Brainstorming
Have you ever felt stuck in a rut, unable to come up with something great
to say, to write about or to explore? Everyone struggles to generate ideas
from time to time, but it can be a particularly stressful feeling for grad
students facing a thesis or dissertation. Brainstorming can be a powerful
tool to get your mind back into the creative mode it needs to be in order
to generate new concepts and think outside of the box.
Here are some techniques and tools that might be just what you need to
come up with your next brilliant idea!
Mind mapping
Mind mapping is a visual way of thinking through ideas and coming up
with new ones. If you doodle, you are already familiar with this concept.
Many people find that mind mapping allows them to get "unstuck" from
old patterns and come up with original thoughts. If you are a visual
thinker, this may be a particularly helpful method of brainstorming.
There are some free mind mapping tools online you can explore, like
Wise Mapping.
Word association
The concept of word association is not new, but it is often forgotten about
when it comes to idea generation. To use word association you simply
write the word you're exploring on a blank piece of paper. Next, write
everything that comes to mind when you think of that word, branching
out to repeat the process as many times as you wish. This tool can give
you fresh ideas and help "unstick" your thought process on the topic.
There are also some online word association tools you can experiment
with, like Visuwords.
