Tools of the craft: Mind mapping (II)

Newly tested mind mapping tools:

1.    Creately. Fast, easy to use application that supports virtually any browser. Its interface is quite intuitive and allows you to create several different types of flowcharts, diagrams and mind maps. You can customize from one of their templates or create yours from scratch. Very few exporting options.
2.    Exploratree. A simple and visually appealing online application that provides dozens of templates to choose from. It allows for comfortable collaborative work. There are no exporting options explicitly available. Unfortunately, it doesn’t support most browsers and freezes over under Safari.

Snakes and ladders: Outlining (I)

In this first post on outlining, we deal with this process as yet another brainstorming technique. Until quite recently, outlining was considered a fruitful method to produce ideas to feed a text in an orderly, precise way, still allowing for enough freedom to liberate authors’ thinking processes. However, as our knowledge about cognition widens, so decreases the popularity of outlines as suitable idea generators. There are two sound reasons that support this new stance. On the one hand, outlines are linear and, therefore, they force writers to think linearly, allowing for very little divergent thinking to occur. On the other hand, outlining demands simultaneous focus on content and structure. Due to the complexity of the task, chances are writers pay closer attention to the procedures than to the generation of ideas.

All this said, many people still find outlines useful as brainstorming strategies. In fact, once the process is mastered, it tends to flow in a way similar to mind mapping. As in most brainstorming methods, there are some suggested steps and requirements that are believed to enhance the process. Here are a few of them:

1.    Use a thesis statement as a heading.
2.    Start writing general ideas and then deploy all their subsidiary statements, details and examples underneath.
3.    Use only affirmative propositions to express your ideas.
4.    Use visual marks (usually number-alphabetic) to illustrate subordination.

If outlining works well for you as a brainstorming strategy, the only necessary step before getting started with drafting is to thoroughly check the consistency of the outline.

Perfect weather to fly*: Free writing

Perhaps the least elaborate of all prewriting strategies, free writing consists solely on writing. It is frequently called stream of consciousness writing, a self-explanatory term that illustrates how this technique is normally aimed at liberating thought constraints. Free writing is also believed to be of use to ease writer’s block.

Although commonly recommended as a basic step in creative writing, free writing can be helpful in the academic composition process by activating the authors’ knowledge of their subject matter.
There are no set rules for free writing; however, there are a few recommendations that are consistently believed to enhance the process:

1.    Have a central, controlling idea, use it as a heading if necessary, and stick to it.
2.    Set a time limit.
3.    Keep on writing even if you dry out. If that were the case, try writing about it.
4.    Don’t pay attention to form. Grammar, spelling and style are to be taken care of at later stages of the writing process.
5.    Don’t discriminate, categorize or attempt to organize your ideas.

The byproduct of free writing is usually chaotic. Nonetheless, worthy ideas can be sifted for later use, raw text can be corrected and recycled and, most importantly, defective and dubious aspects are likely to emerge from the product, thus allowing authors to further explore and clarify them.

*Garvey, Guy and Elbow (2008). Weather to fly. On The seldom seen kid [CD]. UK: Polydor.

Tools of the craft: Mind mapping (I)

Using paper and pencil to diagram your mind map is just fine if you don’t mind running out of space in the middle of the process. Online tools provide writers with simple, easy to use, free online tools that help create mind maps in virtually no time. Some of my favorites are listed below.

1.    MindMeister. It’s a powerful, user-friendly tool that includes quite interesting features. It allows you, for example, to export your mind maps as a Microsoft Word outline, as a .pdf document or as an image. It’s also compatible with other mind mapping commercial programs. You can also share your maps with other people, either to work with them in collaborative projects, or to provide mutual feedback on your progress. Maps are automatically saved to MindMeister’s server when you close your workspace.

2.    Mindomo. This tool lets you diagram up to seven maps for free. Its layout is complex, but easy to go about. One of the assets of this resource is that it allows users to upload images, video and text onto the map. It also provides a spell checker that can be very useful. However, one of its major flaws is that it does nor support exports, so the only way to transfer map contents to another file is by copying and pasting them as images.

3.    WiseMapping. Another good free option online. The interface is friendly and somehow tasteful. It has a fewe exporting options (.pdf and image files). You can also save your files to the server. Mac users will be disappointed to know it WiseMapping does not support Safari.

The whereabouts of your ideas: Mind mapping

Mind mapping is one of the most popular and powerful brainstorming tools. It consists on writing down words, ideas, thoughts or icons to later attempt to establish logical connections among them in a graphical way. At first the process tends to be led by intuition, but as you move forward, connections appear to be more transparent, enabling you to link them in more complex manners. What is interesting about mind mapping is the freedom it entails and also its iconic essence.

There are no rights and wrongs in mind mapping, although some authors may prove that wrong. However, there are a few basic strategies that seem to work quite well if you stick to them. Here they are:

1.    Set a time limit. Try to make the most out of the time slot that you devote to thinking about your piece of writing. Time constraints somehow force us to focus on the task and be more productive.

2.    Work around a central, controlling idea.

3.    Don’t discriminate ideas. Pen all your ideas and later try to see the connections among them. If you make wrong choices, you can always change them when you revise the diagram. Drawings, notes, maps, references can also be included at ease.

4.    Think outside the box. It’s your paper, not someone else’s; trust your own thoughts and don’t be afraid to propose different, divergent ideas.

These are only basic steps. You will gain some insights on the process as you go along and by then you’ll be ready to bend the strategy to your liking.

Once you finish, you’ll probably end up with a complex diagram that connects your thoughts. It’s a good idea to let it rest for some time and go back to it with a fresher approach. Be critical: delete anything that leads you nowhere and supplement your map with additional supporting ideas for the ideas that get your message across.

Struck by lightning: Brainstorming

You are probably quite familiarized with what brainstorming entails in the corporate world. It is a powerful collaborative tool frequently used to generate out-of-the-box ideas that, in turn, can be launched as fully-fledged projects. 

In the realm of academic writing, brainstorming is conceived as an essential stage of text creation. The task can be developed collectively, usually within research groups and in classroom environments, or on an individual basis. 

There are no secrets to brainstorming. It is bare thinking, random at first, that will eventually lead to the production of ideas worth exploring, extending or developing. Brainstorming takes time, but requires very few material resources: paper and pencil or a computer will do. Just find an adequate setting and jot down anything that comes to mind. The goal, as mentioned above, is to obtain a set of well grounded, interesting, worthy ideas to write about. Stick to your field of interest; don't lose sight of your research interests and allow your previous knowledge to play a role in the generation of thoughts. This last point is especially relevant since brainstorming in the academic world is aimed at producing relevant pieces of work that stand that provide insight into aspects that haven't been studied before, or that have been dealt with through different methodologies or from other viewpoints. Therefore, brainstorming in scholarly writing needs to be more informed than, for instance, in the corporate world of advertising and/or marketing.

Once ideas have been poured onto paper or screen, outcomes must be pondered. Some ideas will need to be sifted through; many will be discarded. Ideally, the result of a good brainstorming process should be a set of sensible thoughts that can bring to life an adequate academic text.