Brainstorming and mindmapping are effective ways to generate ideas for your academic assignments or final thesis.

Brainstorming is a method of writing that enables you to open up your mind and see where it takes you.

1. Start by defining a topic for your brainstorm.
2. Then write down whatever you can think of in connection to it.

Your text may contain questions, answers, ideas and even words or sentences that do not seem to be connected to the topic. Write everything down and then select the useful ideas when you are done.

Mind Mapping - organise your ideas

Mind mapping gives you a chance to organise your ideas and clarify the connections between different aspects of your argumentation and your paper as a whole.

1. You start by writing a key word or phrase on a large piece of paper. This word or phrase forms the root from which all your other notes will branch out.
2. You then write down your ideas, thoughts and arguments around the main word or phrase and connect them to each other by lines.

This can give you a new perspective on how to structure your paper as it allows you to see how the different notions and arguments fit together.