 We've all been there. You have to write a paper or give a speech, and you have no idea where to begin. Or maybe you have a starting idea, but that's it. You sit in front of a blank computer screen wondering what to do next. Don't worry, we can help by introducing you to mind mapping. This method makes it easy to figure out and organize what you already know. Mind mapping is a creative technique often used at the beginning of any writing process. It's a graphic representation of your main topic and related ideas. Mind maps are also called clusters or spider webs. In the center of a mind map is your main topic. Surrounding it are related ideas including tasks, words, pictures, items, or phrases. Unlike brainstorming, which is simply a list of ideas, a mind map is a more organized representation of what you know. You can create your mind map on a piece of paper, a whiteboard or your computer, or even a bulletin board using sticky notes. There's no wrong way to get started. Let's see this in action. We start by placing our main idea center and drawing a circle around it. Next, we write down related ideas and place them around the main topic. We circle them and connect them with lines to the main idea. We repeat this process and add subtopics and details to every idea and continue connecting similar topics with lines. Remember, don't edit or correct anything you've already written. Additionally, write down everything you're thinking of, even if it appears to not fit in with the other ideas. There's plenty of time to edit later. It's also okay to connect multiple ideas together outside of the main topic. Multiple connections are great because they show how ideas relate to each other. Your mind map may look messy and that's great. It clearly shows what you know. Once you're done, you may have a mind map that looks like this, like this, or like this. They're all great. There's no right or wrong way to mind map. Now it's your turn to practice. Write the topic why winter is the best season in the middle of your page and circle it. Now, press pause to stop the video and spend the next few minutes writing your ideas and connecting them to the main topic. You can even write down ideas that don't have an obvious connection to others. When you're ready to restart, press play again. Well, how'd it go? What does your mind map look like? Was this easy or difficult for you? This is what our mind map looks like but yours will definitely be different. If you found this activity challenging, you may have been too worried about editing your thoughts. You may not have had enough information or this technique may not be the best for you and that's okay too. You should also keep in mind that if this was a real project, you'd likely spend more than a few minutes generating ideas. Depending on the complexity of the topic, you may spend minutes, hours or even days generating and linking ideas. Let's practice this one more time. This time, choose your own topic from one of your classes. Press pause to stop the video, complete your map and then press play when you're ready to begin again. How did it go this time? What does your mind map look like? Is it complete or could you spend more time generating ideas? When you feel like you have enough ideas, start working with them to create a draft of your paper or speech. If you need more ideas, you can either spend more time mind mapping or try another method. Mind mapping is one technique to generate ideas for a speech or paper. It helps you figure out what you already know and how your ideas are related. It helps you find content, organize it and avoid staring at a blank computer screen. Remember, you can also add pictures, words, thoughts, phrases and anything else to your mind map. This is your tool. Use it how it works best for you. You've completed thinking about the topic mind mapping.