Are you an academic researcher that has to learn lots of concepts? Or are you a student that hates studying through text? Well, it’s not happening with you only; it’s a problem for almost every student. Moreover, do you feel difficulty in explaining research concepts? If yes! Let’s forget all that because we’ll tell you how to learn, process and explain information fast. Yes, there is a way by which we can easily learn, process and explain information that will stay with us for a long time. A concept map is a method that will help you remember information for a long time during your academic research. Moreover, concept maps make it easy to recall information easily.
What is a concept map?
Concept maps are visual representations of information. They can be in any form like charts, tables, Venn diagrams and flow charts. Concept charts help us understand the big picture of any research topic if we design a concept map of the research idea. Concept maps also help to create a visual relationship between ideas and concepts.
How to design a concept map?
To learn how to design a concept map, Suppose we have to select a research topic for the dissertation. Let’s see how we can draw a concept map for it.
To draw a concept map for selecting a topic for research, first of all, draw a circle in the middle of a clean paper. Then write all the topics you have in mind on the circle with the same gap. After that, write the pros and cons of selecting every topic. Moreover, you can also write the research resources you need for research work. Analyze the whole diagram and see which topic you find more valuable for you. This is how you can design a concept map for selecting a research topic.
Importance of concept maps in academic research:
Concept maps help understand research work:
The human brain processes visual objects almost 60,000 times faster than text. Designing concept maps(diagrams) instead of writing lots of text in the research paper increases its understanding. You may have noticed that if you read a research paper with more diagrams, you better understand it. That’s how concept maps help the researcher understand research work easily.
Explain difficult concepts:
Most books and research papers take the help of concept maps to explain difficult concepts. Similarly, scientists use concept maps in academic research to explain powerful concepts lightly.
Boost creativity:
Concept maps help in boosting the creativity of students and researchers. Concepts maps are visual tools for representing information. Therefore using ideas and thoughts with visual tools helps to boost creativity. However, sometimes it becomes necessary to get PhD dissertation help to ensure creativity.
Concepts maps help in validating knowledge:
While drawing concept maps, we design a visual version of the text. Most of the time, we become over-confident about the understanding level of some topics. But this is not always true. Design a concept map to check whether you get complete knowledge of the topic. This will help you to validate your level of knowledge about the topic. Moreover, you can also show your concept map to your teachers and family to take feedback and recommendations about understanding.
Concept maps help in recalling information:
Research students have to conduct research work along with academics. But exams are the time when they must recall everything they have studied. Moreover, exams create lots of pressure on students and under this pressure, it’s difficult for them to recall information. This does not happen only with research students. Almost every student faces this problem during exams. If you are a student who designs concept maps after studying a topic, you will know concept maps do not only increase the understanding of the topic. Instead, they help us to remember the concepts for a long time. So for the next time you study a topic, spare 10 to 15 minutes to design a concept map. It will help you to remember the topic for a long time.
Identifies areas you are lacking in:
Whenever you draw a concept map of a topic, it gives you a better understanding of whether you understand the topic or not. Similarly, you will find difficulty when you design a concept map of the topic you lack. This is because, in concept maps, we join relationships and concepts as visual objects. So if you lack at some point, you cannot draw a concept map easily.
Concept maps help in increasing the critical thinking of students:
While designing concept maps, students have to create a relationship between topics and concepts. Concept maps encourage them to think critically while creating relationships. This is how concept maps also help the students to increase their critical thinking.
Features of concept map:
Concept maps have many features that give them an edge over other knowledge representation graphics. Let’s learn concept map features that help us to draw academic research graphics.
Depicts relationship:
Concept maps represent relationships between objects, concepts and topics. Linking words are used to represent the relationship between objects.
Describe hierarchy:
Concept maps also help to explain the hierarchy if it exists in topics and concepts. In most knowledge representation tools, general hierarchy comes at the top while less general hierarchy takes position at the lower level. Similarly, concept maps allow the creation of a hierarchy between objects.
Links used to create links between concepts:
Concept maps use links to describe the relationship between the topics. Concept maps allow us to represent how a relationship is linked with another. These links can be represented in the form of upward, downward, left and right-sided arrows.
Summary:
Students and academic researchers have to learn lots of subjects along with research work. They feel difficulty in remembering, processing and explaining concepts. A concept map is a graphical version of knowledge representation. It helps students design concept maps based on their knowledge to remember the information for a long time. Moreover, concept maps also help academic researchers to explain difficult research concepts in an easier way.