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The Great and Powerful Graphic Organizer

October 22, 2017

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Some of our most powerful instructional tools have been hanging around forever, just waiting for us to notice them.

One of those tools is the graphic organizer. It’s so simple—just a few shapes and lines, nothing fabulous, no bells or whistles—and yet beneath its simplicity lies an absolute dynamo, a vehicle that can cement learning more firmly than a lot of the other stuff we try, in a lot less time.

Let’s look at why graphic organizers are so powerful, explore some ways to use them that you may not have tried, and consider a few important tips for using them with the greatest impact.

Why Graphic Organizers Work So Well

According to Allan Paivio’s theory of dual coding , humans process information in both visual and verbal form. When we see the word “book,” we picture a book in our minds, because we’ve had plenty of real-life experiences with books. When we’re learning new words or concepts, it’s helpful to try to form mental images for those ideas to reinforce their meanings.

While some approaches like doodling  and the mind’s eye strategy apply this theory by having learners create physical and mental pictures of concepts, a graphic organizer keeps the words, but arranges them on a page visually so we better understand how concepts are related. Decades of research with various age groups and in different content areas has shown that in general, when graphic organizers are incorporated into instruction, student learning improves (Hall & Strangman, 2002).

Graphic organizers also help us meet the needs of all learners. Presenting information in both text and graphic formats is one of the most basic ways to make a lesson accessible to more students—the basis of  Universal Design for Learning —and graphic organizers definitely fit the bill there. In fact, much of the research on graphic organizers has focused on how powerfully they can impact the learning of students with learning disabilities and special needs (Dexter, Park, & Hughes, 2011; Douglas, Ayres, Langone, & Bramlett, 2011).

10 Uses for Graphic Organizers

1. note taking.

Have students use graphic organizers to take notes on their reading, when doing research, while watching a film, or while listening to a podcast. If you are already familiar with the content and how it’s structured, you might choose or design an organizer ahead of time for students, which research says can be more effective and efficient than having students create their own. (See the Tips section below for more information on this.)

2. Lecture Support

Instead of giving a lecture with a standard PowerPoint or an outline, present your content in a graphic organizer. This will instantly give students a way to visualize how the concepts are related to each other. If students ever give their own presentations, have them try using graphic organizers to present their information.

3. Pre-Writing

Having students use graphic organizers to plan and structure their ideas before putting them into a draft is a common practice in English language arts classes. If you’ve never tried it, it’s worth adding this into your writing process, especially if you teach a content area where writing isn’t a regular part of student work. A warning:  Do not treat the organizers as the writing piece ; have students just jot notes down in these, rather than complete sentences. The bulk of student writing time should be spent actually drafting their piece.

4. Text Illustrations

When students do expository or argumentative writing, consider having them add a graphic organizer to their finished product to illustrate a concept in their piece. In this case, the organizer would NOT be a pre-writing tool, but a supportive diagram to aid in their own readers’ comprehension. This may not work for all topics, but if a student is writing about how bees make honey, for example, a diagram that shows the process from flower to honey would go a lot further to help the reader understand than a downloaded image of a bee hovering over a flower. As students create diagrams to support their own texts, they will be more likely to pay attention to those that appear in the texts they read.

5. Pre-Reading

As students get older and are faced with more challenging texts, especially in content areas outside of English language arts, their comprehension gets a considerable boost if they are trained to identify the text structure prior to reading (Baxter & Reddy, 2007, p. 23). Some common text structures are compare and contrast, description, problem-solution, cause and effect, and sequence of events . Once the structure has been identified, students can complete a supporting graphic organizer while they read and fill in the components as they encounter them.

Another pre-reading graphic organizer is the KWL chart , which helps activate prior knowledge before reading and primes students to read with a purpose. KWL charts can work for any age group and can be used for single texts or at the beginning, middle, and end of an entire unit.

To read a comprehensive overview of research on graphic organizers as a reading strategy, see Manoli & Papadopoulou, 2012.

6. Assessment

Instead of assessing student learning with a quiz, try having students complete a graphic organizer that shows the relationships between various terms or concepts, or use this type of activity as one question on a quiz or assessment. Although this will not work for all content, it might be just right for evaluating whether a student understands the bigger picture of a body of content.

7. Thinking Tools

When we deliver content to students through lecture, readings, or video, our next step should be to have students interact with the content in some way. This can be accomplished with class discussions , lab work, or project-based learning . Another simple class activity that gives students a chance to grapple with the content is completing a graphic organizer: In groups, pairs, or even on their own, have students organize chunks of the content into graphic organizers, then compare their results to other groups. For example, if a foreign language class is studying vocabulary words for food, they could use a hierarchical organizer (like the one shown above) to organize “food” words into smaller groups, like meats, fruits, vegetables, and so on. This kind of sorting gives them more interaction with the terms and helps them work with similarities and differences, another powerful instructional strategy.

8. Unit Planning

When introducing a unit to students, show them how the parts of the unit fit together with a graphic organizer. Not only will this give them a sense of where you are in the unit at any given time, it should also help them understand why they are learning the individual parts. Bonus: Doing this exercise yourself could help you decide what concepts are most important for students to learn, and identify other things that may be “nice to know,” but aren’t necessarily vital to student understanding.

9. Classroom Management

Too often we hear “management” and think of dealing with problems, but a huge part of effectively managing a classroom is making your policies, procedures, and expectations crystal clear. Teachers often make signs listing class rules and procedures in writing, but putting the most important ones into graphic form will increase the likelihood that students will follow them.

10. Retrieval Practice

Just recently we covered the power of  retrieval practice to help students learn and retain information more effectively. One retrieval practice technique is called a Brain Dump, where students try to recall as much as they can about a given topic, without the aid of any supporting texts. After doing the dump, students are then allowed to check their texts to confirm, correct, or add to the information they retrieved. But if we added a step—having students sort their dumped information into some kind of graphic organizer, possibly even working in pairs to do so— then have them go to the text, it could further solidify the benefit of the retrieval and help them get very clear on where they have gaps in their knowledge.

Tips for Using Graphic Organizers Effectively

• Model how to use the organizers. If students aren’t taught how to use graphic organizers through teacher modeling and guided practice, they won’t get much from them. So take the extra step and model their use.
• Avoid complete sentences. Unless you have a very good reason to insist that students use complete sentences on their organizers, don’t do it. Complete sentences take up too much space, they take longer to write, and the effort to hold students accountable misses the whole point of the organizer. Show students how to use bullet points and sentence fragments to get ideas down and show how they are related.
• For complex material, consider teacher-generated organizers. In a 2007 study, students who were presented with author-created graphic organizers along with reading materials produced evidence of deeper learning in less time than those who had to produce their own graphic organizers (Stull & Mayer, 2007). When you present these to students, consider filling them only partially and having students complete the rest ; this has been shown to help students recall information more effectively and teach them how to take graphic organizer notes on their own (Robinson et al., 2006).
• Let students color outside the lines. Literally. As sketchnotes grow in popularity, educators are starting to recognize the power of doodling as a learning tool. Graphic organizers can be enhanced with small doodles and other notes that fall outside the basic structure of the organizer. As long as the student can still see the original structure and the drawings make sense to him or her, these “enhanced” organizers can reinforce concepts even more deeply.
• Offer a variety of organizers for day-to-day use. Once students become familiar with a certain type of organizer, they may find other uses for it that you haven’t even thought of. If you make these available to them in the same way that you might provide dictionaries or pencil sharpeners, you might find that students start using them even when they haven’t been assigned.

Want Them Ready-Made?

My Graphic Organizer Multi-Pack contains 15 beautiful designs, all done on editable PowerPoints and Google Slides, so you can customize them to suit your needs. The pack also includes video tutorials that show you exactly HOW to customize them. Click here to get a pack for your classroom!

References:

Baxter, S., & Reddy, L. (2007). What content-area teachers should know about adolescent literacy. National Institute for Literacy. Retrieved from https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/adolescent_literacy07.pdf.  PDF

Dexter, D. D., Park, Y. J., & Hughes, C. A. (2011). A meta‐analytic review of graphic organizers and science instruction for adolescents with learning disabilities: Implications for the intermediate and secondary science classroom. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice , 26 (4), 204-213.  PDF

Douglas, K. H., Ayres, K. M., Langone, J., & Bramlett, V. B. (2011). The effectiveness of electronic text and pictorial graphic organizers to improve comprehension related to functional skills. Journal of Special Education Technology, 26 (1), 43-56.  PDF

Hall, T., & Strangman, N. (2002). Graphic organizers. Wakefield, MA: National Center on Accessing the General Curriculum. Retrieved March 20, 2009. PDF

Manoli, P., & Papadopoulou, M. (2012). Graphic organizers as a reading strategy: Research findings and issues. Creative education, 3 (03), 348.  PDF

Robinson, D. H., Katayama, A. D., Beth, A., Odom, S., Hsieh, Y. P., & Vanderveen, A. (2006). Increasing text comprehension and graphic note taking using a partial graphic organizer.  The Journal of Educational Research ,  100 (2), 103-111.  PDF

Stull, A. T., & Mayer, R. E. (2007). Learning by doing versus learning by viewing: Three experimental comparisons of learner-generated versus author-provided graphic organizers.  Journal of Educational Psychology ,  99 (4), 808.  PDF

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Categories: Instruction , Learning Theory , Podcast

Tags: learning & memory , teaching strategies

28 Comments

Hi! I’m very interested in using graphic organizers in my classroom. Does this approach work well in a high school science classroom?

High school science would be a perfect place for graphic organizers! I would suggest starting with uses #2 and #7 if you haven’t used them with students before, but really, all ten would work great in high school science, so dive in!

Hi Chelsea and Jennifer, I teach secondary school science in the UK and love using graphic organisers to help the students make notes, understand the links between different things and make comparisons. e.g. we used Venn diagrams in Year 7 (age 11/12) recently to compare two different specialised cells; and a spider web style organiser to summarise structure and properties of small covalent molecules. Sometimes I prepare graphic organisers with prompts or questions in boxes to help the students complete them ‘independently’. Thank you for your work Jennifer, I love reading your posts, and can’t wait to try out your suggestions in the classroom!

I love your work! I work with new teachers and you have simplified the how and clarified the why. I recommend your work to everyone. I recently shared your Single-Point rubric at a state meeting. Thank you!

Hey Jenn, Another graphic organizer tool for students to use is SmartArt in MS Word or PowerPoint. These are simple shapes preset in various arrangements, but the power is the outline pane that allows you to easily increase or decrease the number of shapes. It’s great in the context of your article because there is not a preset number of “boxes” to fill in. While the teacher can determine which SmartArt arrangement to use, this allows the student to decide how many to make use of. Thanks for the article! I especially like the idea of using a Graphic Organizer as an assessment tool. I plan to try that this week. I’ve started to refer to your weekly topic often in my department meetings. It’s proven to be a great way to start an awesome discussion! –jeff

Jennifer, Thanks for posting this! I love graphic organizers and this is a wonderful resource. I wonder if you have come across David Hyerle’s Thinking Maps in your research on GAs? Here are a couple of links, if you haven’t. I think Hyerle has come up with something really powerful.

http://www.thinkingfoundation.org/ http://www.thebalancebetween.com/

Hyerle also has several books in print. I have no connection with Hyerle, just a big fan.

Thanks so much for these links, James. I have been referred to Thinking Maps over and over, and they seem wonderful. I have to admit, it’s been frustrating, because it’s like standing outside a beautiful store I can’t go into. Everything I’ve read about Thinking Maps indicates that the only way to learn about them is through an in-school training, and since I am no longer in the classroom, I can’t take advantage of that. I really wish they had some kind of online resources for people outside of school systems to learn. I would imagine homeschoolers must feel the same frustration! If you’re aware of how an ordinary Joe like myself can learn more, I’d love to take advantage of it. Thanks.

I’m not a teacher in a classroom, but I’ve started drawing mindmaps in organizing my always racing brain. It really helps to see my ideas laid out in picture form in a nice, logical flowchart. I can see how this technique would be invaluable in the classroom. Thanks for sharing!

Hi Jennifer! I’ve recently discovered your podcast and, as an instructional coach, have taken away great ideas/research to share with my teachers! Looking at your collection of graphic organizers on TPT, I noticed they are recommended for grades 6+. What’s the most effective way to use graphic organizers with elementary school kids? I’ve used them in the past, but always love when I can find research to back it up.

Hi, LeeAnn!

I work for Cult of Pedagogy, and also taught at the elementary level for many years. It’s funny because I remember years ago when I kind of stopped using graphic organizers, because I just didn’t see them making much of an impact on student learning. In hindsight, I think it’s mostly because I really didn’t know how to use them with intention or with an end goal in mind. I needed to be more purposeful and direct with my teaching, helping kids understand how organizers are a tool that helps them plan their ideas, make connections, and see how concepts are related. I think I was using them just to use them, or maybe because some of them looked kinda cute. Now I’m back to graphic organizers with a whole new intention! As with any tool, and with at any age, I think as long as teachers are doing lots of modeling, direct teaching, and being really clear on how and why we use organizers, they’ll be effective. Circles, lines, words, doodles…even with the youngest of kids, are effective when used with intention. As a side note, although Jenn’s organizers say for grades 6+, I’ve used them with younger kids too. In addition to Jenn’s post , here are a few other resources that may interest you. I hope this helps! Teaching and Learning with Graphic Organizers and How to Use Graphic Organizers to Enhance Learning .

Great resource!

Hi Jennifer, Thanks you for this great resource, and for all the great work you do in this space on the craft of teaching! I am a late-starter to the education sector but loving it!

Something that I would like more guidance in, and I think it is related to this area, is the issue of starting an extended response (essay).

A question I often get from students is how do I start the essay, to which my standard response (based on my “How to write an introduction” model: Thesis statement; Roadmap; Glimpse of my conclusion), is to use my classic Essay starter…”This essay offers a discussion / reflection / explanation on…” (This is how I actually used to begin all of my essays at University. I know – I’m just not very creative!). Other tips I would give my students is to use key words from the actual question provided, so that the language is correct, and that they address the question right away. I never suggest that they repeat the question.

I know there isn’t a simple formulaic response but if you can point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Kindest regards, Tivoli

I’m thinking that an inductive learning lesson could work really well with helping kids understand what goes into an effective introduction. See what you think!

I think this article is helpful and yet the irony is that there is no graphic organizer to show how this tool can be useful or how to develop them for your content. There are only lists and bullet ponits. Consider adding one?

This author reminded me of the power and effectiveness of graphic organizers in helping students organize, make meaning and see the connections to the items they are learning or thinking about.

This information was a great reminder on the power of GO’s!

I am a very visual person and so I like to use graphic organizers a lot. Good to know it can be beneficial for the students as well.

I teach highly gifted K2. I’m looking for a visual way to help my students (who may be smart, but don’t always like to write) organize their thoughts and get them onto paper (or digital doc)! Do you have suggestions?

If you haven’t already, take a look at the resources below and see what you think. They all offer a way for kids to visually organize and represent their thinking outside of the structure that graphic organizers typically provide.

Hexagonal Thinking: A Colorful Tool for Discussion A Simple Trick for Success with One-Pagers To Boost Higher-Order Thinking, Try Curation Note-Taking: A Research Roundup Dual Coding Strategy

Hope this helps!

These are so useful. I love using graphic organizers (not all fit every student). I love the jotting note part instead of using it as the whole paper!

Fantastic knowledge and reminders of how impactful graphic organizers can be for students to have as a resources to gather and collect their thoughts and ideas.

Great reminders.

This was such a great reminder of how powerful graphic organizers are. They are a simple tool with endless opportunities to enhance learning. I love the idea of having a student create a G.O. as a text illustration for a piece of writing that they do. This encourages reflection, metacognitive thinking, and deeper thinking.

We’re so glad you enjoyed the post, Erica!

What is more effective for grades 4-6, digital or paper graphic organizers. Same question for grades 6-8?

Hi Deb, Now that we have so many amazing digital resources, it can feel like we need to incorporate them into our lessons all the time. Though there doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer in terms of one being more effective, teachers can still use both. Certain activities might make sense with one over the other, or if given a choice, students might demonstrate a preference. If you’re looking for ideas on making your lessons more tech-friendly, try 16 Ideas for Student Projects Using Google Docs, Slides, and Forms . And if you’re thinking about whether your tech tools are actually helping your students meet their learning goals, this article, Quality-Check Your Tech: 6 Strategies might be helpful as well.

My students have a tendency to want to use graphic organizers as a first draft rather than a list of ideas. Do you have a strategy for teaching how to put ideas into bullet points rather than going straight to sentence writing?

Felicia, if you haven’t already, check out the section Tips for Using Graphic Organizers Effectively at the end of this post. One simple, but effective, strategy for teaching students how to capture their ideas using bullet points is modeling and guided practice. For instance, you might consider creating a partially-generated graphic organizer to accompany a complex text. This would serve not only to scaffold the text itself, but also to provide guided practice for students in the use of graphic organizers. I hope this helps!

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Making thinking visible

While we know that understanding is developed through deep and involved discussions of course content, many students benefit from additional written and visual scaffolding. In this video, Gretchen Brion-Meisels discusses how she uses graphic organizers, both for small-group discussions and in whole class share-outs. These organizers help students keep track of their learning and “hold onto” key ideas they generate in class. In small-groups, Brion-Meisels makes these graphic organizers optional, letting students decide how much they need to use them in order to have generative discussions. She also collects these graphic organizers after class, summarizes the key ideas, and then shares those ideas back with all student thus enabling students to learn from each other through their own note-taking.

Gretchen Brion-Meisels , Lecturer on Education

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• Classroom Considerations
• Relevant Research
• Related Resources
• Graphic organizers can serve many purposes for students, from helping them take notes on a lecture, to recording different perspectives in a group discussion, to synthesizing their thinking at the end of a lesson. Consider your day’s learning goals when creating graphic organizers so they feel purposeful for that session.
• Graphic organizers don’t have to be fancy. Simple tables and layouts can work just as well for structuring students’ thinking as detailed graphics.
• Consider how graphic organizers could be helpful or not for the learners in your classroom. For example, making graphic organizers optional or easy to access on your course website or in print form can help tailor your class experience to students with many different learning styles. 
• Consider also how your graphic organizers might transfer to different forms of media, including whiteboards, Google Docs, or online discussion boards. Taking graphic organizers off the printed page can help students use them to make connections and build on each other’s ideas. 
• Graphic organizers, when partially constructed by the instructor, are associated with deeper learning ( Stull & Mayer, 2007 ).
• DiCecco and Gleason demonstrate that graphic organizers can help students make sense of text ( 2002 ).
• Graphic organizers can support cognitive processing efficiency by facilitating information selection, organization of content, and integration of content ( McCrudden & Rapp, 2017 ).
• This blog post from the Cult of Pedagogy provides many helpful tips and practical suggestions for using graphic organizers in your classroom .
• Project Zero at HGSE has a wealth of resources and articles on “Visible Thinking.”

Related Moves

Using Boards to Organize and Structure Class Thinking

Modeling Thought Processes and Sharing Personal Experience

Capturing Students' Contributions on the Board

Free Editable Graphic Organizer for Research Paper

If you are looking to learn more about how to come up with a graphic organizer for research papers , you are in the right place. In this post, along with looking at the basics of these organizers, we are also going to share some editable examples for free.

1. What is a Graphic Organizer for Research Paper

A graphic organizer in general can be defined as a graphical representation of the various elements in an activity/process. It also displays their relationship and/or chronological order. Not all organizers stick to the same pattern, but the gist remains the same. Similarly, a graphic organizer for research papers can be defined as a representation using which arguments, facts, and reasons pertaining to a research paper can be mapped out and displayed in an easily perusable form.

Coming up with a graphic organizer prior to actually writing out the research paper can be a highly useful and beneficial step. The quality of a research paper relies on being professionally and adroitly written, with little to be pointed out or corrected. In order to be written correctly, a proper pattern and order have to be followed. The arguments must be written one by one with their respective evidence and reasoning. This can be achieved if they (the arguments) are planned and assembled beforehand. Then the writer can simply tackle one part at a time. On the contrary, if the arguments are written all together, then the reasoning and the evidence can get jumbled up, leaving the reader confused.

2. The Graphic Organizer for Research Paper Examples

In order to better illustrate how these graphic organizers look like, we are going to look at some examples of the same. As we saw before, these organizers can be really important for the integrity and proficiency of the research paper. By giving the paper structure and order, the writer can make sure that each argument hits home and convinces the reader.

Example 1: Graphic Organizer for Research Paper

The core and crux of a graphic organizer for research papers can be understood from this example. This organizer features three sections in a vertical alignment. The top section is the introductory part where the title or topic of the discussion/research has to be mentioned. Similarly, the introduction points are also to be enumerated here. In the next segment, there are three columns. The details and evidence for each paragraph of the paper are to be filled in the spaces given in the columns.

In the end, there is a conclusion part where the summation of the arguments and their support can be given. This template is specifically for a paper that features three paragraphs. However, if you need to add more, you can simply increase the number of columns and structure your details according to your need.

Example 2: Graphic Organizer Research Paper Outline

In this outline, there is firstly the introductory part where the name of the topic and the stance/perspective is mentioned. Then, in substantiation of the stance, three reasons can be given in the oval-shaped sections. Each reason is to be further supported by a concrete example, and an explanation pertaining to that example and its relevance to the reason.

The concrete examples/explanations are given in a rectangular section. You can add as many examples as you need to support your reason. Similarly, you can take inspiration from this design and come up with a similar layout that has a larger number of included reasons/arguments.

This outline can help you understand how a research paper organizer has to be created. It can also help you when you actually want to write one out, and you want to divide your content separately and tackle it part by part.

Example 3: The Research Paper Graphic Organizer

This outline is much more elaborate and detail-oriented as compared to the last example. While the previous example was about planning and structuring the content of a research paper, this organizer focuses on the style, convention, and order that is to be featured in the paper.

The organizer starts off with the preliminary ‘Focus’ part, where the thesis statement has to be written. This is the part where the purpose of the paper and the aim of your argument is usually elucidated. Then there is the ‘Content’ part where the arguments or subtopics have to be separately mentioned and listed. Then comes the ‘Style’ section where you can plan out what sort of grabbers and zingers you are going to use in your content.

After that, there is the ‘Organization’ part where you can write out the order in which your arguments have to appear. The sequence of the arguments can have quite an impact on your paper. Last but not least, there is the ‘Conventions’ box that you can fill out.

Example 4: Graphic Organizer for Research Paper

In this example, the primary purpose of the outline is not to plan out how the research paper has to be written. Instead, this example is labeled as a ‘Research Note Taker’. This outline can be defined as a form that is used to gather relevant information about the research.

This organizer can affect the quality of your research paper despite not being a planner in the strictest of sense. Using this organizer, you can list various notes and points about your research along with their sources. This can help you by a) making the referencing easy and b) by giving you an order to follow while writing out the paper. You can, while taking the notes, place them in the order you would like them to appear in the writing.

Example 5: Research Paper Graphic Organizer

This research paper graphic organizer utilizes a distinct layout and method of planning. This organizer starts off with a ‘Sources’ section rather than jumping straight to the arguments, and the ‘why?’, ‘how?’ or ‘when?’ of the whole affair.

After mentioning the name of your topic in the upper right corner, you can write out the sources you are using for your research. By default, this layout has five boxes available for this purpose. Then follows the ‘Thesis Statement’. This is where the purpose and perspective of the arguments are mentioned. After that, the 'Notes' are to be mentioned, and then the paragraphs can be individually planned.

In the last example, we saw that the graphic organizer was about taking notes/quotes relevant to the research rather than organizing the paragraphs and content of the paper. In this Research Paper Graphic Organizer, we can see that it features both. It can be used as an organizer for the layout of the paper, and it can also be used to write the notes thanks to the dedicated ‘Notes’ section.

Example 6: Graphic Organizer for Research Paper PDF

Next comes the Research Paper Graphic Organizer PDF. This template can be used to plan out the various points and aspects of a particular research question. The drawing features a triangle in the middle, where the 'Main Research Question' has to be written. After that, there is a whole bunch of boxes circumscribing the center. This is where 'Questions' and 'Facts' have to be mentioned.

Unlike some other examples on this list, this organizer does not explain the order or sequence of the paper. It merely gives us the option of writing out different reasons and pieces of evidence in substantiation of our argument.

Source: EdrawMax Online Edit Now

Example 7: Graphic Organizer for Persuasive Writing

This template is a nice and simple example of what a graphic organizer should look like. There are three sections in this example. First is the part where the stance or opinion of the writer is mentioned. Then, there are three boxes underneath where the arguments will be listed and explained. And finally, the conclusion will wrap up the whole affair.

In contrast to some of the more complex structures we have seen in this list, this organizer looks really simple and straightforward. If you are just looking to create a plan for yourself using which you can organize different arguments and reasons in your research paper, this type of organizer can suffice for you.

Example 8: Graphic Organizer for Research Papers

If you are looking to plan out each paragraph of your paper with detail, this sort of graphic organizer is what you are looking for. Up till now, the examples we saw merely had a box or two for the paragraphs, where the contents could be lightly introduced and explained. However, in this organizer, each paragraph is written as a separate heading. For each paragraph, you can write the topic sentence, conclusion, and the included facts/details.

On the first page, you get a blank space which is where the crux or the introduction of the paper will go. After that, you can prepare your paragraphs in a sequence by numbering them and filling out their details one by one. In this particular example, the topic under discussion is ‘Natural Disasters’.

Example 9: Graphic Organizer for Insect Research Papers

While this example focuses particularly on insects, the included layout can be used for any topic of your choice. There is not a particular order or sequence in this graphic organizer. It simply features various boxes and containers where different pieces of information can be written about the subject.

In the example, the boxes are labeled ‘Where does this insect live?’ ‘What does it look like?’ and ‘What does this insect like to eat?’ etcetera. Since the subject is a June bug, these boxes are for details related to it. If you want to come up with a similar graphic organizer, you can simply choose your desired topic and then arrange bits of information such as ‘How does it occur?’, ‘Why does it happen?’ etcetera.

3. Online Graphic Organizer for Research Paper Maker

EdrawMax Online is a cloud-based software that allows users to come up with a variety of different diagrams, charts, drawings, and graphic organizers. By simply signing up, you can get access to a canvas where you can draw any organizer of your choice by dragging and dropping various shapes and symbols from the included library. You can also use EdrawMax Online to come up with graphic organizers for research papers. You can choose to create one from scratch or just use a template, albeit the latter option relies on the presence of a template in the template gallery .

Why Choose EdrawMax Online

• Create over 280 diagram types
• Supports team collaboration
• Personal cloud & data protection
• Print, share and download
• Powerful template community

4. Key Takeaways

Coming up with a graphic organizer for research papers can be very useful and beneficial. By organizing your ideas and arguments in a structured form, you can save yourself confusion and trouble when the time arrives to put everything in writing.

By using EdrawMax Online , you can create a graphic organizer easily by using existing shapes and symbols and filling them out with text. There are a bunch of features that you can use to personalize your drawings and give them a unique touch. The ease of use, availability and multiple-format support makes EdrawMax an excellent option for making drawings, diagrams, flowchart, UML diagram, graphic organizers and 280+ types of diagrams. You can find out more graphic organizer examples in the Template Gallery.

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• Published: 23 August 2021
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The purpose of this study was to determine how graphic organizer completeness (complete, partial, or no organizer) and note-taking medium (longhand or computer) affect note-taking quantity and quality and affect computer-based learning. College students were presented with a computer-based PowerPoint lesson accompanied by complete, partial, or no graphic organizers. Throughout the lesson, students recorded notes using either longhand or computer mediums. Students were tested immediately following the lesson and again two days later following a review period during which graphic organizers and notes were studied. Finally, students completed a survey. Results revealed that organizer completeness affected achievement. Those given complete organizers generally achieved more than those with partial or no organizers across fact-, relationship-, concept-, and skill-based test items. Note-taking medium did not affect achievement differentially, but there were important note-taking findings. Longhand note takers recorded more lesson ideas in notes and had fewer verbatim strings in notes (reflective of more generative processing) compared to computer note takers. Moreover, longhand note takers reported more positive attitudes about their note-taking medium than did computer note takers. Results suggested that complete organizers aid germane load more than partial organizers and that longhand note taking results in deeper processing than does computer note taking. Therefore, instructors should provide complete organizers to promote student learning and should encourage students to take longhand notes when they learn in a computer-based learning environment.

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Kenneth A. Kiewra, Junrong Lu, Carrie Kennedy & Sheldon Black

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Appendix A: Sample PowerPoint Slides

Appendix B Complete Graphic Organizers

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Colliot, T., Kiewra, K.A., Luo, L. et al. The effects of graphic organizer completeness and note-taking medium on computer-based learning. Educ Inf Technol 27 , 2435–2456 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10693-y

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10 Free Graphic Organizer Templates for Any Subject

Different lessons require different types of content to help students learn. Here are 10 free graphic organizer templates to use for any subject.

Most students are returning to the classroom in Fall 2021, but everyone’s learning methods have had to change over the past two years. It’s important to adapt as an educator with new techniques , digital materials, and fresh content to keep students engaged .

For any subject, graphic organizers provide effective ways to introduce, teach, develop, and test new material. But different lessons require different types of content to help students learn best. I’m going to give you 10 free graphic organizer templates to use for any subject – just use the Make It button to customize, label, and download your graphic organizer.

• Venn Diagram
• Plot Pyramid
• Brainstorm Chart
• Concept Map
• 5-Paragraph Essay Outline
• 4 Square Writing Chart

1. Flowchart

The Flowchart is one of the most versatile and recognizable forms of graphic organizer out there, ideal for project planning and science experiments. A goes to B goes to C goes to D . With this version, you can copy and paste sections of the chart to make it as long or as short as you need, label each section with specific details, and add a title and other information for your assignment.

2. Timeline

The Timeline is similar to the flowchart , with events spaced out along a single path . In a Timeline, however, the intervals between the events is important to the graphic organizer as a whole. Using this template, you can drag events from one point of the Timeline to another, and add text labels for years and events.

3. Venn Diagram

One of the most widely-used graphic organizers, the Venn Diagram provides a simple way for students to compare and contrast 2 or more distinct ideas. With this template, you can copy and recolor the Venn Diagram circles to compare any number of items with each other.

4. Plot Pyramid

This graphic organizer is most commonly used in elementary and middle school English, language arts, and literature classes. It’s used to identify and map the various stages of a plot arc , from exposition to conclusion. Use this template to title the Plot Pyramid and add any other relevant information you need.

5. Brainstorm Chart

The Brainstorm Chart is a far more freeform type of graphic organizer than most others on this list, and can be arranged almost any way you like. All it requires is a central idea or “problem” to solve, along with an array of other ideas and concepts that are connected to it, and supporting details for these connected points. The freeform nature of the Brainstorm Chart allows students to think creatively and originally on any subject.

6. Concept Map

The Concept Map is similar in form to the Brainstorm Chart, but with slightly more limitations on how it’s used. It’s used to illustrate the relationships that exist between various related concepts , filling in different sections of the organizer to show how the different parts are connected. The Concept Map is perfect for introducing students to a new set of related vocabulary terms in any subject.

7. 5-Paragraph Essay Outline

While some of your students may not remember the 5-paragraph essay too fondly years later, it’s an important step in developing their persuasive writing . This classic 5-paragraph planner is perfect for helping students construct their arguments, counter-arguments, supporting data, and conclusions before they put pen to paper.

8. 4 Square Writing Chart

The 4 Square Writing Chart is similar to the 5-paragraph essay outline, it gives space for looser organizational styles and more creative types of writing structure . The central area contains the main idea or argument, and the surrounding squares are filled with supporting arguments, sections of a narrative essay, personal experiences, or several sides to the same story.

9. Story Map

The Story Map is used for a similar purpose to the Plot Pyramid, but with a broader approach to narrative plot arcs. In the Story Map, students not only recount the plot progression of a story, but detail the setting , characters , and central problems and outcomes . There are dozens of ways to organize your own Story Map, so I recommend you use this template to include whatever areas are most important for your students to identify and analyze.

10. KWL Chart

KWL Charts ask students to write on three different things before and after completing a lesson, activity, or reading: what they Know already about the topic, what they Want to learn from the lesson, and, afterward, what they Learned from the experience. It creates more of a big-picture exercise than most of the graphic organizers on this list, allowing students to identify what they gain from their lessons.

I hope these graphic organizer templates help you engage students effectively in every subject you teach. For more tips and tutorials on creating great digital content in 2021, check out the Kapwing YouTube channel or read through some related articles on education materials:

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