Guide to Mapping
Developed by English Works! from materials from the Gallaudet University English Department

Mapping is a process of reorganizing and rearranging (moving) the most important ideas and information from your reading or textbook and converting it into a diagram with your own words to help you understand and remember what you read.

Because mapping makes it easier to organize and remember what you have read, mapping is a useful studying technique. Moreover, mapping can help you organize your own writing when used as a pre-writing technique.

How do you select the type of map to be used?
Use Charts or Matrixes to compare and contrast qualities, examples, descriptions, and facts.	Use Stars or Spiders to show themes, examples, descriptions, and definitions.	Use Trees or Hierarchies to show categories, classifications, analysis, structures, descriptions, and examples.
Use Chains to show processes, sequences, causes and effects, chronological order, and steps.	Use Flowcharts/Venn Diagrams to show relationships between diagrams, points of overlap, and points of distinction.	Use Sketches to show physical structures, visual images, concrete objects, spatial relationships, and descriptions of places.