Draw a circle for the central topic of your mind map. Inside this circle, write out the central topic for the mind map. It can be anything such as, dogs. Draw a line extending from this circle and attach a smaller circle to it. Write the first topic relating to dogs that you think of inside it, such as dog grooming. Draw lines extending from this smaller circle. At the end of these lines draw small circles and write the first subtopics relating to dog grooming that occur to you. For instance, bathing, brushing, nail trimming and hair cuts are all subtopics of dog grooming. Repeat this process for as many topics and subtopics as possible relating to your central topic. Topics will become very specific.
The lines between these topics and subtopics serve a couple of different purposes. Their primary function is to show the relationships between information in the mind map. Related topics are connected with a line. It shows how the information can be organized later on in a file or, for instance, the chapter of a book about dog grooming.
Lines also indicate the importance of certain topics within the mind map. In a mind map about dogs, all of the lines eventually connect back to the central topic. It is the most important aspect of this mind map. These lines can indicate what is most important and should be focused on and which areas are less important and don't need to be focused on at all.
Larger, more complex mind maps make use of lines in other ways, too. Lines are drawn between two separate topics, after completion of the mind map, to indicate that the topics are related after all. This tends to create a spider web effect to the mind map. Thicker or thinner lines indicate which relationships between information are more important or richer than others. Arrows are also drawn on the lines to show the direction information flows in or which way a process naturally heads, similar to a flowchart.
Making a mind map starts with pencil and paper. However, several different mind map softwares exist for those who work on their computers. Bubbl.us offers a free online program for creating mind maps. The process is fast and users can sign up for a free account. FreeMind is free downloadable software for use on your computer. It's a little more complicated to figure out than Bubbl.us, but can be used offline. Other paid softwares are available for the creation of mind maps and users can also adapt drawing programs and even MS Word to make mind maps using the shapes feature.