research paper sources graphic organizer

• Hirsh Health Sciences
• Lilly Music
• Webster Veterinary
• Hirsh Health Sciences Library

Writing in the Health Sciences

• Graphic Organizers
• Writing in General - Books and E-Books
• Writing in General - Articles and Links
• What Kind of Review is Best for you?
• Case Reports
• Literature Review
• Research Papers
• Style Guides
• Personal Statements and Interviewing

What is a Graphic Organizer?

A graphic organizer is a visual tool used to express ideas and concepts, and convey meaning. A graphic organizer often depicts the relationships between facts; concepts; terms; thoughts; and/or ideas. It can help writers by creating a visual map or diagram of ideas . There are many similar names for graphic organizers including: knowledge maps, concept maps, story maps, cognitive organizers, advance organizers, or concept diagra ms

• The Great and Powerful Graphic Organizer Excellent explanation of graphic organizers, with examples from a teaching perspective.
• Houghton Mifflin Graphic Organizers A long list of many types of organizers, free to download.
• Write Design Organizers This site describes five main types of graphic organizers in detail. It provides links to many more. It then describes the process one must go through in using a graphic organizer.
• << Previous: Writing in General - Articles and Links
• Next: Grammar >>
• Last Updated: Jul 10, 2023 3:24 PM
• URL: https://researchguides.library.tufts.edu/papers

Using Graphic Organizers for Writing Essays, Summaries and Research

Ask any student – essay writing is one of the most despised tasks of their educational career. Perhaps there is so much displeasure associated with the task because it’s perceived as too linear – there isn’t enough visual and creative appeal. But if you use graphic organizer for writing essays then you can make writing enjoyable – or at least less terrible.

Not only enjoyable but graphic organizers (or diagrams) can make the writing process a snap. They’ll help you think outside the box, draw conclusions you wouldn’t normally observe, and make the entire process faster and more efficient.

Why Use Graphic Organizers for Writing

The phrase “graphic organizer” is just a fancy way of saying “diagram” or “visual aid.” Basically, they are a visual representation of the information you’ve acquired in the research process. There are quite a few reasons why you should use them when writing essays or summaries.

• Helps you visualize your research and how elements connect with each other
• Enhance your essays, summaries and research papers with visual elements
• Track correlations between your thoughts, observations, facts or general ideas

When it comes to essay writing, the most common graphic organizers are webs, mind maps, and concept maps .

Using Webs for Brainstorming

Webbing is a great way to see how various topics are interrelated. This graphic organizer is particularly useful during the brainstorming step of the writing process.

A web can sometimes get a bit messy. Usually, there are lots of arrows to connect overlapping ideas. However, even with lines crisscrossing every which way, it is still a great way to visualize your thoughts. If you’re using an online diagramming software like Creately you can overcome some of this because we automatically arrange the object for you.

Once you’ve created a map to document all your ideas and establish connections, you can easily transition to other forms of diagramming to better organize the information.

For example if you’re writing a research paper about the food web of the Australian bushes you can start creating a food web diagram similar to the one below. This way you can easily visualize the web while writing the paper. This is a simple example but graphic organizers become even more important when the subject gets complex.

Although simple this example shows the importance of using graphic organizers for writing summaries. A comprehensive diagram pretty much does the summation for you.

Using Mind Maps as Graphic Organizers

Mind maps are a great way to depict a hierarchy. What is hierarchical organization ? The concept is simple: a singular topic dominates with each subsequent idea decreasing in importance.

Usually, the mind map starts with the thesis (or main idea) at the center.  From there, you can branch out with your supporting evidence.

Use this process to replace your traditional note taking technique – note cards, outlines, whatever. You’ll quickly realize a mind map is a great way to formulate the structure of your essay. The thing to note here is that the nature of the mind maps force you think about sub topics and how to organize your ideas. And once the ideas are organized writing the essay become very easy.

Above is a mind map of a research proposal. Click on it to see the full image or you can see the fully editable template via this link . As you can see in this mind map the difference areas of the research proposal is highlighted. Similarly when your writing the research paper you can use a mind map to break it down to sub topics. We have more mind map templates for you to get started.

Concept Maps

A concept map will help you visualize the connection between ideas. You can easily see cause and effect – how one concept leads to another. Often times, concept mapping includes the use of short words or phrases to depict the budding relationship between these concepts.

If you look closely you can see that its very similar to a mind map. But a concept maps gives more of a free reign compares to the rigid topic structure of a mind map. I’d say it’s the perfect graphic organizer for writing research papers where you have the license to explore.

By creating a concept map , you can also see how a broad subject can be narrowed down into specific ideas.  This is a great way to counter writers block.  Often, we look at the big picture and fail to see the specifics that lead to it.  Identifying contributing factors and supporting evidence is difficult. But with a concept map, you can easily see how the smaller parts add up to the whole.

Why Bother With Graphic Organizers?

If you already detest the writing process, adding another step might seem insane. However, there really are several advantages of using them.  If you haven’t already accepted the benefits of each individual diagram style, here are some more perks of graphic organizers in general:

• Quality essays are based on detail. No one is going to accept your opinions and reasoning just because you say so. You’ll need proof. And organizing that proof will require attention to detail. Graphic organizers can help you see that detail and how it contributes to the overall concept.
• Graphic organizers are flexible. You don’t need one of those giant pink erasers. You don’t need to restructure your outline. All you have to do is draw a few arrows and bam – the relationship has totally changed.
• No matter what you are writing about, a graphic organizer can help. They can be used to structure an essay on the Great Wall, theoretical physics, or Spanish speaking countries.
• If you write an outline, can you easily see how point A influences point X? Probably not. But if little thought bubble A is sitting out there all by itself, you can visualize the way it ties into point R, T and X.
• Some of us find it difficult to put our opinions, thoughts, and ideas into writing. However, communicating our feelings with little doodles and sketches is far less threatening.
• As a writer, our brain often feels like a 2-year-old’s toy box – a big jumbled mess. Taking that mess and putting it onto paper with some semblance of organization is challenging. Rather than trying to take your thoughts from total chaos to a perfectly structured list, just try to get them out of your brain and onto paper in the form of a diagram.
• A graphic organizer helps you establish validity and relevance. You can easily nix the ideas that don’t support or enhance your thesis.

The next time you are faced with a writing project, take a few minutes to explore the efficiency of graphic organizers. You can find a wealth of templates here.

Have you ever used a graphic organizer to structure an essay? How did it go? Do you have a diagram suggestion for the writing process that wasn’t mentioned here? Let us know!

Join over thousands of organizations that use Creately to brainstorm, plan, analyze, and execute their projects successfully.

More Related Articles

These are awesome guest posts contributed by our users and technology enthusiasts. Do you have something interesting to share? Want to get exposed to a massive tech audience? Check out our Guest Posting Guidelines to how to proceed.

How to Use Graphic Organizers to Write Better Essays

Lucid Content

Reading time: about 6 min

If you’re a student, there’s no way around the inevitable: You’re going to have to write essays. Lots of essays. In fact, the five-paragraph essay is so fundamental to the high school curriculum that it’s still used on the ACTs, and knowing how to recognize the organizational structure of essays will help you score higher on the SATs.

Even though it seems like a chore, knowing how to organize and write an essay can have a lasting effect on your life, from getting into a better college to scoring a better job to performing better in that job long after your high school days are over.

Here’s a secret: Using graphic organizers for writing essays can help you write better essays faster. (And don’t count yourself out if you’re an educator—you can offer these tools to help your students succeed.) We’ll show you exactly how to do it.

Why use graphic organizers

When ACT graders or teachers are looking your essay, they’re looking for very specific criteria; essentially, they’re looking at how well you’ve organized your thoughts. Many students don’t take the time to outline their essay structure before writing, and that always means a lower score on a test and a lower grade on the essay in class.

Using a writing template can feel like an unnecessary step in an already complicated process. If you need extra motivation to implement these organizers into your writing routine, consider all of their benefits. Graphic organizers can help you:

• Save time by showing you where each piece of the essay “lives.”
• Have more productive brainstorming sessions, either by yourself or with a group.
• Make connections between ideas and create a more cohesive argument.
• Pinpoint holes in your arguments and either adjust the thesis or find supporting statements.
• Keep track of your research.
• Organize your thoughts and come to interesting, more compelling conclusions.
• Stay in the right direction when you feel lost in a sea of words.
• Manage anxiety by converting the fear of a blank assignment into an action plan with a clear map.

With all those benefits, it’s hard to ignore how useful and vital graphic organizers are to writing. And once you’ve become adept at organizing your thoughts for something like a school essay, you’ll find that skill carries with you throughout your life, whether you’re trying to become a more intelligent debater to negotiate prices. It goes beyond just the essay to becoming a better thinker. And it starts with a simple template.

We’ll walk you through several use cases for graphic organizers and provide templates for you to download and fill in when you’re ready to write.

Brainstorming graphic organizers

Brainstorming is important, not only to come up with ideas for topics but to determine what information you need to include in the essay once you’ve determined your topic. Though many think of brainstorming as just freeflow thinking, brainstorming is most productive when you work within specific parameters.

That’s why essay brainstorming graphic organizers are useful, whether you’re using one to brainstorm on your own or you’re working with a group.

In Lucidchart, our mind map shapes and templates double as brainstorming graphic organizers. Start with an essay prompt as your central shape and then fill in the shapes that branch off your prompt with topic ideas. Alternatively, you can add your selected topic to the center and start brainstorming the different ideas you need to cover in your paper.

When the template is filled in, you’ll have a clear starting point for your essay or research paper.

Research paper graphic organizers

Nothing paralyzes students with fear quite like a research paper. These long-form papers require—as the name implies—quite a bit of research, and their purpose is to teach students how to look for valid sources to support their arguments.

But keeping track of all those sources and tying them into your argument can be tricky. That’s where a research paper graphic organizer can be a student’s greatest ally.

This template lays out the writing process itself. After you come up with a general topic, like “the disappearance of honey bees,” fill in the “Research Paper Topic” box.

Then, start looking for reputable sources (Wikipedia doesn’t count) and use the five sources boxes to hold the most relevant quotes and statistics you find. Using those quotes and statistics, you can then fill out a thesis statement that is supported by the research.

Then, you’ll be able to focus your paragraphs on a single topic each that supports the thesis statement and your overarching argument. After you’ve filled out the template, the backbone of the research paper is complete: All that’s left to do is fill in the spaces between sources and arguments.

5-paragraph essay graphic organizer

When it comes to writing the five-paragraph essay, writing diagrams are key. By using graphic organizers for writing, you’re no longer staring at a giant blank piece of paper with no idea how or where to begin. Your graphic organizer is your map.

Although using writing diagrams may seem time-consuming, the fact is that taking the time to fill a graphic organizer in before writing actually saves time. If there’s a problem with the argument, it will show up on the diagram, or if there’s not enough evidence to support your argument, you’ll know before you’ve wasted time writing the paper. And, as we said before, even if your writing is terrible, if your argument is sound, you’ll still score a decent grade.

Try this 5-paragraph essay template to get you started.

Don’t feel pressured to come up with a compelling title right away. Instead, it’s more important that you come up with a thesis statement that can be supported by three solid arguments. Fill in that thesis statement and your arguments. Then, for each argument, figure out three supporting details to support your case.

That’s it! You’ve got the most essential parts of your 5-paragraph essay completed.

Now, come up with an introduction that sets the stage for your argument and a conclusion that wraps up and restates your thesis and supporting arguments in a compelling way. Now you have a solid plan for your paper and can approach it with confidence.

If you’d like a more linear graphic that exactly follows the structure of the 5-paragraph, use the writing template below and follow the same process.

Visuals, such as graphic organizers for writing, can help you better understand concepts, think creatively, and collaborate with your classmates—and there are plenty of other templates where these came from.

Lucidchart offers hundreds of templates to help you through your studies, including timelines, Venn diagrams, word maps, and more. Sign up for Lucidchart and upgrade to an Educational account for free.

Resources for teachers

Providing graphic resources to students is essential; after all, many of your students will be visual learners, so while you may beautifully explain how the process works, there will be some who won’t understand until they see a template of the essay itself.

Lucidchart has many resources for teachers, from lesson plans to writing templates. While you’re teaching your students how to write essays or research papers, it’s useful to print out the templates and fill them out together (even using a completed template as a separate assignment with a separate grade) so that your students can get a feel for properly filling out graphic organizers before attempting it on their own.

Lucidchart, a cloud-based intelligent diagramming application, is a core component of Lucid Software's Visual Collaboration Suite. This intuitive, cloud-based solution empowers teams to collaborate in real-time to build flowcharts, mockups, UML diagrams, customer journey maps, and more. Lucidchart propels teams forward to build the future faster. Lucid is proud to serve top businesses around the world, including customers such as Google, GE, and NBC Universal, and 99% of the Fortune 500. Lucid partners with industry leaders, including Google, Atlassian, and Microsoft. Since its founding, Lucid has received numerous awards for its products, business, and workplace culture. For more information, visit lucidchart.com.

Related articles

Check out how Annika, a recent English graduate of the University of Michigan, used mind mapping in Lucidchart to develop her honors thesis.

Bring your bright ideas to life.

or continue with

Graphic Organizer for Research Paper

K-12 Internet Resource Center

A totally free index of Internet resources for the K-12 Community.

Research Paper Graphic Organizer

Help students to plan and prepare their research paper with this graphic organizer template.

This printable research graphic organizer is designed to help students synthesize their sources and ideas in order to ensure that they are ready to write. The template includes sections for students to outline the introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusions, allowing them to organize and plan their research papers effectively.

Suitable for high school and middle school students and can be used for a variety of subjects and topics.

Attributes: 6-8 9-12

Resource Link:  https://www.teachervision.com/research-paper-outline-graphic-organizer

Graphic Organizer for Research Papers

Our multi-paragraph organizers and single-paragraph organizers for writing research papers can be helpful in many classrooms.

These are another free resource for teachers from the curriculum corner..

We have expanded our collection of multi-paragraph organizers for writing research papers.

Included in our collection are a range of options for you to choose from.

Our new set includes options for single-paragraph essays along with choices for multiple-paragraph essays. 

A few years ago, my oldest son came home from school with a 10-paragraph research paper assignment.  

After choosing The Holocaust as his topic, he set out to gather knowledge and facts.  

His teacher gave the students an organizational tool which involved index cards.  Basically, he was to brainstorm 10 broad topics related to The Holocaust. He then would write them on 10 different index cards.  

Then as he set out to gather his research, he was to have at least 5 index cards for each broad topic. Those cards were for containing information and/or facts to go with each of the topic cards.  

These would eventually help him to develop his 10 paragraphs for the research paper.

My first thought said it was a great organizational tool and a very concrete way to help the students stay on topic. I quickly realized that this method was probably not the easiest for all kids.  

While he did fine, I would see him occasionally shuffling through cards and getting them mixed up.  

It got me thinking about those students we all have in our classes who have true struggles with organization. Those students might lose research because they misplace or mix up their cards.

As a result, I set out to create an organizer for those students.

Graphic Organizers for Research Writing

One of our graphic organizers follows the same organizational pattern as the index cards.

Instead of separate cards, students write all facts for each paragraph on one sheet of paper.

So for my son’s research paper assignment, he would have had 10 pages to keep in a folder, as opposed to several index cards.  

Obviously, students would have one organizer for each paragraph of their paper, no matter the length of the research paper that was assigned.  

While my son’s work inspired me to create the first organizer, the collection has grown to include a range of planners. You can browse through the set and choose which fit your classroom best.

One of the great aspects of these organizers is that they provide scaffolding for your writers. Students can choose the tool that works and makes sense to them.

Sometimes we find that students benefit from being able to choose their own.

This is a great way to provide choice and help students be successful.

You can download this set of organizers here:

Multi-Paragraph Graphic Organizer

You might also like our unit of study for writing research papers: How to Write a Research Paper

As with all of our resources, The Curriculum Corner creates these for free classroom use. Our products may not be sold. You may print and copy for your personal classroom use. These are also great for home school families!

You may not modify and resell in any form. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Author Study: Meet Seymour Simon - The Curriculum Corner 4-5-6

Monday 6th of April 2020

[…] Research Graphic Organizers […]

• How to Use Copilot In Word
• Traveling? Get These Gadgets!

15 Best Free Web Tools to Organize Your Research

How to stay organized when researching and writing papers

• Emporia State University
• Cloud Services
• Error Messages
• Family Tech
• Home Networking
• Around the Web

Organizing research is important not only for your own sanity, but because when it comes time to unfold the data and put it to use, you want the process to go as smoothly as possible. This is where research organizers come in.

There are lots of free web-based organizers that you can use for any purpose. Maybe you're collecting interviews for a news story, digging up newspaper archives for a history project, or writing a research paper over a science topic. Research organizers are also helpful for staying productive and preparing for tests.

Regardless of the topic, when you have multiple sources of information and lots to comb through later, optimizing your workflow with a dedicated organizer is essential.

Patrick Tomasso / Unsplash

Many of these tools provide unique features, so you might decide to use multiple resources simultaneously in whatever way suits your particular needs.

Research and Study

You need a place to gather the information you're finding. To avoid a cluttered space when collecting and organizing data, you can use a tool dedicated to research.

• Pocket : Save web pages to your online account to reference them again later. It's much tidier than bookmarks, and it can all be retrieved from the web or the Pocket mobile app .
• Mendeley : Organize papers and references, and generate citations and bibliographies.
• Quizlet : Learn vocabulary with these free online flashcards .
• Wikipedia : Find information on millions of different topics.
• Quora : This is a question and answer website where you can ask the community for help with any question.
• SparkNotes : Free online study guides on a wide variety of subjects, anything from famous literary works of the past century to the present day. 
• Zotero : Collect, manage, and cite your research sources. Lets you organize data into collections and search through them by adding tags to every source. This is a computer program, but there's a browser extension that helps you send data to it.
• Google Scholar : A simple way to search for scholarly literature on any subject.
• Diigo : Collect, share, and interact with information from anywhere on the web. It's all accessible through the browser extension and saved to your online account.
• GoConqr : Create flashcards, mind maps, notes, quizzes, and more to bridge the gap between your research and studying.

Writing Tools

Writing is the other half of a research paper, so you need somewhere useful to go to jot down notes, record information you might use in the final paper, create drafts, track sources, and finalize the paper.

• Web Page Sticky Notes : For Chrome users, this tool lets you place sticky notes on any web page as you do your research. There are tons of settings you can customize, they're backed up to your Google Drive account, and they're visible not only on each page you created them on but also on a single page from the extension's settings.
• Google Docs or Word Online : These are online word processors where you can write the entire research paper, organize lists, paste URLs, store off-hand notes, and more.
• Google Keep : This note-taking app and website catalogs notes within labels that make sense for your research. Access them from the web on any computer or from your mobile device. It supports collaborations, custom colors, images, drawings, and reminders.
• Yahoo Notepad : If you use Yahoo Mail , the notes area of your account is a great place to store text-based snippets for easy recall when you need them.
• Notion : Workflows, notes, and more, in a space where you can collaborate with others.

Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day

• The 10 Best Bookmarking Tools for the Web
• The 10 Best Free Online Classes for Adults in 2024
• The 8 Best Search Engines of 2024
• 17 Best Sites to Download Free Books in 2024
• The 8 Best Free Genealogy Websites of 2024
• The 10 Best Note Taking Apps of 2024
• 5 Best Free Online Word Processors for 2024
• The 10 Best Productivity Apps of 2024
• The 10 Best Chrome Extensions for Android in 2024
• The Best Mac Shortcuts in 2024
• The Best Brainstorming Tools for 2024
• The 15 Best Free AI Courses of 2024
• The 10 Best Writing Apps of 2024
• The 20 Best Free iPhone Apps of 2024
• The 10 Best Word Processing Apps for iPad in 2024
• The Top 10 Internet Browsers for 2024

• Try for free

New This Week: Research Process Graphic Organizers

• Topics : Inspiring Teachers Teaching Advice

If you have ever taught the research process, you know that it is challenging for students.TeacherVision advisory board member, Mikaela, created a comprehensive set of graphic organizers to support students during each step of the research process.

Teaching Research Is Challenging 

Teaching your students how to write a research paper can be challenging. Before students can write the paper, they need to know how to conduct research, how to analyze that research, how to cite that research, and how to synthesize their findings into a cohesive outline. It is a time-consuming process, but an essential one.

Finding resources that support students to practice and develop strong research skills can be challenging. You may find a great outline, but then realize you don’t have a system for supporting students to analyze their evidence.

A System For Teaching Research 

TeacherVision advisory board member, Mikaela, created a comprehensive set of graphic organizers that walk students through the research process in order to prepare them to write a research paper. You can use these resources individually as you are teaching writing or as a set to ensure that you are teaching students all the parts of the research process. Here are the organizers, so you can download and print:

• Citing My Sources Graphic Organizer 
• Paraphrasing Sources Graphic Organizer
• What's The "Gist"? Graphic Organizer
• Analyzing Sources Graphic Organizer 
• Research Paper Outline Graphic Organizer   

Essential Research Skills

There are five graphic organizers that are designed to be used in chronological order, so that students are practicing these essential research skills:

• Accessing information
• Understanding information
• Organizing information
• Evaluating information

Teaching Tip

Before students begin conducting research, teach a series of mini-lessons to help them best practices for finding and reading sources on the web. You can use, Student Guide To Web Research: Learning To Read On The Web , Guide To Citing Online Sources, and Student Guide to Web Research to make sure that students feel confident beginning this process.

Model the research process for students as much as possible. This process almost always ends up taking more time than you plan. Know that you might need to slow down the process in order for students to complete each step.   

How do you teach students to conduct research? Share with us on Instagram , Facebook , Twitter , and Pinterest .

Mikaela Prego is an elementary educator from Massachusetts. She spent the last 3 years teaching 4th grade in Colorado, and now she is back teaching in Massachusetts.

About the author

Contributor

About mikaela.