Choose a theme for your research, and write this concept in a bubble in the center of your paper. You can also use a computer software program that includes a drawing function to draw a circle and add text.
Brainstorm related key words and ideas that come to mind for your central research topic, and write these words or phrases on your paper clustered around the central idea.
Examine the clustered keywords and ideas and refine the categories you currently have on the paper, choosing the best keywords and combining weaker keywords or ideas into stronger categories to develop a concept map.
Link the clustered ideas to the central research topic using words to describe the relationship, such as “causes” or “influences,” and eliminate related ideas that do not have a strong relationship to your main research idea.
Make a second draft for your concept map in research, refining the related ideas and keywords and adding bubbles and links to fill in any gaps or questions remaining after your initial brainstorming.
Structure your concept maps spatially so that you move from general to specific, with the research topic at the center constituting the most general topic on the map, and keywords or ideas becoming more and more specific as you move outward from the center.
Add color-coding to differentiate types of ideas or relationships, such as parts of a whole or causal relationships.
Continue to expand outward from the central topic to develop a concept map that contains highly specific information relevant to your research.
Use the concept map in research to create a research design that reaches the most specific areas of your concept map and allows you to answer research questions about every area relevant to the central topic.
Continue to refine your concept maps and draft new versions as your understanding of a research topic develops.