Library Information Fluency follow-up handout for Education students in 2nd year studies at a college in Western Canada, March 2011.

1. Information Capabilities
Library Instruction – Information Literacy
Concept Mapping
Concept mapping (and other visual
information organization techniques) is a
method used to represent information
graphically as you organize or brainstorm
concepts, identify hierarchies, and perhaps,
find your way to higher-level, critical
thinking. See fig.1.
Mind maps are used to summarize books,
organize information for essays and
articles, or brainstorm ideas.
This handout will guide you as you make
concept maps and use other kinds of visual
representations to organize information.
Here are some books on concept mapping Fig. 1. St. Aloysious College. See examples of
and related subjects: explicit mind maps and a wide variety of others for
use in specific subject areas:
Collaborative http://www.sac.sa.edu.au/Library/Library/Topics/t
Learning: Using hinking_skills/program9.html
Concept Mapping
Authors: Patricia
Lupion Torres, Rita de Cassia Veiga Marriott
Available through Inter Library Loan (ILL). Ask a librarian for help requesting this
book through our ILL service.
Call number LB 1032 H367 2010
The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam
Call Number HD 30.29 R636 2008
This book is on the second floor of the library.
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Created by Julie Anne Kent, Hons. B.A., M.L.I.S. Academic Librarian, March 2011/Updated October 2012
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

2. Information Capabilities
Library Instruction – Information Literacy
Concept Mapping
This tool is a dynamic and active learning strategy taking you from rote learning and memorization to
critical thinking. You will be able to see all important ideas and concepts of your topic on one page –
great for reviewing.
What is it?  A graphical and visual way of organizing your ideas and showing
where and how concepts are related or differentiated
 Connected branches linking a central or core concept to subtopics
and related ideas
 Concepts and ideas are labelled by relationship, cause & effect,
hierarchies, contraindications
Why use it?  A visual representation of organizing your ideas and showing where
and how concepts are related or differentiated
 Help you to identify what aspects of the concept you know well and
where gaps in your knowledge appear
 Clearly identifying relationships between ideas and concepts from
which you can choose to focus or expand
How is it used?  Study and review for tests, exams, assignments
 Demonstrate processes, relationships, systems
 Brainstorming individually or in groups
 Documenting prior knowledge, asking questions, organizing
arguments, asking questions
Who can use it?  Anyone. Everyone.
 Singularly or collectively
 Corporate teams, college students, professionals, lay people, primary
school students, teachers, etc.
How is it created?  Place central idea or concept in centere of page
 Write down all known knowledge of concept on branches and lines
radiated from central idea
 Organize ideas according to importance, hierarchy, association,
differences, etc.
 Use images, different fonts, colours, etc.
 Indicate where possible equations, explanations, definitions,
synonyms
2|Page
Created by Julie Anne Kent, Hons. B.A., M.L.I.S. Academic Librarian, March 2011/Updated October 2012
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

3. Information Capabilities
Library Instruction – Information Literacy
Then what?  Analyse and assess your map as you create it
 Look to see how the ideas fit together
 Is your core concept or research question accurately defined or
stated?
 Have I looked in reference books, my class and lab notes, etc. for
associating ideas and words?
 Have I used colours and images to sufficiently indicate conditions,
relevancy, logic, and other details?
 Where are the most confusing sections of the map and how can I
better organize and clarify those points?
CONNECTIVE TISSUE CONCEPT MAP
This concept map was created collaboratively over several days for the purpose of consolidation and review.
Created by Learning Commons Peer Helpers: Kaïssa de Boer, Melissa Harvey and Ian Wagg © 2010
3|Page
Created by Julie Anne Kent, Hons. B.A., M.L.I.S. Academic Librarian, March 2011/Updated October 2012
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

4. Information Capabilities
Library Instruction – Information Literacy
4|Page
Created by Julie Anne Kent, Hons. B.A., M.L.I.S. Academic Librarian, March 2011/Updated October 2012
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.