- Research Guides
Literature Review: A Self-Guided Tutorial
Using concept maps.
- Literature Reviews: A Recap
- Peer Review
- Reading the Literature
- Developing Research Questions
- Considering Strong Opinions
- 2. Review discipline styles
- Super Searching
- Finding the Full Text
- Citation Searching This link opens in a new window
- When to stop searching
- Citation Management
- Annotating Articles Tip
- 5. Critically analyze and evaluate
- How to Review the Literature
- Using a Synthesis Matrix
- 7. Write literature review
Concept maps or mind maps visually represent relationships of different concepts. In research, they can help you make connections between ideas. You can use them as you are formulating your research question, as you are reading a complex text, and when you are creating a literature review. See the video and examples below.
How to Create a Concept Map
Credit: Penn State Libraries ( CC-BY ) Run Time: 3:13
- Bubbl.us Free version allows 3 mind maps, image export, and sharing.
- MindMeister Free version allows 3 mind maps, sharing, collaborating, and importing. No image-based exporting.
Mind Map of a Text Example
Credit: Austin Kleon. A map I drew of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing in 2008. Tumblr post. April 14, 2016. http://tumblr.austinkleon.com/post/142802684061#notes
Literature Review Mind Map Example
This example shows the different aspects of the author's literature review with citations to scholars who have written about those aspects.
Credit: Clancy Ratliff, Dissertation: Literature Review. Culturecat: Rhetoric and Feminism [blog]. 2 October 2005. http://culturecat.net/node/955 .
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- Last Updated: Oct 1, 2024 1:31 PM
- URL: https://libguides.williams.edu/literature-review
Literature Reviews
- What is a Literature Review?
- Concept Mapping
- Writing a Proposal
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Concept map example: Chocolate Purchasing Factors
What is concept mapping.
Concept Maps are a way to graphically represent ideas and how they relate to each other.
Concept maps may be simple designs illustrating a central theme and a few associated topics or complex structures that delineate hierarchical or multiple relationships.
J.D. Novak developed concept maps in the 1970's to help facilitate the research process for his students. Novak found that visually representing thoughts helped students freely associate ideas without being blocked or intimidated by recording them in a traditional written format.
Concept mapping involves defining a topic; adding related topics; and linking related ideas
Use Bubbl.us or search for more free mind-mapping tools on the web.
More Examples of Concept Maps
- Govt Factors in Consumer Choice
- Mental Health
- Social Psychology
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- Last Updated: Nov 8, 2024 3:51 PM
- URL: https://researchguides.njit.edu/literaturereview
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Literature review toolkit for policy studies: Concept mapping
Why create a concept map.
A concept map is a visualization of key idea in your research and the relationships between them. To create a concept map, pick out the main concepts of your topic and brainstorm everything you know about them, drawing shapes around your concepts and clustering the shapes in a way that's meaningful to you. How can this help?
- Helps you pull back to see the broader concepts at play.
- Can help identify the subject-based tool where literature can be found.
- Helps clarify both what you already know and where you have gaps in your knowledge.
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- Last Updated: Aug 26, 2024 5:46 PM
- URL: https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/litreviewtoolkit
- UConn Library
- Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide
- How to Pick a Topic
Literature Review: The What, Why and How-to Guide — How to Pick a Topic
- Getting Started
- Introduction
- Strategies to Find Sources
- Evaluating Sources & Lit. Reviews
- Tips for Writing Literature Reviews
- Writing Literature Review: Useful Sites
- Citation Resources
- Other Academic Writings
Picking a Topic and Keywords to Research your Topic
Whether you are writing a literature review as a standalone work or as part of a paper, choosing a topic is an important part of the process. If you haven't select a topic yet for your literature view or you feel that your topic is too broad, this page is for you!
The key to successfully choosing a topic is to find one that is not too broad (impossible to adequately cover) but also not too narrow (not enough has been written about it). Use the tools below to help you brainstorm a topic and keywords that then you can use to search our many databases. Feel free to explore these different options or contact a Subject Specialist if you need more help!
Concept Mapping
- [REMOVE] Mind Mapping (also known as Concept Mapping) A helpful handout to show step by step how to create a concept map to map out a topic.
Picking a topic and search terms
Below are some useful links and handouts that help you develop your topic. Check the handouts in this page. They are useful to help you develop keywords/search terms or to learn the best way to search databases to find articles and books for your research.
- UVA Thinking Tool: Choosing a Topic and Search Terms Provides a template for focusing a research assignment through the brainstorming of ideas, keywords, and other terminology related to a topic.
- UW How to Improve Database Search Results Suggested strategies for retrieving relevant search results
- UCLA: Narrowing a Topic Useful tips on how to narrow a topic when you are getting too many results in your search. From the librarians at UCLA.
- UCLA: Broadering a Topic Useful tips on how to broaden your topic when you are getting few results in your search. From the librarians at UCLA.
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- Next: Strategies to Find Sources >>
- Last Updated: Sep 21, 2022 2:16 PM
- URL: https://guides.lib.uconn.edu/literaturereview
IMAGES
VIDEO
COMMENTS
Concept maps or mind maps visually represent relationships of different concepts. In research, they can help you make connections between ideas. You can use them as you are formulating your research question, as you are reading a complex text, and when you are creating a literature review.
What is Concept Mapping? Concept Maps are a way to graphically represent ideas and how they relate to each other. Concept maps may be simple designs illustrating a central theme and a few associated topics or complex structures that delineate hierarchical or multiple relationships.
CONCEPT MAPPING: A TOOL FOR CREATING A LITERATURE REVIEW. Maizam Alias & Zurinah Suradi. Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor Darul Takzim, Malaysia. Abstract. Conducting a systematic...
This literature review examines the use of concept maps as a unique tool for conducting research. This study embraces an inclusive definition of concept mapping. Three main approaches for conducting research using concept maps as a tool emerged: relational, cluster, and word frequency.
To create a concept map, pick out the main concepts of your topic and brainstorm everything you know about them, drawing shapes around your concepts and clustering the shapes in a way that's meaningful to you.
Concept Mapping. Concept mapping, a way to visualize the possible dimensions of a topic, is a helpful tool to narrow down a very broad topic. The video below can help you to develop keywords that you can use when searching for articles and books in databases.