Download these Free Concept Map Templates using MS Word Format.

During studies, students find various types of questions problems, and concepts that they need to understand for tests papers, and presentations. Some of these questions and problems are very basic and can be explained easily and students can get the core idea very quickly. However so often you will find some problems that are so complicated that it’s just not possible to understand all of its elements just by seeing the answer on the paper. Therefore, a better approach to understanding such a complex problem is by creating a concept map. A concept map is the visualization of the various parts of a problem on the paper. Each part of the problem is put in a separate box or section on the paper and then there are connections established between these parts to understand the flow of the information.

Guidelines to use Concept Map Correctly:

Understand the primary question:

To create a concept map and to have a map that answers the core questions, it’s important for you to first understand the core question. For instance, if you want to understand the great depression of 2008, first you should understand that you are talking about the depression of 2008 and it should be the primary focus during creating the concept map.

Choose the layout of the Concept Map:

If you take a look at the concept maps, you will see that there are various types of maps available on the internet. However, the most common type of square boxes and arrows that point to specific boxes and then some circles seem to grow in numbers after each step then there is the top-to-bottom hierarchy model of the concept map that starts with the key question in the highest box on the map and the sub-concepts seem to be branching out of it in various directions. There are two types of concept maps the ones that have two sets of concepts that go side by side and the ones that have more than 2 sets of concepts that grow and end on different levels. You can choose the right format depending on the core concept that you want to understand.

Free Concept Map Templates:

Here you can download various concept map templates for free.

Dividing information in Concepts and Sub Concepts:

The key purpose of the concept map is to put everything that you know on the paper and then understand it. All the information and data that you can find out about the core question should be added to the map. You can just put the information on the paper in any manner that you want because this is going to be the first draft and once the information is on the paper, you can see how it actually should appear in the final concept map.

Creating links between the Concepts:

To fully understand each part of the concept, you should create links or connections between each sub-concept. Not only that it will allow you to understand the flow of the information but you can also see if the information should be put differently on the concept map. Keep in mind that the connection between two sub-concepts should appear in the form of an arrow that starts from the higher level and goes to the lower level. Therefore you can put specific headings or details on each arrow as well.

Review the Map:

Once you have created the map and you see the distribution of the information on the paper, you might want to change specific details or make a different arrangement. It is also possible that the theme or layout that you chose for the concept map doesn’t match with the core question and you should use a different design. This all becomes clear with the final review of the concept map.