Concept Maps: Graphical Review Sheets
You can earn extra credit for making a concept map of any lecture, aside from the first lecture. Concept maps are worth 5 points each. The criteria for concept maps are given in the following paragraphs. Note that late extra credit submissions will not be considered. The maximum amount of extra credit you can earn in this class is 25 points.
One of the most helpful ways to remember lots of facts and names is to weave these items together by association, such as in a concept map. Concept mapping is the drawing of an elaborate diagram showing the topics, subtopics, and sub-sub topics of a particular subject. The goal of a concept map is to get you to associate ideas and organize lecture material. It requires you to be fairly familiar with how the subjects of a lecture are linked together. It is a great way to review your notes and study.
Instructions for setting up a concept map (as an example assignment) can be found at Examples of concept maps can be found at misconceptions/ concept_map/concept_maps.html .
Concept maps should be done on an 8 ½ x 11” piece of paper, but you can use both sides. Each map must cover an entire lecture on a topic. Typing up concepts maps using text boxes in Word works well, but you can also draw them neatly by hand. Legibility and neatness are part of your concept map grade. To get full credit for a map, you must not only show how ideas and terms are connected, but you also must use linking phrases between every box or concept. Example linking phrases can be found below. We may draw some maps together in groups during lecture time; these maps will be considered a regular activity and not eligible for extra credit.
You will have 1 week to complete a concept map for any particular lecture and to turn it in. That is, a lecture given on a Monday can be mapped for extra credit and submitted at the start of classthe following Monday in lecture.. Note: don’t copy or print out someone else’s map as your own! Copied concept maps will not earn any credit and will be considered an act of academic dishonest (for which there are severe penalties). Concept maps turned in after the one-week deadline will not be accepted. Remember -- you can always turn in a map early, before the deadline, if you fear you might be late.
On the next page is a partiallly completed concept map about membrane function. This is too simple for our purposes since it only covers a small topic, but it does illustrate the diagramming process. Note how the concept map shows ideas organized into hierarchies of association. There is no more than one detail or concept per box.
Linking phrases" are used between boxes to show how the subtopics fit in with the larger topic.
Good linking phrases are:
Biology 260 Microbiology E. Stavney pg 1
- Include
- Which Includes
- Such As
- Which Are Involved In
- Are Divided Into
- Which Communicates
- Is Controlled By
- Which Secrete/Secretes
- Which Relates (To)
- Which Is Divided Into
- Which Contains
- Which Consists Of
- Made Of
- Into The Categories of
- Which Is Made Of
- Results In
- Occurs In
- Causes the Production of
- Which Drains, Services, or Leads to
- To/Across
Biology 260 Microbiology E. Stavney pg 1
Biology 260 Microbiology E. Stavney pg 1
A Concept Map about concept maps. Note how "Concept Maps" is the central concept and all else flows from this. In place of "Concept Maps", you would write the lecture topic you are diagramming. Note especially the linking phrases between concepts.
Biology 260 Microbiology E. Stavney pg 1
Biology 260 Microbiology E. Stavney pg 1