How to Make a Map After Reading a Book

The misfortune of every literature pupil or bibliophile is that we cannot retrieve everything we have ever read. We can immediately recognize a volume nosotros have read by its title or the covers, just the characters or plot become blurred with time, especially if the volume has non left that large of an impression on u.s..

There is, however, a artistic and practical solution to this – summarizing a book in a mind map! It will assistance yous think details of a book you have read years ago just by a glance at the map. The implications are that mind maps are a perfect solution for literature teachers also. They come extra-handy, peculiarly for plays – there are many characters and information technology is super-like shooting fish in a barrel to mix them up even while reading the play. Needless to ask how many characters from Hamlet do you think (apart from the protagonist for obvious reasons). We take all read information technology or at least heard well-nigh it, but only a few of us would call up more than its virtually-quoted line "To be or not to be".

For this purpose, I take created an 8-step guide to presenting a volume in a mind-map, and some tips and tricks that volition help forth the way.

Stride #ane – Read the volume with the pencil strategy

If you desire to have a detailed and thorough mind map, a shut reading of the book is a must. Practice the pencil strategy next time yous read a book and use different symbols for dissimilar purposes. For example: underline the of import sentences, put a question marker on parts that puzzle yous, circle primal vocabulary words you might apply in the mind map, or put a tick on parts that helped y'all understand the text better.

Practicing this strategy volition significantly improve and enhance your reading comprehension level. It will besides aid y'all prioritize what is worth including in the heed map, and whatnot. If you have the time, it can exist even more interesting to read the aforementioned book with a friend and then compare and discuss the results from your pencil strategy.

I am sure some of you would not pay as much attention to this step because it does not really include making a heed map merely, in fact, a close and attentive reading of the book and taking notes while reading it means that half the job is washed. This is considering the pencil strategy will provoke you to actively retrieve near the book, in comparison to the more passive function we have by reading without taking notes.

Pace #2 – Outline the construction

The construction of the volume can also exist the structure of your mind map. While reading, recollect of the means the volume is divided: are there any chapters, are they interconnected (and if then, in what ways), is there a title for each chapter or just a number, and then on. Are there any subheadings? The more than structured and well-organized a book is, the easier will be for you to outline its master points and group them into several branches. Luckily, sometimes the author is already helping you past dividing the book into chapters.

To begin with the mind map, y'all can identify the title and author of the book at the very center. You lot can also add the yr of publication if yous detect it useful for farther sociological or historical analysis of the context – some volume'southward interpretations depend on the historical discourse when the book was written (or published). Call up of everything you might find useful and let'south start mind mapping.

Stride #3 – Main branches co-ordinate to purpose

Now that you have read the book and outlined its structure, it is time to start making the listen map. Generally, in that location are 2 main ways in which yous tin do that: on paper, which is a chip sometime-school and not that eco-friendly, or digitally with mind mapping software. My personal favorite is iMindQ – information technology is intuitive, easy to navigate, and reflects the spontaneous associative networks our brain makes.

Having the title and writer at the center of the mind map, you can showtime branching it according to the purpose of your mind map. One of the main branches could focus on the plotline of the volume which you tin can also subdivide into 2 other: primary plot and parallel plot. Another branch could be dedicated to the characters – you can too farther divided them into primary and supporting characters, or to heroes and villains, or according to their kinship relation, or according to sex into female or male characters – anything that would fit your purpose – the possibilities are endless.

A third branch could focus on the master themes in the book, and how they are connected with each one of the characters, or in what part of the plotline they are elaborated. Accurately mind mapping these interconnections between elements shows that y'all accept truly understood the book in all its subtleties. The final co-operative may encompass the stylistic features of the writer: the main symbols in the book and the psychology behind them – or to put information technology simply: everything that makes the fashion of the author recognizable and accurate: e.g. metaphors, symbols, imagery, rhetorical questions, narration, etc.

Footstep #4 – Branch every bit much as you lot tin!

You have chosen the primary branches of your mind map. Now what? Just branch them further as much as you can! Put everything you have previously underlined in the book, add annihilation that makes sense to you. This is a very natural process that all sciences practise: start, you accept an atom, so you split it into protons, electrons, and neutrons – and so on. Equally a matter of fact, yous can even express the keywords in symbols (or sketches) instead of words.

What can get wrong during this footstep?

Sometimes people add too much data just for the sake of branching. Endeavour to prioritize what information is more of import and deserves attention. It does not matter what Hamlet was wearing in Act 3 unless it is direct connected with the activeness. Another possible obstacle might be the usage of a incorrect keyword which can unconsciously pb the branch in an unwanted direction. Commonly, in the master branches, nosotros employ more abstruse words than in the secondary ones. Terminal but not least, resist the temptation to use long sentences. Mind maps are about keywords, and they are supposed to be shorter than the actual book. A whole paragraph tin can be summarized in only one keyword if it is the correct one – and you will be able to retell whole chapters just by looking at their keywords. Salve time and practise not summarize a paragraph with a paragraph – make a real mind map instead.

Step #5 – Evidence the interrelationship betwixt branches

If you lot have exhausted all possible branches y'all could think of, it is time to connected them and testify how they are related. This is where the magic of listen maps really happens – in the networking process. The full potential of a listen map is in the arrows and lines that might look cluttered to someone that has not read the book but they will make perfect sense to y'all. Even if that person has read the book it does non mean that they would sympathize its mind map, and this should not discourage you. Afterwards all, it is your listen map, and as long as it makes sense to you information technology does not matter how comprehensive information technology looks to others.

The main lesson of this step? Practice non be afraid of the arrows and lines and countless branches. A helpful tip could be to marking branches with their interrelatedness in different colors. It will make the mind map more organized, readable, and easier to interpret. It will too stimulate the visual input which is a win-win solution for visual learners.

Pace #6 – Grasp the big flick

So far we have focused on the details, but now it is time to zoom out and see the big picture. The large flick is the gist of the book, and the purpose of all the branches you have fabricated is to assistance you grasp the essence of the book. At present that your heed map is almost finished, spend some fourth dimension analyzing information technology and make some changes if necessary. Add a terminal touch or a new link between keywords, or even bandy them if you retrieve information technology works amend.

Once you lot have grasped the big picture, the book will be eternalized in your memory and you lot take reached the point when you lot can talk about the volume without having to re-read it or get reminded of the plot. Fast readers barely have fourth dimension to see the big picture; observant ones apply mind maps to connect the dots into an idea that is the essence of the book. Book-lovers know that it is not about the quantity – but the quality of reading.

Step #7 – Put the mind map to the test of time

The best way to see if yous have made a quality listen map is to put it to the test of time. I thing you lot could do is print all your listen maps into a collection and gear up a reminder. The reminder could gradually extend and yous will run across the issue of looking at the mind map in 3 days – iii weeks – iii months – 1 year – 2 years – 3 years – 5 years and so on.

Each time you lot refer to it encounter how much yous are able to recall. If the mind map does not band a bell about the actual book, it means that something in the previous half dozen steps could have been washed amend. You lot might have not paid enough attention while reading, or some interconnections are missing or they do not brand any sense. The keywords might be misleading as well. Revise all steps and endeavor to point out what went wrong, and then that you lot focus on not doing the same mistake on your side by side book mind map. And recollect, everything gets improve with practice.

Step #8 – Recommend to a friend

Do yous wish you have done this earlier? Well, y'all know what they say: if the all-time time to start was yesterday, the second-all-time fourth dimension is now. Yous could too recommend information technology to a friend that also struggles with keeping all those books neatly organized in their memory. It would exist great to share experiences and compare points of view – and that is the beauty of reading. No two mind maps of the same book would exist the aforementioned.

Next time y'all will remember each book you have read and you will be able to call back information technology in greater detail even afterwards a longer period of fourth dimension. Practice not underestimate the power of a heed map.

Have you lot already tried this method? Let u.s.a. know in the comments below what volume have you mind mapped earlier, or which ones you are planning to work on.

Summarize Book Mind Map

About the author

Tea Duza, Literature enthusiast with an unfathomable interest in art in general. Believes that literature can modify the earth. Moto: 'In that location's not such affair as too many books – but not enough bookshelves.' Bike and jazz lover who goes through life with a healthy doze of skepticism. Travelholic. Yous can connect with Tea on LinkedIn.

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Source: https://www.imindq.com/mind-mapping/how-to-summarize-a-book-with-a-mind-map/