Mind mapping downloads - free software

I have used mind mapping software. It is great for organising your thoughts and planning essays etc. But I am not a fan of free software.
Try doing some mindmaps on A3 paper and see if you like the process. Tony Buzan books from the library?

I used Tony Buzan's mindmapping technique with my mature students who took to the process with great enthusiasm and used it to good effect.

Don't you get 'how to' guides with your OU books ayse? i had helpful OU study guides that helped you identify your personal adult learning style for note-taking, revising, planning and structuring TMAs, word-storming, answering the question accurately and suchlike. It came with the first foundation course I did.

Hello All
whenim, yes I have the how to guides but I'm still trying to work out which is the bes method for me. My handwriting can be quite difficult to read and I hve tried mind mapiing but get into a bit of a mess. I thought maybe doing on the computer would at least, make it legible.
Jess M and Annoble, I will be going to the library tomorrow so I'll ask if they have the book. I may have a look on Amazon and see if there are any reviews. I might be tempted to purchase the book, once I've tried it out.

Thank you all for your suggestions.

If you have a look on the OU website there's an online adult learning styles section that helps you identify how you learn best, how to effectively make your notes and plan/structure, and what to do to optimise your learning and note-taking to improve your grades, for the reasons you give ayse. Wish there had been online stuff when I was studying with the OU - my writing is appalling now, because of using a keyboard for so many years!

Also, there's loads of adult learning styles tests and quizzes like Kolb and Myers-Briggs if you Google them and you can find helpful plans you might like that you can adapt to suit you.

Thanks whenim64
I've had a look at the learning style and I am a bit of a mixture of all of them. At school (a long time ago) it was just taking notes so that is what I'm used to but sometimes I find mind maps useful. I'll go and check out the OU site when I'm back home. Thanks

Ayse I think the software you're looking for is called Inspiration.

www.inspiration.com/

I like the look of that Soupy. it looks very strightforward.

Thanks Soupy