Concept Mapping:

• You are great at learning from formal instruction• Your senior thesis is different – Evolving problem solving– Pulling together many concepts, often from

disparate fields– Presentations to peers, professors, mentors, the

research community• How do you organize your thoughts and express

them?

Concept Mapping, steps1. List the key conceptsWrite the most important ideas related to each concept on a Postit -- Include relevant terms and details in the list

– Who, what, where, why, when, how, how much– Processes– Drivers– Relationships – cause and effect, etc.– Characteristics

2. Number the concepts in order of importance3. Group closely related concepts4. Connect the concepts by drawing lines. Add verbs, verb phrases or

prepositions to describe how the concepts are related.5. Don’t just make a map. Make connections and ideas. 6. Review the concept map

– Check for accuracy -- fix errors , delete any redundancies, add missing concepts– Rearrange the concepts and relationships as needed– Add emphasis to key concepts and relationships: size, color, pictures

Numbered List of

Concepts

ARSENIC IN BANGLADESH GROUNDWATERS

Concept Mapping Example:

Concepts

• Arsenic• Health• Groundwater• Poisoning• Tubewells• Surface water• People• Fe oxides

• Organic carbon• Sources• Peat lenses• Latrines• Irrigation• Deposition

Concepts-numbered

• Arsenic-1• Health-2• Groundwater-5• Poisoning-3• Tubewells-6• Surface water-14• People-4• Fe oxides-9

• Organic carbon-7• Sources-8• Peat lenses-10• Latrines-11• Irrigation-12• Deposition-13

Concepts-grouped

• Arsenic-1• Health-2• Poisoning-3• People-4

• Groundwater-5• Tubewells-6

• Fe oxides-9• Organic carbon-7

• Sources-8• Peat lenses-10• Latrines-11• Irrigation-12• Deposition-13

• Surface water-14

Arsenic

Health

Groundwater

Tubewells

People

Fe oxides

Organic carbon

Peat lenses

Latrines

Irrigation Sediment deposition

Surface watersassociated with

release

tap

use

degrades

food for

control

use forms

Contribute ?

Cont

ribut

es ?

Contribute ?

Contribute ?

pollute

microbes

control

Free Concept Mapping Tools Online

• Cmap– http://cmap.ihmc.us/

• Edraw– http://www.edrawsoft.com/

• Concise learning– www.conciselearning.com– http://www.conciselearning.com/mindmapping.html– The most popular free mind mapping programs are XMind

(desktop), FreeMind (web-based), Mind42 (web-based), WisdoMap (web-based), Wisemapping (web-based), Bubbl.us (web-based),and IHMC CmapTools (concept mapping). They offer robust feature menus, are easy to use, and are compatible with other mapping programs.

1. Try it out for your entire proposal, or just one section, i.e. the

Introduction or the Methods. 2. Then discuss it with your neighbor