WRTG 391 UMGC Week 5 Applying the Spider Diagram Discussion

You can use a spider diagram, or another way to think of it is a mind map, to help you to structure your discussion of sources for writing assignment #4, the synthesis of sources essay (literature review). The spider diagram can also help in coming up with gaps and unanswered questions that you found as a result of writing it.

A spider diagram (mind map) is a visual tool usually used for planning your writing. However, you can also use it for evaluating and thinking about a topic in detail.

To use the spider diagram (mind map), please print out your draft of your last assignment. Then place a piece of paper in front of you and complete the tasks listed below.

For more information on the Spider Diagram, please visit the link in the Resources to Review at the top of this week’s Content, Spider Diagrams.

Task :

• Write your idea/title/topic/thesis in the center of a piece of paper. Draw a circle around it. For the purposes of this exercise, you will use the topic of your Literature Review.
• Draw a “leg” from the central “body” of your Literature Review topic towards the top right hand corner of the page. Label this “leg” with the first topic/category that you dealt with in your Review.
• Add more legs moving clockwise around the page until all the sections have been included, with the final one being somewhere near the top left of the page.
• Now divide each “leg” up into smaller “legs” with all the points that you made in each section. (Again work clockwise from the top left so that the sequence of ideas is maintained).
• Finally, please be sure that one section is devoted to identifying any gaps or niches in the research literature in your synthesis of sources essay (literature review), or WA#3.
• You may have to redraw your spider diagram several times until you find a structure that works for you. Make sure that you find a proposal structure that suits the needs of your Niches and Gaps paper. Please post your spider diagram below.
• Respond to this discussion topic with one paragraph describing how this task might have helped you or why it did not help you in organizing your thoughts for WA#3.