Guest Post: Mind Mapping—An Aid to Paraphrasing Cited Material

[This post is from AuthorAID community member Ruwan Gamage, an experienced librarian at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Thank you, Ruwan! —Barbara]

In scholarly writing, researchers should include information and ideas that others have published, and they should cite the sources. Usually the information and ideas should be presented in one’s own words. That is, they should be paraphrased.

However, early-career researchers, especially those who aren’t native speakers of English, often find it difficult to paraphrase. One reason is that the researcher becomes a prisoner of the wording after seeing it in the original source.

A solution is to draw a mind map of the information and ideas. A mind map makes it easy to organize content. It starts with general concepts and branches out for specific details.

Look at the mind map when writing. Now your concern is only the content—not the words of the original author. Enjoy the freedom; you are a prisoner no more!

Search the Web to learn about mind mapping. There are ample resources.

Here’s a simple guide to making a mind map:

1. Get two A4 (or 8.5-by-11-inch) sheets of paper. 
2. Place one sheet horizontally and the other vertically.
3. Write your topic in the middle of the horizontal sheet.
4. On a branch from the main topic, write a concept you hope to use from the first reference.
5. Write the number 1 on this branch or a branch attached to it (to show that this idea is from reference 1).
6. On the vertical sheet of paper, write the number 1, and write the full reference (in the appropriate reference style).
7. Continue this procedure with other references.

After you finish writing, you can keep the mind map for later reference, make it grow with more references, or simply throw it out.