Instructor Highlight | Trinity Kirkland

Instructor | General Education | Northwest Career College

Template: Research Paper Planning Mind Map

Video: How Trinity helps students plan for their research

Detailed Walkthrough

Trinity, an English Instructor at Northwest Career College, finds that students often struggle with research because they get nervous and don’t know where to start.  To remove this anxiety for students, she uses Lucidchart to empower and guide students using a researching planning mind map.  She starts by creating a mind map template that includes guiding questions to help students understand exactly what she is looking for with the assignment.

Students start by filling in their thesis statement and the pain points they would like to cover.  

Then, they add what they already know and what they want to know about the topic.   This section empowers the students by showing them they are not starting from scratch and gives them a starting point for their research plan.  Lastly, they make a brief plan for what and how they will research.