century, and the idea of visually plotting one’s ideas has been used in many different ways throughout history. Through this time, the concept did not have a specific name, and it was only in the 1970’s that British psychologist Tony Buzan popularized the term mind map.

• When to use a mind map

Mind maps are extremely versatile and have a number of potential uses. A mind map’s hierarchical and graphical nature also assists one in memorizing the information you lay down on it, giving them a number of applications:

• As a study aid — you were quite likely taught how to use one growing up, but their visual element is great at triggering memories.
• Researching new products and developing new ideas — as you discuss topics, they are recorded, allowing you to track idea development more easily, and for visualization for multiple people.
• As a problem-solving tool — helpful in brainstorming problems and building on ideas to determine solutions.
• As a presentation method — one is able to show how a process was developed, visualizing alternatives and topics discussed.

While useful for an individual to come up with ideas on their own, a mind map is a great tool for teams that are brainstorming together, ensuring that everyone’s ideas are heard and recorded in a logical, easy to absorb manner.

• Making a mind map with a template

Making a mind map is a fairly straightforward task, but there are a few steps and hints that you can follow to ensure you get the most out of the exercise. To make things easier to understand, we’re going to demonstrate by creating our mind map. While you can jot one down on a piece of paper, there are a number of advantages to be had when using an online mind map maker. So, for our example we’ll use a mind map template in Miro to demonstrate each step.

Step 1: Start with a focus

You’re creating a mind map for a specific reason, whether it’s a subject that you’re investigating, or information you need to present. This idea or thought needs be the center of your mind map. As such, most mind map makers will place your focus idea, or goal, in the middle of the page.

For our example, we want to perform research, with the goal to launch a mobile app for an existing software product.

Pictures and visual elements are much easier for the human brain to remember, and are more likely to trigger associated thoughts than just words. Miro’s visual workspace allows you to upload images, gifs, etc., making it easy to include them in your mind map. Consider using a picture to represent your mind map’s focal idea.

Step 2: Plot sub-groups

From your main idea, you will determine key areas, which are sub-groups of your focus. These can be extremely varied or similar, as long as each group is a distinct subset of the main focus. These groups are connected as lines to our focus.

For our user research, we start quite broad and choose to consider the following three topics:

• Customer Development — we want to confirm that our app will be beneficial to our clients and that the added value will result in maintained or increased profits.
• Trends — to ensure our user experience is up-to-date, we want to discuss new trends that could be implemented.
• Competition — to help understand the current market and identify ways to make our product better, we must analyze competitors’ products.

Don’t be concerned if you only have a few sub-groups. Ideally, you will have less than five, but each mind map has its own requirements, so this can vary.

Group tips:

• To help reinforce the grouping, make use of different colors for each group. You can either draw the lines in different colors, or write or highlight the words in separate colors.
• If you’re not sure what groups to create, try to answer questions about the topic, for example, how you want to perform the research, what results you expect. Each question can be associated with a word and used a group.

Step 3: Develop further

Each of your sub-groups will likely have their own set of sub-groups. For each of your areas, consider what they mean, and what ideas you feel link to that topic. Look at one group at a time, but come back to a group if there is more to add to it.

When we consider our groups, the next tier for each one could be:

• Field visits — how do users use similar apps now in their day-to-day job?
• Beta testing — to get feedback from customers to the MVP version.
• UX design — look at recently released apps to see what works well.
• Integrations — what other services do, which our users use, where there would be a benefit integrating with our app.
• Market trends — read latest blogs and articles to keep app design up-to-date.
• Features — what features competitor products offer.
• Traffic estimate —  how popular competitor products are among users.

We’ve only included a few possible expanded groups here. No doubt, you can easily come up with several more for our fictional situation yourself. Add as many as you feel is necessary for your mind map.

Further development tips:

• For each branch and new item that you use for your mind map, try make use of a single keyword, or keyword pair instead of writing entire phrases. It makes your mind map easier to view and manage, but also prevents you from restricting your thoughts too much, leaving terms open to interpretation.
• Mind maps are often made by writing each keyword on a line. Some people prefer to have the keyword at the end of a line. Both ways work well, and are left to user preference. Try using both to determine which works better for you.

Step 4: Expand

At this stage, you’ve done all the groundwork, and you just need to add as many ideas as you can. Remember, you can always cull ideas at a later stage or move them, so don’t hold back. Record everything that you think of or that is discussed.

As you continue, you might find it easier to focus on a sub-group and fully populate it. Other times, especially when working in teams, people are focusing on different areas at the same time, and you will find as you jump from one group to the next, both approaches will give you the same result.

If necessary, don’t be afraid to add a whole new sub-group to your main focus. There may be something which you didn’t think of earlier, or an existing branch which you have developed to an extent that you feel it deserves to be on its own.

Our example mind map is far from complete. We can expand on some of the points as follows:

• Current users — clients who currently use our software.
• Potential — identify users who use similar apps.
• Online interviews — for those customers who are based in other countries.
• Observation in the users’ offices — for customers who are close to the office.

Expansion tip:

While you’re working on a mind map, you might find that it generates tasks that need to be completed. You can easily assign tasks to people in your team by encircling certain points and writing a team member’s name and a due date.

• How to save time when making a mind map

Mind maps are a tool to help you work more effectively. Effectiveness is minimized if you spend the whole day working on a single mind map. Your mind map doesn’t have to be perfect. Your mind map doesn’t have to be a work of art. With practice, you’ll figure out what works best for you, but don’t be concerned about finding the perfect image to represent your thought, and don’t worry about colors clashing. What’s important is putting the ideas down. If you need to present the results, you can tidy it up at a later stage, but the most value is found in the creation process, and this should be easy.

As we’ve shown you, a good way to speed up your mind map making is to use a visual workspace instead of pen and paper. The pages expand to fit the extent of your ideas, and you don’t have to waste time trying to plan your layout. You can also easily delete, edit and move ideas on the board. They have the added benefit of allowing remote teams to work together on the same mind map.

If you’re looking for more information or tips about making mind maps, consider checking out one of the following links:

• TonyBuzan.com — learn from the master, Tony Buzan’s website offers a number of additional resources for making the perfect mind map.
• IQMatrix.com — a very extensive article with more information than you could ever need.
• Incorporating mind maps into your work

Different people will often come up different ideas or groups that they feel are the key areas of focus for a mind map. Given the same inputs, different people will all develop a different looking mind map, but the process will still generate the same end items, just grouped differently. That is not something to worry about, though.

One of the great things about mind maps is how much freedom you have with them, both in potential uses, and how you develop them. The more you practice, the more you’ll find a style that suits you, and new ways to use them.

Mind maps are quick and easy to use. Try find new ways to implement them into your work.

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What is a Research Mind Map, and how can it help you?

Anyone who is in research, especially in higher education or product development, should know the power of mind maps already. These are sometimes explicitly referenced as a research mind map. However, instead of starting to draw everything out on a piece of paper, it’s best to work with a diagramming tool . Becoming a master of mind maps will help to unlock the power of visual representation and learning . 

Many people believe you can only use a mind map in early education or business. Yet mind maps are used all the time whether we know it or not. Imagine the last time you grabbed a piece of paper and started writing down notes. You’re in a class with these notes, and you start drawing shapes around some keywords. You then start to draw arrows or lines to other words from this key central point. In essence, this comes from you as a visual learner, and you’re working on building your first mind map template.

This note-taking endeavor will allow you to build a research mind map in no time. All you need to do is reinforce your understanding of how mind maps can be used in education . That’s because it will be your first step in using a mind map for research. Make sure to understand the different stages of a traditional mind map as well.

How do you write a mind map for research?

Traditional mind maps are all about brainstorming your ideas. Most mind map examples out there showcase this, yet when it comes to research, we take the opposite direction. We want to take a more focused approach and represent that in our mind map template. 

With the core topic in mind, it’s even best to consider using an image in the center. But, again, it helps to bring a different medium to your mind map examples.

In this case, our focus will be dinosaurs. This research mind map will end up acting not only as a place for research but an outline of tasks. This helps to provide a completely holistic approach and has everything on one digital mind map .

Once you find your focus – you want to build out your subgroups. These will be that mix of research areas, deadlines, to-do lists, and other components that are part of the research. It should have the core research problem being looked into.

Keep in mind to stay focused with this digital mind map. You don’t need any special mind-mapping software for research. Just find the most flexible and feature-rich diagramming tool possible, such as us at Mindomo.

What does research include?

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking into academic research or professional research. If you’re looking into product research at a company, it will have similar data categories. Research is a way to increase our overall collective knowledge. It is done to evaluate a hypothesis as well as generate questions for additional research. Part of doing research is to combine it all together, the knowledge, data, references, and inferences into a presentable format. 

A research mind map helps with the collection of the components of research. This includes:

• Documentation
• Information
• Data collection
• Analysis results.

There are different methodologies that one can use when conducting research as well. These are further broken down into whether you’re looking for qualitative research vs. quantitative research. 

Sources of data for research come in three different formats. Again they are the same for academic or professional uses. First, we have first-party or primary data, which the researcher is collecting. A classic example is the collection of data through a survey. 

Then there’s second-party or secondary data which is the use of existing verifiable data sources. This helps to validate primary data at times. There are also third-party data, which isn’t always used in research. This is more about reference data that doesn’t directly tie into what the research is about. 

Why use a mind map for research?

When using mind mapping software for research, it’s all about organization and reducing chaos. From there, the benefits of using a digital mind map become easier to see.

It becomes your organizational tool

As mentioned a few times, here is where everything comes together. This is your research planner, as well as your data sets. You can use one side for pure research information and the other side for tasks and to-do lists. 

It’s easier to see relations and patterns

A research mind map will have all the data in one place. The inferences to prove the hypothesis will be easier to handle since you don’t need to switch between screens.  

Excellent for collaboration

Research is best done in groups. Having a mind map online helps with this collaboration and can grow as the research data grows. It’s also great to use as an education mind map when training future researchers. Once all the research is published, it’s easy to convert the research mind map into an education mind map.

Just what is needed for future research

Using a research mind map built off of a mind map template means the ability to start new research immediately. In addition, a mind map template built out of a diagramming tool helps speed up administrative tasks and gets you focused on the research portion. 

Finding the right diagramming tool

Mindomo helps you create a mind map template that can be customized to become a research mind map. It’s an excellent option for those that are looking for mind-mapping software for research and starts out free. You can easily build out your mind map online directly and start your collaboration today. 

There are also plenty of Mindomo integrations possible to help integrate datasets and information as needed. No need to have one space for data collection, another place for structure, and another for tasks and deadlines. A research mind map will only help enhance your output, so why not branch out into this today? 

Keep it smart, simple, and creative! The Mindomo Team

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Adopting a Funnel Strategy and Using Mind Mapping to Visualize the Research Design

• First Online: 25 May 2023

Cite this chapter

• Uche M. Mbanaso 4 ,
• Lucienne Abrahams 5 &
• Kennedy Chinedu Okafor 6  

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This chapter explains the need to adopt a research strategy and illustrates the funnel strategy that enables the researcher to move from identifying the flaws, or defects or gaps that require attention to scoping the problem statement, finalizing the research proposal as a foundation for data collection and analysis and conducting the experiments or fieldwork, through to the point of analysis and thesis writing. It presents the funnel strategy as a roadmap that can be applied to completing the various phases of the research. The chapter demonstrates the application of mind mapping techniques (graphical representations of what to do and how to do it) to the identified research problem. It sets out a series of major activities as part of the mind mapping process. It presents a series of visuals, for example, artificial intelligence and robotics sub-topics.

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Mbanaso, U.M., Abrahams, L., Okafor, K.C. (2023). Adopting a Funnel Strategy and Using Mind Mapping to Visualize the Research Design. In: Research Techniques for Computer Science, Information Systems and Cybersecurity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-30031-8_4

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Mind Map Examples to Visualize and Organize Your Ideas

Updated on: 6 June 2023

Fine-tuning your business process? Planning a project? Organizing your assignment? Whatever the situation, mind maps are a great way to visualize the process and execute it smoothly. Below are some mind map examples created for different situations. Click on any of them to instantly modify them using our easy-to-use interface.

Mind maps are a graphical way of organizing information, helping anyone to better analyze and generate new ideas. Every mind map has an idea, where the graphical representation starts from. There can be only one main idea in any mind map. Attached to the Idea are Topics. You can have as many topics as you like on a mind map.

• Mind map to organize meetings
• Mind map examples for students
• Mind map to start a business
• Mind map for a web design project
• Mind map for a promotional campaign
• Mind map for a product launch
• Mind map of a pricing model
• Mind map for a weekly employee meeting
• Mind map of the Harry Potter movie plot
• Blank mind map diagram template
• More Mind Map Examples

Mind Map for Meetings

Mind maps are great for meetings, the below example might suit Lex Luthor more, but we are positive you can modify it to fit your business.

TIP: With Creately you can easily share the mind map with the other participants so they know exactly what to expect in the meeting. They can expand the agenda, add notes etc. before the meeting. During the meeting they can add or modify the nodes and everyone can see the changes instantly because of real-time collaboration. Check out this article to learn more about how to effectively use mind maps in meetings >> .

Mind Map Examples for Students

Struggling with a research proposal? Don’t know where to start? Then the below mind map template for students is a good place to start. Research proposals can be quite complex and this mind map covers most things included in a research proposal. If this one isn’t to your liking, you can find many more mind map templates   for students in our diagram community.

Click here to directly modify the template >>

TIP: It’s difficult to add such large mind maps inside blog posts and websites, but with our Creately diagram viewer, embedding large diagrams into web pages is not a problem. Check out this help page which explains the Creately diagram viewer >>.

Mind Map to Start a Business

Starting a business is no small feet because you have to plan for many things. And mind maps are the perfect tool to plan almost anything. Below mind map example shows the initial steps involved in starting a business.

TIP: You can also add some personal touch to it using different icons. For example, for the product subtopic you can add your own products image. You can add a steadily growing graph to the sales subtopic. You can even add a pleasant background by using our import feature. The key thing is to make it look visually pleasing so you will love working on it.

Mind Map to Create a Website

There are many web designers who use Creately to create mock-ups and wireframes and I’m sure they will love the below mind map which shows different aspects you need to consider when designing a website. And you can add different styles for different subtopics which add more clarity to your mind map. This is very useful when creating complex mind maps.

Mind Map Template for a Promotional Campaign

Planning a promotional campaign is no easy task. It takes a lot of money, time, effort and creative thinking . Using a mind map, you can plan out each stage of the campaign efficiently. It will help you record your ideas while brainstorming for new strategies with your team, keep track of your responsibilities and make sure that you are not missing out on the important steps you should be taking. A mind map can basically guide you through the process of planning the campaign.

Mind Map Template for a Product Launch

During a product launch, you must give meticulous attention to every little detail involved in the process, from the product features to the platform you are going to advertise it on. With a neat mind map like the one below, you can easily make sure that you are not missing out on the important things and that everything is going according to plan.

Mind Map Template of a Pricing Model

Deciding a price for your product or service requires you to take many factors into consideration. Relying on a mind map like this will guide you through the process and help you come up with an effective outcome.

Mind Map Template for a Weekly Employee Meeting

Having everything planned before any event is the easiest way to make sure that nothing goes wrong. When it comes to planning a weekly employee meeting, you can do it on a mind map conveniently. Not only your weekly employee meetings, but with the planning of any event, you can rely on a mind map like the one below.

Mind Map Diagram Template of the Harry Potter Movie Plot

You are not the only one who wanted to break down the Harry Potter storyline and analyze each and every part of it. And with the help of a mind map, you can do this more efficiently.  Using Creately, you can add graphics and images (which you can import from your own computer or search on Google right inside the app) to illustrate your points and to make the map look more appealing.

Blank Mind Map Diagram Template

Mind maps are an effective way to organize your thoughts. Whenever you come up with an idea, you can use a mind map to neatly put down your thoughts, so you can easily analyze them and come up with solutions. A mind map is also an essential tool to use during a brainstorming session. You can use this empty mind map template to start constructing your ideas or strategies immediately.

Many More Mind Map Examples

Shown above are some mind map examples that can be found in the Creately diagramming community. Just click on them to start using them as templates immediately. Can’t find the one you’re looking for? Don’t worry. Much more mind more templates are added every day by Creately staff and thousands of Creately users. Visit the mind map section of the diagram community and browse through other mind map examples.

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Your welcome Hayat.

thanks a lot .it was really a good source of information .especially demo ti create a mind map

I have signed up for a test run, just now I signed up and I already love it…..

Great examples Nishadha. These examples will give us an idea how to get started with. thanks for sharing them. 🙂

Glad you loved it. Hope you enjoy the rest of the posts.

Great Mind maps ! well i subcribing your blog via rss feed

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Research Proposal Structure

This diagram outlines the elements that should be included in a research proposal.

1. Background and Rationale

1.1. background and issues of your proposed research, 1.2. your discipline, 1.3. short literature review, 1.4. summary of key debates and developments in the field, 2. research questions, 2.1. which problems and issues are to be explored, 2.2. why are they worth exploring, 3. research methodology, 3.1. the theoretical resources to be drawn on, 3.2. the research approach (theoretical framework), 3.3. the research methods appropriate for the proposed research, 3.4. a discussion of advantages as well as limits of particular approaches and methods, 4. plan of work and time schedule, 4.1. outline of the various stages and corresponding time lines, 5. bibliography, 5.1. a list of references to key articles and texts discussed within your research proposal, 5.2. a selection of sources appropriate to the proposed research.

6 ways to use concept mapping in your research

Joseph Novak developed concept mapping in the 1970s and ever since, it has been used to present the construction of knowledge. A concept map is a great way to present all the moving parts of your research project in one visually appealing figure. I recommend using this technique when you start thinking about your new research topic all the way through to the end product, and once you submitted your thesis, dissertation or research article, you can use concept mapping to plan your next project. If you prefer to watch the video explaining the 6 steps, scroll down.

What is the purpose of concept mapping?

You may wonder what the purpose of a concept map is. A concept map shows the different “ideas” which form part of your research project, as well as the relationships between them. A concept map is a visual presentation of concepts as shapes, circles, ovals, triangles or rectangles, and the relationships between these concepts are presented by arrows. Your concept map will show the concept in words inside a shape, and the relationship is then presented in words next to each arrow, so that each branch reads like a sentence. What is the difference between a mind map and a concept map? A mind map is different from a concept map in that a mind map puts much less emphasis on the relationship between concepts.

How to use a concept map in your research

Don’t wait to put your concept map together until only after you have, what you consider, “all the knowledge” and have read “all the literature” (anyway, with two million research articles published each year, will that day ever come?). In the very early stages, when you start thinking about your research project, draw your concept map to get your thoughts organised. Then, as you become more and more abreast with the research out there, modify your concept map.

The process of creating a concept map is an iterative one and you will find that it feels like you have drawn and redrawn the map over and over so many times that you wonder if you are ever going to get to a final version. This process in itself is a learning experience and is vital to sort the concepts out for yourself. If you have clarity in your own head, it is easier to explain what your research is all about to someone else. In addition, including a concept map into a dissertation, thesis, or research article (where relevant) makes it easier for the reader (including the examiner or reviewer) to understand what your research project is all about. There are several instances in your research journey where a concept map will come in handy.

#1 Use a concept map to brainstorm your research topic

When you are conceptualising your research topic, create a concept map to put all the different aspects related to your research topic onto paper and to show the relationships between them. This will give you a bird’s eye view of all the moving parts associated with the chosen research topic. You will also, most probably, realise that the topic is too broad, and you’ll be able to zoom in a bit more to focus your research question better. But before you settle on a specific research question, do a bit of reading around the topic area. Your concept map will show you which keywords to search for.

#2 Use a concept map when planning the search strategy for your literature review

Jumping right into those databases to do a search for articles to include in your literature review can really take you down the deepest darkest rabbit hole. One of those where you find an appropriate article, then gets suggested a few related articles and then you find another few related articles to the related articles, and after 4 hours you can’t even remember what your actual focus was. To avoid this situation, draw your concept map first. You can use the concept map you drew when you brainstormed your research topic to give you guidance in terms of the keywords to search for. Planning your search strategy before you jump in will ensure that you remain on the well-lit path.

#3 Add a concept map to your completed literature review chapter

As you read more about your research topic, you’ll get a better idea of the relationships between the current concepts, and you’ll find more concepts to add to your concept map. Adapt your concept map as you go along, and once you have the final version of your literature review, add your concept map as a figure to your literature review chapter. This will give the reader a good overview of your literature review and it will make their hearts happy because we all know how nice it is to be rewarded with a picture after reading pages and pages of text.

#4 Use a concept map to plan your discussion

Once you completed your data analysis and interpretation, developing a concept map for your discussion will give you clarity on what to include in your discussion chapter or section.

#5 Add a concept map to your completed research project

Once you have completed your entire research project and you want to show how your findings filled a gap in the literature, you can indicate this by modifying the concept map which you created for our literature review. This is a great way to show how your research findings have added to the existing concepts related to your research topic.

#6 Use a concept map to show your research niche area

You can use a concept map to visually present your own research niche area and as your career progresses and you create more knowledge in a specific niche, you can add to your concept map.

How to make a concept map for research

Go to a place where there are very few distractions, a place that is conducive to letting those creative juices flow freely. Seeing that we all function differently, shall I rather say, a place which you perceive as having few distractions. It may be in a park, in your garden, at a restaurant, in the library or in your own study.

Take out a blank piece of paper and start thinking about your research project. Of course, you can do it on a blank page on your laptop as well. One of my students used sticky notes with each sticky note presenting a concept, and with smaller strips of sticky notes showing the relationships between concepts. You can even get all fancy and use concept mapping software. But as a start, a blank piece of paper is more than enough.

Jot down all the ideas that come to mind while you answer the following questions: What is your research about? Why is your research important? What gap does your research fill? What problem will your research solve? What influences your research outcome? Just jot all your thoughts down. Then, once you have all your thoughts on paper, see if you can identify some relationships between the concepts which you noted down. What comes before what? What is a consequence of what? What is associated with what?

Once you are happy with what you have put together, present it to a friend, preferably at a time when both of you are not in a hurry to get somewhere. At a bar with loud music may not work well, and on a first date may also not be a good idea. Explain what is going on in the concept map and give your friend a chance to ask some questions. As you explain it to someone, as well as through fielding your friend’s questions, it will start to make more sense to you, and you will most probably move some concepts around and add new ones. Repeat this process with someone else when you feel you need some more input.

If you are planning to feature your concept map in your thesis, dissertation or research article, now is the time to turn your rough concept map into something more presentable. One can easily get totally lost when it comes to choosing software to create a concept map. Some of the software out there is paid for while others give you a free version for some basic concept mapping. Be careful of that software which only gives you free access for 30 days, remember, you are going to change your concept map quite a few times as time goes on. If you prefer to use software which you are already familiar with, why not just do it in PowerPoint or Word? On the other hand, Lucidchart is really user-friendly. Watch the video below to see how easy it is to create a concept map with Lucidchart. Explore a few options and see what works for you, but be careful, this exploration can take you down that 4-hour rabbit hole and when a proposal submission deadline is looming, that rabbit hole is a dark place to be in.

We'd like to acknowledge Coffee Machine Cleaning  for the image of the coffee cup and notebook used in this blog post. 

Examples of concept maps

Here are a few examples of concept maps that show the concepts and the relationship between the concepts well. Click on the image to visit the original source. Go and enjoy developing a concept map for your research!

One last thing before you go, for more valuable content related to academic research, subscribe to the Research Masterminds YouTube Channel  and hit the bell so that you get notified when I upload a new video. If you are a (post)graduate student working on a masters or doctoral research project, and you are passionate about life, adamant about completing your studies successfully and ready to get a head-start on your academic career, this opportunity is for you! Join our awesome membership site - a safe haven offering you coaching, community and content to boost your research experience and productivity. Check it out!  https://www.researchmasterminds.com/academy . 

Example 1 Little Red Riding Hood

Example 2 Nursing Management

Example 3 Operations Management

Example 4 Cup of Coffee

Example 5 Flexibility

Example 6 Human Body Systems

Example 7 Simple Concept Map Template

If you prefer to watch the video, here it is:

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🤖 AI Research Organizer Mind Map Generator

Fed up with jumbled thoughts and misplaced notes? Choose our Research Organizer Mind Map generator — a tool that empowers you to visualize ideas, keep track of research, and unlock your creative potential seamlessly.

Are you finding it challenging to keep track of your thoughts, ideas, or facts while doing research? Brace yourself for an innovative way to bring structure to the world of information chaos—welcome to the world of Research Organizer Mind Maps. These visual tools are perfect for unlocking the full potential of your brain by encouraging it to engage in a more natural and intuitive manner.

What is a Research Organizer Mind Map?

A research organizer mind map is an innovative tool that can facilitate and enhance the process of organizing research. It operates on the principle of visual learning, providing a bird’s eye view of the research topic, sub-topics, concepts, and connections among them. With this tool, large amounts of information can be structured and synthesized in a way that paves the way for easier comprehension and recall.

The mind map typically sees its roots in a central node or core idea. From this core, branches extend outward representing main facets of the topic. Each branch, in turn, can sprout offshoots or ‘twig nodes,’ signifying more specific details or key facts aligned with the branch. This result is a coherent, eye-catching, and versatile graphic that truly maps out the informational terrain of the subject matter.

Why Use a Research Organizer Mind Map Generator?

When it comes to both academic and professional research, good organization is key – it’s a make-or-break factor that determines the success of your project. Enter Research Organizer Mind Map Generators. Here’s a tool designed to reduce the complexities of managing multiple data and making connections into an interesting, visualization process. If you’re wondering why exactly you should choose a Mind Map Generator for your research organizer, here are some top-notch reasons:

Aids in Better Visualization : Mind maps help in pictorial representation of your ideas, making it easier to understand. A planned-out visual representation of your research can enlighten you on aspects you wouldn’t have otherwise noticed.

Boosts Productivity : With all your ideas laid out clearly, you can quickly navigate between them and implement them more efficiently. It saves a significant amount of time spent shuffling through heaps of information.

Enhances Memory Retention : Research has shown that graphical representations help better recall information. A Mind Map generator will aid you in retaining and recalling all the necessary details about your research project.

Foster Creativity : Who said research has to be dull and boring? A Mind Map adds a touch of creativity to your work, livening up the process and making it more engaging.

Facilitates Collaboration : If you’re working with a team, Mind Maps are great collaborative tools. They can be shared with colleagues to efficiently communicate your ideas or research flow.

The greatest ideas can often lose their spark in the transition from conception to execution due to poor organization. That’s where a sound research organizer comes in handy. A Research Organizer Mind Map Generator provides an excellent framework to lay out all those brewing ideas in a systematic and creative order. It gives you a bird-eye view of your project while also allowing you to delve into the minor details, making it not just a time saver, but a game-changer. 

How To Use This AI Generator:

• Click “Use Generator” to create a project instantly in your workspace.
• Click “Save Generator” to create a reusable template for you and your team.
• Customize your project , make it your own, and get work done!

• Corpus ID: 53360107

Designing Mind Map for a Good Research Proposal for PhD Student in the UK : Guidelines and Reviewing

• A. Algaddafi , Siham Hasan
• Published 2017

Figures and Tables from this paper

21 References

Design-based research and doctoral students: guidelines for preparing a dissertation proposal, writing and presenting a dissertation on linguistics, applied linguistics and culture studies for undergraduates and graduates in spain, how to design, write, and present a successful dissertation proposal, ten simple rules for writing a postdoctoral fellowship, an investigation into the current utilisation and prospective of renewable energy resources and technologies in libya, an approach for condition-based maintenance optimization applied to wind turbine blades, probabilistic models for life‐cycle performance of deteriorating structures: review and future directions, a new fault diagnosis algorithm for helical gears rotating at low speed using an optical encoder, sensor fault diagnosis of wind turbines for fault tolerant, nonlinear system identification for model-based condition monitoring of wind turbines, related papers.

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The Research Proposal

During the proposal stage, students should discuss their research interests with CM faculty members, identify a research topic, conduct preliminary literature.

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Research-Proposal-Mind-Map

Whats in a Proposal?

Introduction to the ResearchQuestion

The introduction to the research questionsets the scene and provides background onthe topic

What is the broad area of inquiry

What aspects do you wantto know/find out

What experience or general sourceshave informed your interests in thisarea

What specific question youwant to investigate in thestudy

Overview of Relevant Literature

Summarises key publications

Critically analyse previous studies

Summarise the implications ofprevious studies

Relate previous studies tothe present study

Consider the theoretical perspectives andresearch methods that have been used inprevious studies

Takes up about 1/2 of the proposal

For every 10% should be 5 articles

10 100 articles

Individual experts

Peer Review

Explanation of choice of Paradigm

Discuss the researchers 'worldview' thatinforms how they collect, interpret andreport data

Paradigms reflects theresearchers belief about

What is real

What does it mean to know

Some Paradigms inEducational research

Constructivist

Interpretive

Marxist emancipatory

Feministpost structural

Explanation of Choice ofMethodology and researchmethods

Methodology

The underlying theories thatinform the research

The philosophicalassumptions that underlie thestudy

Phenomenology

Method refers to:

Details a given process orprocedure for carrying out theresearch

Grounded research

Ethnography

Action research

artsinformed

Explanation of generalresearch design

Research Design should include:

Description of participants

Data collection procedures

Reliability, validity andtrustworthiness

How data will be analysed andreported

Description

Quantitative studies will talkabout a population

Sources of information

How will you select andrecruit participants

what ethical considerationswill you need to take intoaccount

Will only have 12different interviews

1 hour of interview takes 6hours to transcribe

Planned Data Collection Procedure

What data could you collectto answer your researchquestions

To think about:

Procedure to collect data

The researchers role in the research

Timeline for data collection

Data Collection

Interviews and focus groups

What is the participants experience

What meanings lie behindobserved behaviours orevidence

Information provided directlyfrom participants

Semistructured

Unstructured

Observations

Event sequenced

Time sequenced

Lesson units

Photos, artworks, drawings, films

Letters, newspapers archivaldocuments

Field Notes

Reflections

Interviewing

Ethics and informed consent

Researcher effect

Power relationships

Structured, semistructured,unstructured

Participant effect

Distractions

Outline of Data analysis andreporting

How will you analyse the data

Theoryled, dataled

Discourse analysis, semioticanalysis, visual analysis

Categorising, coding,memoing, journalling

How will you report the data

Commonalities

Differences/extremes

Links to key literature andprior research

Research Proposal

A formal step in the researchprocess

To define, refine and focusyour research ideas

Shows links between previousresearch

Best ways to research the problem

Education is a social science

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MindMap Gallery The Research Proposal

The Research Proposal

During the proposal stage, students should discuss their research interests with CM faculty members, identify a research topic, conduct preliminary literature.

• Recommended to you

FILM THEORY

adverbs of frequency

Marketing Coordinator Resume

Production Assistant Resume Samples

Top10 Education Quotes

Party schedule

Personal Resume Examples Designer

Forms of corruption

Pharmacist Resume Samples

Sequences and Series

Research-Proposal-Mind-Map

Whats in a Proposal?

Introduction to the ResearchQuestion

The introduction to the research questionsets the scene and provides background onthe topic

What is the broad area of inquiry

What aspects do you wantto know/find out

What experience or general sourceshave informed your interests in thisarea

What specific question youwant to investigate in thestudy

Overview of Relevant Literature

Summarises key publications

Critically analyse previous studies

Summarise the implications ofprevious studies

Relate previous studies tothe present study

Consider the theoretical perspectives andresearch methods that have been used inprevious studies

Takes up about 1/2 of the proposal

For every 10% should be 5 articles

10 100 articles

Individual experts

Peer Review

Explanation of choice of Paradigm

Discuss the researchers 'worldview' thatinforms how they collect, interpret andreport data

Paradigms reflects theresearchers belief about

What is real

What does it mean to know

Some Paradigms inEducational research

Constructivist

Interpretive

Marxist emancipatory

Feministpost structural

Explanation of Choice ofMethodology and researchmethods

Methodology

The underlying theories thatinform the research

The philosophicalassumptions that underlie thestudy

Phenomenology

Method refers to:

Details a given process orprocedure for carrying out theresearch

Grounded research

Ethnography

Action research

artsinformed

Explanation of generalresearch design

Research Design should include:

Description of participants

Data collection procedures

Reliability, validity andtrustworthiness

How data will be analysed andreported

Description

Quantitative studies will talkabout a population

Sources of information

How will you select andrecruit participants

what ethical considerationswill you need to take intoaccount

Will only have 12different interviews

1 hour of interview takes 6hours to transcribe

Planned Data Collection Procedure

What data could you collectto answer your researchquestions

To think about:

Procedure to collect data

The researchers role in the research

Timeline for data collection

Data Collection

Interviews and focus groups

What is the participants experience

What meanings lie behindobserved behaviours orevidence

Information provided directlyfrom participants

Semistructured

Unstructured

Observations

Event sequenced

Time sequenced

Lesson units

Photos, artworks, drawings, films

Letters, newspapers archivaldocuments

Field Notes

Reflections

Interviewing

Ethics and informed consent

Researcher effect

Power relationships

Structured, semistructured,unstructured

Participant effect

Distractions

Outline of Data analysis andreporting

How will you analyse the data

Theoryled, dataled

Discourse analysis, semioticanalysis, visual analysis

Categorising, coding,memoing, journalling

How will you report the data

Commonalities

Differences/extremes

Links to key literature andprior research

Research Proposal

A formal step in the researchprocess

To define, refine and focusyour research ideas

Shows links between previousresearch

Best ways to research the problem

Education is a social science