graphic organizer for a presentation

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Blog Graphs and Charts 19 Graphic Organizer Examples to Simplify Complex Concepts

19 Graphic Organizer Examples to Simplify Complex Concepts

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Nov 28, 2023

Graphic organizers serve as essential visual aids that assist students in structuring and displaying information in a clear, accessible manner. These tools are particularly effective in simplifying and demystifying complex topics, ensuring that intricate concepts are easier to understand and remember.

From Venn diagrams to concept maps, these organizers play a pivotal role in enhancing comprehension and retention of the main idea, especially in educational settings.

Each type of graphic organizer offers a unique approach to organize information, making it easier to grasp complex concepts and brainstorm ideas. These organizers are not just tools for visual representation, but also catalysts for deeper understanding and creative thinking.

Discover these engaging tools on Venngage and sign up today to start creating your own effective graphic organizers for enhanced learning.

By signing up , you gain access to a diverse array of graphic organizer templates, enabling you to create your own effective graphic organizers. 

Click to jump ahead:

Venn diagram

Concept map, double bubble map, hierarchy chart, cluster diagram, sequence chart, idea web graphic organizer, spider map graphic organizer, circle map graphic organizer, hexagon organizer, idea wheel graphic organizer, tree chart graphic organizer, sequence of events chain graphic organizer, cause and effect map graphic organizer, problem-solving chart, organizational chart graphic organizer.

• Bottom line 

A venn diagram is a highly versatile tool used to visually represent the relationships between different sets of items. Typically composed of overlapping circles, each circle represents a distinct set of items or ideas, with the overlapping areas indicating commonalities. 

Venn diagram is particularly effective in comparing and contrasting concepts, highlighting similarities and differences in a straightforward, easily comprehensible manner. Venn diagrams are widely used in various fields ranging from education to business, aiding in problem-solving, data analysis and brainstorming sessions. 

They offer a clear and concise way to visualize the connections and distinctions among multiple groups or concepts, making them an invaluable tool for organizing complex information.

Mind maps are dynamic tools used for brainstorming, planning and organizing thoughts in a visually appealing and structured manner. Centered around a single, central idea, they branch out into various related sub-topics, creating a spider-web-like structure. 

A mind map helps in visualizing the relationships between different ideas, fostering creative thinking and memory retention. Mind maps are commonly used in educational settings for note-taking, essay planning and studying, as well as in business for project planning and strategy development. 

Their flexible nature allows for the integration of words, images and colors, making them an engaging and effective way to explore and expand upon ideas, both simple and complex.

Concept maps are graphical tools used for organizing and representing knowledge. They consist of concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes, connected by labeled arrows in a downward-branching hierarchical structure. 

These maps are designed to illustrate the relationships among various concepts, often capturing complex structures of understanding or knowledge. 

Concept maps are particularly useful in educational settings for learning, teaching and assessment, as they encourage deep understanding and integration of new information with existing knowledge. 

In professional contexts, they aid in problem-solving, decision-making and explaining intricate processes or systems. 

Concept maps are a powerful tool for making sense of complex topics by visually breaking them down into more manageable components.

Story maps are specialized graphic organizers used for dissecting and understanding the elements of a story or narrative. They typically focus on identifying key components such as the setting, characters, plot, conflict and resolution. 

By breaking down a story into its fundamental elements, these maps provide a clear framework for analyzing and comprehending narratives. They are particularly useful in educational environments for teaching literary analysis, improving reading comprehension and assisting in creative writing. 

Story maps not only aid students in summarizing and understanding literature but also provide a structured approach for planning and outlining their own stories, ensuring a coherent and well-structured narrative flow.

The double bubble map is an effective graphic organizer used for comparing and contrasting two items, concepts or events. It features two central bubbles representing the items being compared, surrounded by outer bubbles that contain attributes or characteristics of each item. 

The unique aspect of this map is the inclusion of additional bubbles in the overlapping area, highlighting the similarities between the two central items.

A double bubble map provides a clear visual representation of how two entities are alike and different, making it a valuable tool in educational settings for critical thinking exercises, literary analysis and enhancing comprehension of complex topics.

The double bubble map helps students organize information systematically, encouraging them to explore and understand the nuances of comparison and contrast.

A hierarchy chart, also known as an organizational chart, is a graphic organizer that illustrates the structure of an organization or a system. It is structured in a top-down manner, with the highest level at the top (like a CEO or the main concept) and subsequent levels representing different ranks or sub-categories.

This type of chart is crucial for visualizing the chain of command within an organization or the breakdown of complex systems into smaller, more manageable parts.

Hierarchy charts are widely used in business for depicting organizational structures, in education for breaking down concepts and in project management for outlining the structure of a project. They offer a clear, easy-to-understand representation of relationships and roles within any hierarchical system.

The T-chart is a simple yet versatile graphic organizer that helps in comparing two aspects of a single topic. It consists of a large ‘T’ shape, with the vertical line dividing the page into two columns. Each column represents a different aspect, viewpoint or characteristic, allowing for a clear, side-by-side comparison.

T-charts are widely used in educational settings for analyzing texts, comparing historical events, or weighing pros and cons in decision-making processes. They are particularly helpful in enhancing students’ analytical skills, as they encourage them to organize their thoughts and view topics from multiple perspectives.

The simplicity of the T-chart makes it an accessible tool for students of all ages, fostering critical thinking and structured analysis.

Cluster diagrams, also known as cloud diagrams, are graphic organizers that help in brainstorming and organizing ideas around a central concept. The main idea is placed in the center, usually within a circle, and related ideas or subtopics branch out from it, forming a cluster-like structure.

This diagram is particularly useful for visualizing the relationships between a main concept and its various components or aspects. Cluster diagrams are widely used in brainstorming sessions, idea generation and planning phases of projects.

They encourage creative thinking and help in the exploration of complex topics by breaking them down into smaller, interconnected parts. This organizer is an effective tool for both individual and group activities, aiding in the visual representation and organization of thoughts and ideas.

Sequence charts are essential graphic organizers for outlining the chronological order of events or steps in a process. They are particularly effective in helping students understand the time-based progression of events in history, literature or scientific processes. 

Sequence charts typically consist of boxes or arrows that guide the viewer through a series of steps or events, emphasizing the order and interconnectivity of each part. 

In educational settings, they assist in simplifying complex sequences and timelines, making them more accessible and easier to remember. 

They are also used in project planning and workflow management, providing a clear visual representation of stages in a process or project.

Idea web graphic organizers are designed to visually map out the connections between a central idea and related concepts. 

At the heart of the web is the main topic, from which various lines or branches extend to link to secondary and tertiary ideas or details. This spider-web-like structure is ideal for brainstorming sessions, where it helps in organizing thoughts and fostering creative associations. 

Idea webs are widely used in educational contexts for essay planning, story writing and exploring complex concepts. They encourage students to think divergently, making connections between different ideas and expanding upon the central theme in a visually coherent way.

Spider map graphic organizers, resembling a spider’s web, are used for detailing the attributes or components of a central idea or theme. The main concept sits at the center, with lines extending outward to secondary nodes that represent related information or subtopics.

Spider maps are versatile tools in education for note-taking, studying and brainstorming, enabling students to visually organize and interconnect ideas. 

They also serve as valuable tools in project planning and conceptual mapping in various professional fields.

Circle map graphic organizers are utilized for brainstorming and defining concepts in a clear, concise manner. They consist of two concentric circles: the inner circle hosts the main idea or topic, while the outer circle contains information, attributes or related ideas. 

This map is particularly effective for initiating thought processes around a new topic, gathering prior knowledge or brainstorming ideas before delving into more detailed study or analysis. 

Circle maps are popular in educational settings for introducing new concepts, encouraging students to explore and connect their existing knowledge with new information, thereby facilitating a deeper understanding of the subject matter.

Hexagon organizers are dynamic graphic tools used for exploring connections and relationships between various ideas or concepts. Each hexagon represents a unique idea or piece of information, and these hexagons are arranged next to each other to demonstrate how they interconnect.

Hexagon organizers are popular in brainstorming sessions, for mapping out systems or processes, and in educational settings to help students understand the interdependent nature of certain concepts or events.

Idea wheel graphic organizers are circular tools that help in brainstorming and organizing ideas around a central theme or question. The central hub of the wheel represents the main idea, and spokes radiate out to smaller circles or sections where related ideas or details are noted.

This organizer is effective for visualizing the components of a topic, planning essays or projects, and encouraging creative thinking. 

In educational settings, idea wheels assist students in exploring topics thoroughly, ensuring that all aspects are considered and helping them to see how different ideas connect to the central theme.

Tree chart graphic organizers are hierarchical tools used to represent the structure of ideas or concepts. Resembling a tree, the main idea forms the trunk and branches represent subtopics or related information. 

It is particularly effective for breaking down complex information into manageable parts, making it easier to understand and analyze.

Tree charts are widely used in educational environments for studying biology, corporate structures or family genealogies, as well as in business for mapping organizational hierarchies or decision trees. 

They provide a clear, visual method of showing relationships and hierarchies within a topic.

Read Also: What is a Decision Tree and How to Make One [Templates + Examples]

Sequence of events chain graphic organizers are linear tools designed to help visualize the order of events or steps in a process. Each link in the chain represents a sequential event or action, clearly illustrating the progression from one stage to the next.

It is invaluable in teaching narrative structure, historical timelines or scientific processes, as it helps students understand the temporal relationships between events. 

Sequence chains are also beneficial in project planning and workflow management, offering a straightforward method to track the progression of tasks or stages.

Cause and effect map graphic organizers are used to visually display the relationships between various causes and their effects. 

Each cause is linked to its direct effect, often using arrows or lines, allowing for a clear representation of the impact of various factors.

These organizers are particularly useful in scientific studies, history and literature analysis, as they aid students in understanding the interplay between different elements and their consequences. 

Cause and effect maps are also beneficial in problem-solving and decision-making processes, helping to identify potential outcomes of various actions.

Problem-solving charts are effective tools used for breaking down and analyzing complex problems into more manageable components. They typically involve identifying the problem, exploring possible causes, brainstorming potential solutions and then evaluating and selecting the most feasible options.

These charts are instrumental in both educational and professional contexts, aiding in critical thinking, decision-making and creative problem-solving processes.

By providing a structured approach to tackling challenges, problem-solving charts help individuals and teams to systematically address issues, ensuring that all aspects of a problem are considered before arriving at a solution.

Organizational chart graphic organizers are used to depict the structure of an organization or a group, illustrating the hierarchy and relationships between different roles and departments.

These charts typically represent higher-level positions at the top, with lines branching down to subordinate roles, clearly showing the chain of command and communication pathways.

They are essential in business and institutional settings for providing a clear overview of the organizational structure, facilitating better understanding and communication within the organization.

In educational settings, organizational charts aid in teaching concepts of management and organizational behavior, helping students visualize and understand complex organizational dynamics.

Related: 40+ Charts & Graphs Examples To Unlock Insights

Bottom line

Graphic organizers play a crucial role in learning and information processing due to their ability to visually structure and simplify complex information.

By leveraging the power of graphic organizers, you can transform the way information is absorbed and presented.

With Venngage’s user-friendly platform, the creation of your own custom graphic organizers is just a few clicks away.

Sign up on Venngage today and gain access to a treasure trove of graphic organizer templates, ready to be tailored to your educational needs. 

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15 Free Online Graphic Organizer Types and Examples

Graphic organizer plays a significant role in a presentation or learning materials like books. It is characterized as a convenient means to identify key points and understand concepts in a subject area. In addition, this allows you to effectively create meaningful structures, make relationships of ideas, and have precise information. But depending on the context, the organizers have a variety of uses. Thus, here are some free graphic organizer types and examples to design perfect diagrams or charts according to your needs.

Types of Graphic Organizers to Visualize Ideas

Concept map, hierarchy chart, cause and effect map, timeline chart, venn diagram, sequence chart, idea web graphic chart, analogy organizer, cluster diagram, persuasion map, problem-solving organizer.

You can also use a concept map to brainstorm ideas, discover a number of thoughts, solve problems, and visualize goals. Anyone can utilize this tool including designers, writers, engineers, and students for learning purposes. Similarly, you can branch out many ideas as needed and most likely to end up looking web graphic organizer. In other words, this is suitable for large and complex topics.

Depending on your needs, the hierarchy chart comes with a variety of uses. It is utilized primarily used by Human Resources in creating an organizational chart. The same can be said when visualizing ideas. This graphic organizer lets you understand categories and subcategories by using the top-down structure of the hierarchy chart.

Cause and effect map assists in clearly determining the possible causes of a specific event, problem, or condition and take action to solve the issues. More so, it has a fish skeleton structure in which the bones represent the causes. The fish head to the right should reflect the main effect. Using this diagram, members can also participate in a team discussion when analyzing problems and take corrective actions.

A mind map is another helpful graphic organizer to show relationships between ideas. Instead of sentences, mind map ideally uses keywords per association to summarize information making it easier to memorize and recall. Besides, it allows users to be creative by integrating colors, font style, images along with several kinds of layout structure for a comprehensive mind map.

Another idea organizer that you can use to make a comparison of two options is the T chart. There will be two columns separated by a vertical line in between and a horizontal line at the top allotted for the headings or topics. Under each column are the characteristics, specs, events, situations, etc. This graphic free graphic organizer could help you to make clear decisions by comparing the pros and cons of a given occasion.

This chart is a type of diagram that shows the chronological order or sequence of events. Besides its beneficial impact on studying history, this may also come in handy if you’re trying to display development, progress, or improvement of a business. On some occasions, this graphic organizer is visually presented as a freeform shape but is ideally visualized horizontally or vertically.

Venn diagram helps you visualize comparisons, differences, as well as similarities between two subjects. This has an interesting way of showing differences and similarities. Basically, creates an illustration of two overlapping circles where the similarities are located in the union of two circles or common area. While the unique characteristics or differences are inside its own area or sector. There are several types of Venn diagrams, online graphic organizers, with two or more circles as the topic gets complicated.

Tree chart is a good way to classify information and a practical means in breaking down large projects into more manageable tasks. In addition, this can also be used to create a family tree chart for genealogy and organizing family information. The highest position is the main title and below are the categories. Each category has a list of subtopics to complete the tree graphic organizer.

Sequence chart is a type of diagram that helps you to present the steps of a process in order. You may use it for essay writing, life cycle, or any situation that shows the stage of development. While the timeline chart shows dates and order of events, the sequence chart graphic organizer mainly focuses on details about the set of instructions of a process.

If you are looking for an alternative to T chart and Venn diagram, Idea web graphic chart is nice choice. This is also a type of comparison chart between two topics. There will be two central circles that represents the main ideas. Each topic comes with conjoined branches that forms a single unit to indicate similarities. For the differences, there are another set of branches towards the sides of the circles forming an idea web graphic organizer.

Organizing or conducting biography research can be done with the help of a biography chart. With it, you can easily add the necessary information gathered in books, online resources, and analyze the collected information. You can categorize the data about the character’s accomplishments, experiences, personal information, and a lot more. Also, users may add images to this free graphic organizer to give emphasis as necessary.

Another helpful organizer to help you analyze differences and similarities between two topics. Analogy organizer, in general, compares a new topic and a topic you are familiar with. Then, students or listeners must read and discuss with each other to identify the similarities and differences. This free graphic organizer encourages brainstorming and internalizing knowledge. By then, students will need to write a summary of the new topic.

The next chart you can use to organize your ideas is a cluster diagram. It also helps a group of people in brainstorming and exploring ideas. The central node contains the main topic branching out to show relevant categories and subtopics. This also resembles a web graphic organizer as you continue adding layers to the diagram. So it’s best to use color-coding for each category for a readable and comprehensive organizer.

This organizer is dedicated to creating an essay outline focusing on persuasive writing. As we know, writings like speeches, essays, debates need an outline to lay out the flow of the essay and come up with a coherent outline. And to do that, you need a persuasion map free graphic organizer to determine and write down the main points, facts, and categorize ideas.

Problem-solving organizer is a good strategy to improve your problem-solving skills. With it, you get to record ideas in a systematic way and think more effectively of possible solutions. It is also the best way to make everyone in the team participate by sharing ideas and organize them in structure.

Visual representation in learning plays an important role in improving your study habits and learning. This will help your capability to arrange your thoughts and organize them and give an accurate depiction of given situations. Learning through the use of online graphic organizers will bring out great ideas to have your tasks done in no time.

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• 10 Best Meeting Minutes Apps in 2024

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What is a graphic organizer and how to create one?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Organizing your thoughts and ideas isn't always easy – especially when working with complex topics, piles of information, or collaborative projects.

Use a graphic organizer tool is one of the easiest and most effective ways to organize ideas, list information, and identify trends visually. Using diagrams and visual aids has helped marketers, IT professionals, teachers, and just about anyone to convey complex ideas simply.

In this article, we'll cover the basics of graphic organizers, their types, use cases, and how to make one of your own. Read on to get started.

What is a graphic organizer?

Do you remember the last time you felt inspired and full of ideas? It's an exhilarating feeling, but it can also be overwhelming when trying to organize all the thoughts running wild through your mind.

That's where graphic organizers come in.

These visual tools help harness those complex concepts into a simple visual representation, such as a diagram or graph, that’s easy to understand.

Think of it like a map that connects and organizes your thoughts and ideas in a clear and structured path so that you can see how all the pieces fit together. These tools make it easier to see the big picture and identify connections between concepts that may have otherwise gone unnoticed.

In a collaborative environment, using graphic organizers can greatly enhance communication and teamwork. It's easier for team members to align on project goals and contribute their own insights when there's a visual representation of the ideas and information discussed. As a result, teams have constructive discussions that lead to more brilliant ideas.

Also, with digital collaborative workspaces like Miro, you can even use graphic organizers to collaborate remotely. Team members can brainstorm, organize, and work together from anywhere around the world in one shared space.

You can also treat a graphic organizer like a compass that helps you navigate a sea of information. It guides you towards a clearer path using visual aids so that you or your team can make informed decisions and ride a wave of productivity. But with all that said, how exactly can you put one to use?

Suppose a company that produces and sells handmade soap hasn't been doing well in sales in the last quarter. The marketing team needs help to identify the root cause. The project analyst on the team decides to use a graphic organizer to help analyze the problem and creates a diagram with potential causes, such as pricing, quality, and marketing strategy. Each category is then broken down into subcategories with specific details like customer reviews and competitors’ pricing.

Through this process, the analyst noticed key areas that needed improvement. For example, they noticed that the company’s pricing is significantly higher than competitors, and customer reviews mention that the new packaging makes it hard to understand product benefits.

With this information organized and visually presented, the analyst can present clear, data-driven information to the marketing team to improve sales. The team can then address these issues and track the changes made using the same graphic organizer.

Now that you’ve seen a practical example of applying one, we’ll explore ten types of graphic organizers used in various personal and professional situations.

10 types of graphic organizers

Take a look at how these graphic organizers can help you organize information, analyze problems, and spark new ideas.

1. Venn diagram

A Venn diagram is a popular graphic organizer that compares and contrasts different topics or datasets using interlocking circles. It shows the similarities and differences between these topics so you can better understand their relationships and connections. The overlapping area in the middle of the circles indicates the similarities, while the separate circles highlight the differences between each.

Use a triple Venn diagram template to compare three different subjects.

2. Tree chart

Like its name, a tree chart is a graphic organizer that shows information in the structure of a tree, with the main topic at the top of the chart and subtopics branching off it. These charts are especially useful for organizing information in a hierarchical structure. For example, when breaking down a group project into smaller manageable items to delegate to the team.

Use a tree chart maker to track objectives and results with a hierarchical structure.

3. Cause and effect chart

You can easily see the connections between actions and results with a cause and effect chart. It’s a powerful tool for analyzing complex issues and identifying possible solutions. Breaking down complicated cause-and-effect relationships into bite-sized chunks helps you better understand how different factors interact and how to achieve your goals more accurately and precisely.

Pinpoint areas of improvement with a cause and effect chart .

4. Compare and contrast graph

Like a Venn diagram, a compare and contrast graph compares two or more things but in a more detailed and structured way. Instead of overlapping circles, you'll see tables or lists placed side by side to highlight the differences and similarities between the topics. This structure helps you quickly see how the topics relate to each other and identify key attributes from each topic.

Analyze prospective jobs with a compare and contrast graph .

5. Story map

A story map, also known as a plot diagram , is a convenient tool for analyzing and understanding the elements of a story, including the plot, setting, characters, and themes. It includes a visual representation of a story’s arc, such as the introduction, climax, and resolution. This graphic organizer is a favorite of educators to help students unravel complex stories. Marketers also use this to craft compelling presentations or proposals that tell a story to engage their audience.

Stay focused on a writing project by story mapping it effortless.

7. Sequence of events chart

If you need to get a clear sense of the chronological order of an event or process, a sequence of events chart is your best bet. By dividing an event into key moments that follow a sequential order, this graphic organizer makes it easy to understand what happened and when. Though often used in educational settings, project managers or event planners rely on it to determine the sequence of activities for their projects or events.

Clarify event logistics using a sequence chart .

8. Star diagram

A star diagram highlights key concepts by organizing related information around a central topic. It’s perfect for scenarios where you need to define a specific topic with detailed descriptions. For example, marketing teams can use this graphic organizer to define key selling features of a new product so they know what to promote. It’s also good for goal setting, with a goal in the center and actionable items in the arms of the star.

Define your problem in detail with a star diagram .

9. Circle map

A circle map is an effective visual tool for brainstorming and organizing ideas. A small circle inside a larger one allows for free-flowing thoughts to be connected to the central idea. Another variation is a concept map , with a main idea in the center and related information or subtopics surrounding it. This graphic organizer is your go-to for generating ideas, solving problems, and making connections between different concepts.

Boost creativity and generate ideas using a concept map maker .

10. Problem-solving chart

You can tackle complex and multi-layered issues with a problem-solving chart. A 5 Whys framework is a popular type of problem-solving chart. It's popular in business settings because it encourages critical and logical thinking and helps evaluate different options to choose the best solution. By dissecting a problem into smaller facets, it becomes easier to identify the root cause and possible solutions.

Get to the bottom of your problem with a 5 Whys problem solving chart .

Use cases for a graphic organizer

Look no further if you're wondering how these graphic organizers can be applied to your life or work. This section will explore how different people and professions can use graphic organizers to achieve their goals.

Marketing and Sales

The world of marketing and sales can be chaotic and overwhelming, but graphic organizers are a valuable tool for keeping things organized and on track. They also promote collaboration by letting teams share visuals and content in one place, making it convenient to view the big picture and expand on new ideas. A story map can help tell a compelling narrative about a product, while a star diagram can help identify and target specific audiences. Marketing and sales teams can stay creative, coordinated, and focused on achieving their goals.

IT and Technology

IT and Technology professionals have a lot of brainpower to share, and that's where graphic organizers shine. In an industry where data is everything, graphic organizers allow experts to visualize network topologies and other architecture quickly, saving time and improving communication with colleagues. They also make sharing concepts a breeze by finding the links between seemingly unrelated objects and ideas. Cause-and-effect charts and entity relationship diagrams are commonly used in the industry to identify the relationships between different events or actions that affect the performance of systems and networks.

Troubleshoot systems and databases using an ER diagram tool .

Business Administration

For a business administrator, the daunting task of managing the departmental structure and changes can be simplified with graphic organizers. Organizational charts, flowcharts, and other visual aids help communicate complex information to staff members. These tools optimize business operations, create more efficient teams, and foster collaboration between management and teams. By streamlining work processes with graphic organizers, departments can save time and resources so the company can run like a well-oiled machine.

Art and Design

As a creator, designer, or artist, it can be challenging to stay inspired, especially during a creative rut. A graphic organizer can break through creative barriers by quickly mapping out ideas, giving creative individuals more space to explore and refine them. Adding a graphic organizer to the creative process leads to more productive, fulfilling, and even out-of-the-box work as the artistic vision takes shape.

When it comes to teaching, graphic organizers are a game-changer. Not only do they help educators and students visually break down complex subjects, but they also promote engagement and collaboration in the classroom. By learning to organize their thoughts visually, students can more intuitively connect ideas, identify relationships, and give their own insights. This creates a more interactive learning environment that builds better comprehension, retention, and critical thinking skills. Whether it's a Venn diagram to compare and contrast, a timeline to sequence events, or a circle map to generate ideas, the possibilities for using graphic organizers in the classroom are endless.

How to make a graphic organizer

Now the question is, how to make a graphic organizer that works for you? Don’t worry - it's simpler than you think. You can create an effective tool for everything you need in just a few steps.

1. Decide what you want to organize

The first step in creating a graphic organizer is simple – decide what you want to organize. This could be anything from project tasks to brainstorming ideas. Before you begin, take a moment to identify the main ideas or concepts you want to capture and categorize. Clarify your goals and objectives to ensure your graphic organizer will be tailored to your needs.

2. Choose a type of graphic organizer

Once you have a clear idea of what you want to organize, it’s time to choose a graphic organizer. Everyone has a unique way of processing information, so a good tip is to find one that aligns with your thoughts. For example, if you prefer to approach tasks step-by-step, a sequence of events graphic organizer is a good fit. If you enjoy seeing the big picture, a circle map will work wonders. The ultimate goal is to find an organizer that complements your thinking process to achieve your purpose.

3. Set up a collaborative workspace

Set up a collaborative workspace to take your productivity to the next level. A collaborative workspace is a shared virtual or physical space where people can work together on a task or project. Online visual collaboration spaces, including popular options like Miro , let you use graphic organizers and other tools to share ideas, organize information, and work more efficiently with others wherever you are.

4. Brainstorm and collaborate

With a collaborative workspace, you can start brainstorming and working with others. A great way to add more depth to your graphic organizer is to generate a range of ideas related to your topic, so you can understand different perspectives or identify blindspots. Collaborating with others and pooling your ideas together further helps you create a detailed graphic organizer that reflects all the key ideas related to your topic.

5. Regularly review and revise

Review and revise your graphic organizer regularly to ensure it's still working for you. Stumbling upon new ideas and information while working on your project is natural, so update them as needed. Set aside time each week to go through your organizer to make any necessary changes so you stay on track and meet your goals. Plus, it's a great way to see your progress and feel motivated to keep going.

Build graphic organizers collaboratively with Miro

In this article, we explored how using graphic organizers helps you visually convey complex ideas, present information, dissect problems, and find solutions. With Miro, our collaborative online workspace, you can collaborate and create graphic organizers with others using tools like digital whiteboards and template libraries. We’re designed for professionals, educators, students, and anyone looking to spice up their workflow. Try Miro today to see how we transform the way you work.

Get on board in seconds

Join thousands of teams using Miro to do their best work yet.

7 types of graphic organizers for education

Reading time: about 7 min

Think about the last time you got a new phone or downloaded an app. Did you spend some time organizing your screen in a way that makes sense to you? When you think about it, your smartphone is a graphic organizer.

Students of all ages can retain what they have learned for a much longer time if the information is organized visually in a manner that makes sense to them. There are many different types of graphic organizers for students and teachers—web graphic organizers can help students and teachers organize information, ideas, and concepts in a visual way. Let's dig into a few of the more common graphic organizers that can help you, or your students, better organize and asborb information. 

Note for teachers: Many of the templates in this article also offer a black-and-white printable version that you can use for assignments. Just click the image of the template you want to use to open in Lucidchart.

Types of graphic organizers

A KWL chart  is a graphic organizer tool that lets students illustrate what they know, what they want to know, and what they have learned. This chart is very easy to use and encourages students to track their learning. These charts can be used individually, in groups, or by the entire class.

The process for using a KWL chart is simple:

• Students brainstorm and write down what they currently know about a given subject.
• Students write down what they would like to learn about the subject.
• Students record what they have learned about the subject.

Use a KWL chart before, during, and after a lesson to measure how much students progress. You will be surprised by how much students are learning.

Venn diagram

A Venn diagram shows the similarities and differences between two or more items. The diagram is made up of a series of shapes, typically circles, with edges that overlap. Each shape represents a different item. The characteristics shared by each item are represented by the overlapping intersections of each shape.

Venn diagrams are typically used in scientific and engineering presentations, in computer applications, in theoretical mathematics, and in statistics. But you can use a Venn diagram as a graphic organizer in any situation where you want to find a direct comparison among different categories or concepts.

For example, younger students may have fun using Venn diagrams to discover what they have in common with their classmates. A very simple diagram can ask students to find out who has a dog, who has a cat, and who has both.

Double bubble map

A double bubble map is an educational graphic organizer that students and teachers can use to compare and contrast things such as people, characters, places, and events. Double bubble maps help students develop logical thinking skills as they organize similar data in one place and contrast it with unique data. Plus, saying “double bubble” is kind of fun.  

Unlike a Venn diagram, the shapes in a double bubble map don’t intersect where the items share common characteristics. Instead, additional shapes are placed between the two shapes that represent the items being compared. The shapes that represent the contrasts of the items being compared are placed on the left and right of the items being compared.

In the example above (which you can open in Lucidchart and use as a template), the orange shapes in the center shapes tell us what apples and bananas have in common: They are both types of food, they are both fruits, and they are both tasty, depending on who you ask. The shapes on the outside edges describe the contrasts: Apples are red, crisp, and full of Vitamin C, while bananas are yellow, soft, and full of potassium.

Cluster/word web

The cluster/word web is a graphic organizer for teachers to help students sort out their thoughts before they start writing an essay, a research paper, or another writing project. This organizer is pretty straightforward: Students write a topic or theme in the middle of the cluster/word web, similar to a mind map. Then they write their main points in the second level of circles, followed by supporting details in the third level of circles.

Learn about additional graphic organizers for writing essays.

A storyboard uses simple artwork on static panels to convey a series of events without too much detail. The idea is to present a quick and easily understood overview of what you want to do. You might think of a storyboard as a tool used by filmmakers to visually outline the sequence of the story that their movie will follow. But a storyboard can translate educational settings as well.

For example, a history teacher can create a storyboard to outline important events from history to help their students remember and recall details that they may not remember if the information is presented in words alone.

A storyboard should have more pictures than words. Blank lines can be included below the graphic panels for any text that may be necessary. For example, in a storyboard for an event in history, you may want to write down important dates and names as they relate to the graphics.

Storyboards can also be useful for helping students memorize step-by-step processes, visualize concepts, or for helping students who speak English as a second language.

Persuasion map

A persuasion map is used to visually map arguments that you want to use in a debate or in persuasive writing. Writing to persuade can be as simple as an email asking for help on a project or as complex as a scientific paper describing a new theory.

The mapping process for this classroom graphic organizer is simple and straightforward, and it can help students stay on topic as they organize their persuasive arguments.

• Introduce the goal or objective in the top box.
• List three reasons to support why the goal or objective needs to be met.
• Summarize important points and state once again what you want your audience to do or believe.

Concept map

A concept map , or concept diagram, is another type of educational graphic organizer that students can use to diagram suggested relationships between concepts. By making a concept map , students visually think about concepts more easily than they can with simple lists or notes.

A concept map uses shapes such as boxes or circles to represent ideas and information. Shapes are connected by arrows labeled with linking phrases such as “due to,” “can be avoided by,” “contributes to,” “requires,” and so on.

Why should you be using concept maps?

• To help students organize new information
• To help students brainstorm ideas
• To help students make meaningful connections between main ideas and other information
• To improve student understanding and increase knowledge retention
• To give students an easy and flexible way to map out any concept or idea

To create a concept map, follow these simple steps:

• Identify a topic you need to study.
• Brainstorm about the facts, ideas, themes, and questions that come to mind as you think of the selected topic.
• Start drawing your shapes. We recommend that you place the shape representing your main topic at the top and link to other shapes in a downward hierarchy. The more important the idea or concept, the closer it should be to the main topic in the hierarchy.
• Connect the ideas and concepts you brainstormed to the main topic and to each other.

See more concept map templates and examples.  

How can Lucidchart help?

As you can see from the templates throughout this article, Lucidchart has a huge selection of different types of graphic organizers for education. With an Educational account, students and teachers can use these resources to organize ideas, plan assignments, evaluate learning, and more.

Want to fully invest in bringing 21st-century learning to your classroom? Try Lucid for Education and create assignments that enable critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration. 

About Lucidchart

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.

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Graphic Organizers 101: Why and How To Use Them

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Introduction:

Visual learning has gained significant attention over the past few years, especially in the education sector. One such visual learning tool is a “graphic organizer.” This article will explore what graphic organizers are, why they are an essential learning tool, and how to use them effectively.

What are Graphic Organizers?

Simply put, graphic organizers are visual aids that help learners organize and present information visibly. They make use of diagrams, charts, mind maps, or other graphical elements to represent concepts and ideas in a structured manner. By doing so, graphic organizers enable learners to gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter by uncovering connections and relationships between various pieces of information.

Why Use Graphic Organizers?

1. Enhance Understanding: The human brain can process visual content more efficiently than textual data. Graphic organizers capitalize on this by visually representing complex ideas or concepts that might be difficult to understand through text alone.

2. Foster Critical Thinking: By breaking down complex ideas into smaller components, graphic organizers encourage learners to analyze each aspect individually and identify connections between them.

3. Improve Memory Retention: Studies show that information presented visually is retained better than verbal-only material. Thus, using graphic organizers can significantly improve memory retention and recall.

4. Aid in Organization and Planning: Graphic organizers offer an excellent way for students to structure their thoughts and ideas as they plan out essays, projects, or presentations.

5. Facilitate Differentiated Instruction: Since students learn at different paces and with varied styles, graphic organizers serve as a versatile learning tool that can be adapted to suit individual needs.

How To Use Graphic Organizers:

1. Choose the Right Organizer: Begin by selecting a graphic organizer suitable for your specific learning objectives. Some common types include Venn diagrams for comparing/contrasting ideas, timelines for chronological events, or flowcharts for processes.

2. Gather Your Material: Collect the necessary information related to your topic. This might include relevant facts, figures, quotes, or other critical pieces of data.

3. Break Down the Information: Analyze the gathered material and divide it into smaller components or subtopics. These will correspond to individual sections or elements of your graphic organizer.

4. Organize and Represent: Start building your graphic organizer by placing key ideas within their designated sections or boxes. Next, create connections and relationships using arrows, lines, or other visual aids.

5. Simplify and Refine: Finally, review your graphic organizer and simplify or refine the content wherever possible. Ensure that your final result is visually appealing and easy to read.

Conclusion:

Graphic organizers are a powerful tool that can enhance both teaching and learning. By incorporating these aids into classrooms, students can efficiently process information, improve critical thinking skills, memory retention, organizational skills, and cater to different learning styles. Start harnessing the power of these versatile tools today, and witness the positive impact they can have on your educational journey.

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12 Graphic Organizer Examples for Teachers and Students

Every teacher wants their students to fully understand the concepts taught in class. However, you may encounter topics that are difficult to teach and understand. It is necessary to employ an innovative approach in order to assist students in comprehending a challenging subject.

Graphic organizers are powerful tools that make complex concepts easier to teach and understand. They also help students develop visual literacy skills . Teachers find graphic organizers helpful for explaining difficult concepts, and students find them engaging. Graphic organizers are also great for presenting research data if, for example, the teacher wants to share a case study with students.

Now, what if you could quickly find and customize graphic organizers without spending hours brainstorming from scratch?Because there is a sea of engaging templates to choose from, you can create compelling visuals with just a few clicks. These graphics can be used for a number of different purposes, including teaching. With Piktochart, you can access and customize engaging graphic organizer templates in minutes – no design skills required. Simply create a free account to get started.

In this article, we will look at the 12 graphic organizer examples that greatly assist teachers and help students retain information for a longer period of time. 

What is a Graphic Organizer?

Graphic organizers are tools that help visually organize information and complex concepts in a way that is easy to understand and memorize. Graphic organizers effectively organize and visualize information by creating links between concepts or facts. By visually illustrating the relationships between concepts, graphic organizers make it easier to analyze and internalize information. 

We know that every mind works differently. Presenting information in a systematic, visual format enables students to follow along at their own pace and grasp relationships more easily than via verbal explanation alone. They can also be an invaluable tool for visual learners.

12 Graphic Organizer Examples for Different Learning Objectives

There are countless types of graphic organizers out there, as information can be organized and visualized in many different ways. We’ll focus on 12 of the most helpful types of graphic organizers for teachers and students, organized by the primary purpose each one serves.

Graphic Organizers for Brainstorming and Organizing Ideas

Some graphic organizers are specifically great for organizing ideas for brainstorming. Here are three examples. 

Mind maps are graphic organizers that organize information in a structured and visually attractive fashion. When a mind map is finished, you will get a structure that looks like a spider web. An example of the graphic organizer is the following mind map on Piktochart . It shows the values of a company, with different values branching out from the central idea, that is, company values . 

We all know that information retention can become quite difficult, especially when a number of different subtopics link to one main topic. A student could use a mind map to break down the taxonomy of living things, with ‘Organisms’ in the center, ‘Kingdoms’ branching out one level, ‘Phyla’ branching out from each ‘Kingdom’ and so on.  

Concept Map

Concept maps are another type of graphic organizer that excels at representing hierarchical information. They use boxes or circles to represent different concepts, with lines or arrows labeled to illustrate the relationships between them.

Concept maps have many uses in educational settings. They help in the sequential understanding of different concepts for students. For example, if a teacher has to break down a country’s government structure, he or she will most likely use a concept map to show the branches and subbranches of different government institutions systematically. 

Cluster Diagram

Cluster or cloud diagrams help brainstorm different ideas around a main concept. This type of graphic organizer is called a cluster because the topic or ideas related to the main idea form a cluster around it. For example, a cluster diagram can assist students determine how much they know about a topic and what areas need further research.

 This type of graphic organizer is very useful when generating ideas for a project or planning its different phases. Cluster diagrams break down a complex subject into smaller parts, both for individuals and for groups, for example, during defining scope of a project in its early stage.  

Graphic Organizers for Comparing and Contrasting

 The next type of graphic organizer helps you to compare two or more concepts. You can use this organizer to compare and contrast ideas, people, events, and policies. For instance, say you’re teaching a unit on different forms of government. You could use a compare and contrast graphic organizer to help students parse out key similarities and differences between a democracy and a dictatorship. This type of graphic organizer will be your go-to option. 

It is important to know that when you use this type of graphic organizer to compare two concepts, you are covering both the similarities and differences between those concepts. However, with contrast, only the differences are mentioned. Some examples of this category of graphic organizers are given below.

Venn Diagram

A Venn Diagram usually comprises two to three overlapping circles. The commonalities between the concepts are written in the shared or overlapping area, whereas all the distinct or unique features are mentioned in the part of the circle that does not overlap with any other circle. 

For example, you could have your students draw Venn diagram for the fruits and vegetables that red or orange. The common area between the two circles will contain vegetables like tomatoes that come in both these categories. The Venn diagram below shows the comparison of mitosis and meiosis. 

Another brilliant graphic organizer for comparing and contrasting is the “T Chart.” A T-chart is simply a table with two columns, usually comparing two items or ideas, or sorting data into categories. This type of graphic organizer is super quick to create and easy to understand, especially for students. T charts can also be used to categorize and jot down pros and cons.

The T chart is a popular option for both teachers and students because its layout is straightforward, and it offers a wide array of functions. For example, if the students are planning to go on a field trip but are not able to choose a location, then T charts can help a great deal. 

Teachers can ask the students to make a T chart of potential places and list the advantages and disadvantages of each of the locations in their respective columns. Also, a T chart is a great graphic organizer to show upsides and downsides of a topic.

Graphic Organizers for Sequencing and Cause-Effect

Next on the list are graphic organizers, which show the sequence or timeline of events. Sequence and timeline graphic organizers are particularly useful for teachers when presenting events in chronological order is important. Some of the graphic organizers that help students visualize the relationships between steps in a process or links in a chain of events are as follows.

A timeline graphic organizer shows a sequence of events in chronological order. History subjects make great use of timelines . Because major historical events can be shown in a proper sequence using a timeline. Along with dates, timelines give the flexibility to mention locations as well. For example, a timeline of the American Revolution could chart major turning points like the Boston Tea Party, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the Battle of Yorktown.

Timelines can also be used to show how a certain phenomenon has progressed over time, such as a business’s growth. The Piktochart timeline template below charts key events in the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Notice how the combination of images and concise text makes the chronology engaging and easy to follow. 

This type of graphic organizer shows the steps of a process and how all the steps combine in a sequence to make the process happen. Flowcharts systematically and clearly document and communicate how a process works and what steps are involved in it, from start to finish. When a process is mapped using a flowchart , potential areas or steps of improvement can be identified. 

Cause and Effect Diagram

As the name suggests, a cause-and-effect diagram groups those causes of a problem that either have already happened or might happen. Relationships between different contributing factors can also be shown using a cause-and-effect diagram.

Often referred to as an Ishikawa diagram, or a fishbone diagram, a cause-and-effect visual is one of the basic tools of quality . While often associated with root cause analysis in business and manufacturing, cause-and-effect diagrams are equally powerful for getting to the bottom of issues in the classroom. By mapping out all the potential contributing factors to a problem, students can start to identify patterns and actionable solution.

Source: Noria Corporation

Graphic Organizers for Main Idea and Supporting Details

This category of graphic organizers shows a main idea and its supporting ideas. It defines and visualizes a core concept and all its supporting details. It is a great tool that helps students develop an outline of a topic for better understanding. Some of the examples are given below.

Main Idea Web

This type of graphic organizer starts with a main idea and branches out into related sub-ideas. The key point behind web graphic organizers is sometimes referred to as a light bulb. It is predominantly  used to brainstorm ideas for writing purposes. For example, if a student wrote a report on photosynthesis, they could put “photosynthesis” in the center, then branch out to related subtopics like ‘chloroplasts’, ‘light-dependent reactions’, etc.

Herringbone Diagram

A herringbone diagram is used when processes are involved. This type of web organizer helps you break down variations in a process or causes that lead up to an effect. A herringbone diagram is particularly important for avoiding an event before it happens.

Graphic Organizers for Writing and Note-taking

Another group of graphic organizers we’ll explore focuses on writing and note-taking. Writing, especially essays, proves challenging for many students as they struggle with arranging ideas. Here are a couple of graphic organizers for writing, which can be of great help to you.

Essay writing is an important skill that students use throughout their lives. An essay map graphic organizer is a brilliant tool for students, as it helps them to chalk out the outline in a systematic manner without missing any detail. Once a student is done with his or her essay map, writing becomes a walk in the park.

Cornell Map

This graphic organizer is a popular technique for note-taking. Particularly during lectures and textbook reading, the Cornell Map template comes in handy as it helps students to jot down all the important ideas and information systematically. It usually has a cue column, a note-taking column, and a summary section. 

When students are taking notes, the key ideas, important dates, formulas and other such details would go into the “note-taking” column. They will add questions, cues, and headings in the “cue” column. Whereas, the “summary” section will include a summary of the notes as one or two key learning outcomes. This helps students identify important details when they revise their notes later on.  

Tips for Using Graphic Organizers Effectively

It is important for teachers to use graphic organizers in a manner that maximizes the chances of effective learning. Some of the tips to make sure a graphic organizer effective are given below.

• Simple is Always Better —Your graphic organizers must always be simple. This will help students learn quickly. For example, avoid complete sentences unless absolutely necessary.
• Offer a Variety of Graphic Organizers – Expose your students to different types of graphic organizers day-to-day. This will bring out the best in them in terms of creativity.
• Use the to Assess Student Learning – Give the students a task along with a graphic organizer focused on the skill in focus. Use their graphic organizers to assess their standing in the class. 
• Use them Frequently —Using graphic organizers frequently helps students internalize what is being taught. The more often students use these tools to engage with content, the more adept they’ll become at using them independently. 

A graphic organizer is a tool for teachers to explain complex problems to their students. Similarly, graphic organizers help students visualize the information being taught in class. 

There are different graphic organizers, each suited to a specific purpose or thinking process. Whether it’s brainstorming ideas, comparing and contrasting, sequencing events, mapping out an essay, or taking structured notes, there’s a graphic organizer that can help.Teachers can encourage their students to generate ideas by using graphic organizers in their lessons. Students can use graphic organizers to enhance their writing skills.

Piktochart is a one-stop solution that lets you create your own graphic organizer within seconds. It has both one-pager templates and multi-pager templates to cater to all kinds of requirements. Sign up on Piktochart now and make learning fun!

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6 Types of Graphic Organizers for Teachers and Students

What is a Graphic Organizer?

3 reasons why you should use graphic organizers , 6 graphic organizers that you can use in your class , start organizing your learning material today, frequently asked questions (faqs).

Being a teacher, you are always looking for opportunities to make learning engaging and simple for your students. And here, a graphic organizer is a tool that helps teachers visually organize learning material for students. In addition, it provides visual presentations to students for quick learning and understanding.

This post will walk you through different graphic organizers and how they can help teachers provide an interactive learning environment. But, first, let’s explore the topic. 

A graphic organizer is a robust visual learning tool that helps teachers organize their students’ ideas. Educators can use graphic organizers to present complex concepts through interactive visuals. 

Students and teachers can use graphic organizers to brainstorm ideas and make hard decisions. In short, graphic organizers are visual tools to organize and present information. 

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Graphic organizers are powerful teaching tools that help present information in an easy-to-understand format. Using different graphic organizers like charts and diagrams, teachers can create adaptive and simple learning material. Besides this, graphic organizers can help teachers in many ways, like:

1. Deeper understanding 

The best thing about graphic organizers is that they help students understand complicated things. In addition, when you pair graphic elements along with reading material, it will provide a visual perspective to your students. 

For example, when you teach students the life cycle of butterflies, they might not understand how a cocoon turns into a beautiful butterfly. However, showing a proper diagram of butterflies’ life cycle will provide a deeper understanding to your students.

Therefore, you should pair graphic tools with reading material to improve their comprehension. 

2.Helpful for all students 

It is challenging for teachers to create a learning material that can help everyone in the class. Especially if you have sensory-challenged children in your class, it is impossible to help all students with a learning resource. 

Fortunately, graphic organizers make learning easy for everyone. For example, attractive visuals can help physically disabled children understand things they can’t read. Similarly, children who are slow at learning can leverage visuals. This way, teachers don’t have to create different learning resources for each student. That will save them a lot of time. 

3. Increase engagement 

A big block of words can scare anyone. When your students see big paragraphs and no images, it will reduce their engagement. They will feel bored and uninterested in a lesson even before the beginning. 

On the contrary, they can process the information faster with colorful elements, various shapes, and diagrams. Graphic organizers will increase student engagement in learning. When students are engaged and focused on their learning material, it will automatically uplift their academic performance.

Several different graphic organizers are available for teachers in classrooms based on the available information and context. According to your data, you can use these types of graphic organizers in your class, such as:

1. Circle Map

A circle map graphic organizer is used to explain related concepts or brainstorm ideas. There is one large circle in this organizer and one small circle inside it. 

The main topic is defined in the small circle, and then the large circle is filled with related information. This organizer helps to establish connections and definitions to move organically. Teachers can use these graphic organizers to teach simple concepts to preschoolers, like colors or shapes. 

For example, you can write the color red in the small circle and mention all the red items in the outer circle, like apples, roses, etc. This will help your students identify all the red objects.

2. Spider Map

This graphic organizer comes in handy when explaining things with descriptive connections. This organizer looks like a spider web, so it’s called a spider map.

You have to draw a big circle with connecting arrows to create this map. This map helps to explain a definition that belongs to a group. For example, you can write mammal in a big circle and draw connecting arrows to mention all the animals that belong to a mammal family cows, dolphins, etc. 

3. Idea Wheel

As the name suggests, this graphic organizer helps to brainstorm ideas. It is a combination of a spider map and a circle map. In this diagram, you have to put the main idea in a small circle, and around it, you can create other circles or shapes to segment your concept. In the end, the organizer will look like a wheel.

4. Venn Diagram

Venn diagram is a popular web graphic organizer. This diagram helps explain the differences and similarities between the two concepts. In this graphic, two large circles are created, intersecting each other at a point where you will mention the main topic of the study.

5. Tree Chart

The classic tree chart is the perfect graphic organizer for categorizing and subcategorizing a topic into several sections. Using this chart, you can present extensive information in small sections for easy interpretation.

6. Sequence of Events Chain

This graphic organizer is similar to a flowchart. However, you will use graphics and visuals to establish the flow of different processes and procedures. For example, professionals use this organizer to create business presentations.

Whether creating learning material for preschoolers or high schoolers, using accurate graphic organizers will add more value to your resources. Students can better understand lessons and complex problems through visual presentation.

As you have already seen, there are multiple types of graphic organizers available. You have to select the right organizer to present your information attractively and effectively.

What does a graphic organizer do?

Graphic organizers are learning and teaching tools that help understand and interpret information faster. Various visual and text elements are used to create graphic organizers to make information accessible to everyone.

Is table a graphic organizer?

Yes, tables are also graphic organizers as they help categorize information into different blocks along rows & columns for easy understanding. Teachers can use tables to show attributes of items, compare and contrast topics, and evaluate information.

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Graphic Organizers 101: Why and How To Use Them

An incredibly valuable tool for every student, every subject.

Even if you’ve never heard of graphic organizers, chances are good you’ve been using them in one form or another all your life. That pros and cons list you made before making a big purchase? The family tree you’re working on? Your school’s org chart? They’re all graphic organizers. Here’s what you need to know about using this powerful tool with students of all ages.

What are graphic organizers?

Source: @thecomfortableclassroom

Put simply, graphic organizers are a way of organizing information visually to help students understand and remember it. They’re tools that let kids make connections, create a plan, and communicate effectively. A good organizer simplifies complex information and lays it out in a way that makes it easier for a learner to digest. Graphic organizers may include text and images, depending on the purpose and student’s learning style.

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How do I use them?

Source: @yourteacherbestie

You can provide students with pre-printed organizers or encourage them to draw their own. Either way, teach students how to use them by modeling the behavior first. Consider making anchor charts for commonly used types so students can refer back to them as they work.

With younger students, work to help them understand how to choose certain types of organizers depending on their goals. For instance, students taking notes while they study may find a concept map most helpful. When comparing two topics, a Venn diagram or T chart is probably the best choice. Here are some ways to use graphic organizers in various subjects (and explanations of them below).

Language Arts

• Use a story map or story mountain to diagram the characters, setting, and key plot points.
• Try a web organizer to keep track of character relations and connections.
• Learn vocabulary words with a Frayer model that lays out meaning, synonyms, examples, and illustrations.
• Map out the topic, main ideas, and supporting facts of an essay before you start writing.
• Use a story map or mountain to plan creative writing.

Math and Science

• Use a Frayer model to define and understand terms and formulas.
• Compare two or more concepts with a Venn diagram (like area and perimeter).
• Create a visual representation to solve a story problem.
• Plan an experiment with a sequence organizer.
• Start the exploration of a new topic with a KWL organizer to understand what students already know, what they want to learn, and what they do learn.
• Draw a timeline to understand the order of events in history.
• Use idea webs or concept maps to keep track of information as you read and help you study.
• Dig deeper into a topic with a cause and effect organizer.

What types of graphic organizers should I use in my classroom?

Graphic organizers come in a wide array of styles. Here are some of the most common types to try with your students.

Source: Mrs. Byrd’s Learning Tree

This is one of the first organizers many kids learn to use. For little ones, story maps are simple, laying out the setting, characters, and beginning, middle, and end. Older students can expand the map to take in more details.

Timeline and Sequence of Events

Source: Growing Kinders

Here are two more common organizers kids will recognize. Timelines are generally used in history and social studies classes, though they can be helpful when reading books too. Use sequencing organizers to lay out the steps of a procedure or science experiment.

Story Mountain

Source: @goodmorningmissbagge

A story mountain is helpful both when reading and preparing to write. Students map out a story from start to finish, building up to a climax and back down to the conclusion.

Source: Mrs. Kurt’s All Star Kindergarten Blog

KWL (What I K now, What I W onder, What I L earned) charts are a terrific way to help kids think about what they want to learn about a topic and hold them responsible for actually finding out that information. The first column is a list of everything they already know. The second column lists what they’d like to learn, and the third one provides new information acquired along the way.

Source: Krazy for Kindergarten Goes to Third Grade

When there’s a lot of information to remember about a subject, idea webs are a terrific way to organize it all. It’s a more interesting way to explore a subject than just making a list or taking notes and one that’s more likely to help kids actually remember the information.

Concept Map

Source: Evidence-Based Teaching

A concept map takes an idea web to the next level. It’s really a series of idea webs, with connections drawn between. These can get very large, so encourage older students to explore online programs that can help them create useful diagrams.

Source: Joyful Learning in KC

Circle maps are terrific for brainstorming or thoroughly understanding a specific concept. In some cases, circles can continue to expand outward. For instance, a circle map could begin with your hometown in the middle, with a larger circle for your state, another for your country, then your continent, and so on. Inside each circle, students write info relevant to that subject.

Source: A Learning Journey

Graphic organizers are especially useful when planning any kind of writing. OREO and Hamburger models are common, but you’ll find a lot of other options out there too. The key is to make sure the organizer helps students define their main idea, gather supporting evidence, and draw a conclusion supported by the facts.

Frayer Model (Vocabulary)

Source: What I Have Learned

The Frayer model has a lot of uses but is most often applied to vocabulary. The term goes in the middle, with four sections surrounding it for definition, characteristics, examples, and non-examples. Another version has sections for definition, synonym, an illustration, and using the term in a sentence.

Cause and Effect Graphic Organizer

Source: Around the Kampfire

When you want students to dig deeper into the material, try a cause and effect organizer. You can use it in pretty much any subject to make connections between actions and results.

Source: @ducksntigers13

A T chart is a very simple way to compare two related subjects. Many people use these all the time, especially when writing pros and cons lists.

Venn Diagram

Source: Teach With Me

A Venn diagram is another way to compare and contrast material, looking for similarities and differences. The simplest version has two overlapping circles, with more overlapping circles added for more complex subjects.

Where can I find free graphic organizer printables?

While you don’t need to use a pre-printed organizer every time, they can be especially helpful with younger students as they learn how this valuable tool works. The internet is full of graphic organizer printables, both free and for purchase on sites like Teachers Pay Teachers. Here are some free options we’ve created for teachers to try.

• Summary Graphic Organizer
• Summarizing Graphic Organizers (Grades 2-4)
• Predictions and Inferences Organizer
• Scientific Method Graphic Organizer
• Continents Graphic Organizer

Get all the latest free printables and teaching ideas when you sign up for our newsletters .

Plus, anchor charts 101: why and how to use them ..

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Graphic Organizer Maker

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What is a Graphic Organizer?

How to use graphic organizers for better collaboration.

As visual tools, graphic organizers help individuals better organize and share information and ideas. When used collaboratively, they can be an effective way to improve communication, encourage active participation, and foster understanding among group members.

Teams can also use graphic organizers for team building, collective problem-solving or decision making, and knowledge sharing.

Teams can use graphic organizers to better collaborate in various situations, such as:

• Brainstorming and idea-generation sessions: Capture and organize the ideas generated by team members.
• Planning and project management: Create a visual representation of the project plan, including timelines, tasks, and responsibilities.
• Problem-solving: Identify the problem, its causes, and potential solutions.
• Knowledge sharing: Summarize and present information in a clear and concise way.
• Training and learning: Organize and present training materials or to facilitate group discussions and collaborative learning.

By using graphic organizers in these situations, teams can enhance communication, encourage active participation, and promote understanding, resulting in better collaboration and more effective outcomes.

How to Create a Graphic Organizer?

• Create a shared workspace

Open a Creately workspace and add your peers as collaborators with edit access allowing them to work on the graphic organizer with you in real-time.

• Define the purpose

Clearly define the purpose of the graphic organizer. This will help you determine the type of graphic organizer that will best suit your needs.

• Gather information

Gather all relevant information that you will need to include in the graphic organizer. This may include text, images, or data.

• Choose a format

Choose a format for your graphic organizer. Some common formats include flowcharts, mind maps, timelines, and Venn diagrams. Each format has its own strengths and weaknesses, so choose the one that best fits your needs.

• Create a basic structure

Create a basic structure for your graphic organizer. This will help to organize the information and make it easy to understand. You can select a graphic organizer template from Creately’s templates library. If you are looking to create one from scratch, enable the relevant shape library and drag and drop the shapes to the workspace to start your graphic organizer.

• Add content

Add the content to the graphic organizer. Be sure to include only the most important information and to use clear and concise language.

• Make it visually appealing

Add colors to your graphic organizer from the preset color themes to highlight important ideas/ concepts and make them more presentable. Using built-in Google image search, you can quickly browse and add relevant images and graphics to your graphic organizer to make them more interesting and comprehensible. You can also drag and drop images from your own device.

• Review and revise

Review and revise the graphic organizer to ensure that it is accurate and effective. Encourage others to provide feedback and make suggestions for improvements which you can do in Creately with @mention comments and discussion threads.

• Keep the graphic organizer simple and easy to understand

Make sure that the graphic organizer is easy to understand and use for the intended audience. Once your graphic organizer is ready, you can export it in PDF, PNG, or SVG formats to share, publish, or print. Or using frames, you can even build a presentation flow right inside Creately and present your graphic organizers to others.

Create Attractive Graphic Organizers in Minutes with These Templates

Sequence Graphic Organizer

Biography Graphic Organizer

Problem Solution Graphic Organizer

Story Map Graphic Organizer

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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

What to Read Next

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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What is a Graphic Organizer and How to Use it Effectively

Janelle cox.

• September 16, 2020

As educators, we’re always looking for new ways to help students classify and communicate their ideas more effectively. A visual guide, such as a graphic organizer, can do just that, as well as help students plan and structure their ideas in an organized manner. Here we will take a brief look at what a graphic organizer is, the different types of graphic organizers that you can use, as well as how you can use them effectively in the classroom.

What is a Graphic Organizer?

A graphic organizer is a powerful, visual learning tool that teachers like to use to help students organize their ideas. They can also be used to clarify or simplify complex concepts, help with problem solving or decision making , or be used to plan research or brainstorm ideas.

What are the Different Types of Graphic Organizers?

While there are several types of graphic organizers, each with a specific purpose, we will briefly go over the top five most popular used in the classroom.

Venn Diagram

A Venn diagram is a graphic organizer that has two interlocking circles. This type of organizer is used to identify differences and similarities. Students write details about how the topics are different in the outer parts of the circles and how they are the same in the shared inner space of circles.

Venn diagrams can be used to compare and contrast two characters. For example, students would write how each character is different in the outer spaces and how they are the same in the overlapping space in the middle. Then, students can use this graphic organizer to help them write an essay about each character.

Concept Map

A concept map is a graphic organizer that looks like a web with arrows connecting each circle. This type of map helps students identify a main concept as well as sub-concepts. It can be used to help visually organize thoughts as well as illustrate hierarchical information.

There are a variety of ways this type of organizer can be used in the classroom. Students can show relationships between specific concepts, characters in a story, or even vocabulary words. Many teachers like to use it to assess students’ prior knowledge on a topic.

A T-chart is a graphic organizer that is used to compare and contrast two different things. Students can use a T-chart to make comparisons related to a variety of topics or subjects; they can also be used in any content area or genre. For example, in social studies students can compare two different political candidates, then use the chart to help them in a class debate.

An idea web is a graphic organizer that is used for brainstorming and helps students organize ideas or concepts. Much like a concept map, an idea web is comprised of circles that are connected. This type of organizer is mainly used to help students brainstorm story ideas. For example, a topic is written in the center circle and students write in the details in the surrounding smaller circles.

A KWL chart is another popular graphic organizer, especially in the elementary classroom. This visual learning tool consists of three questions, each in their own column (‘what I K now’, ‘what I W ant to know’, and ‘what I L earned’). This is a great graphic organizer for activating prior knowledge.

This organizer is used both before and after learning a concept. Before learning, students write down “what they want to know” and “what they already know” about the topic. Then, after the concept is learned, students write down “what they learned” in the third column of the chart. This three-step process is great for developing a sense of purpose and helps students become more engaged in the topic they are learning.

How to Use Graphic Organizers Effectively

Graphic organizers can be a helpful learning tool, especially when they can guide students to a deeper understanding of what they are learning. To effectively support student learning, it’s important to always model how to use the organizer, as well as instruct students on why you choose the graphic organizer that you did for that specific topic.

For example, explain to students that you choose a Venn diagram as a starting point for an essay they will be writing because it will help them compare two characters in an organized manner before they begin writing their essay. When students understand what they are doing and why they are doing it, it will give them a sense of purpose.

Graphic organizers are great tools to meet the needs of all learners . By presenting information in a graphic format, you can easily make a lesson accessible to all students. To increase the effectiveness of a graphic organizer, always make sure to model beforehand and explain why you are using it and what you are using it for. Also, make sure that each graphic organizer that you choose is aligned with your learning goal; this will ensure that students will apply the information learned and develop a deeper understanding of the concept.

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15 Graphic Organizers to Help Visualize All Your Big Ideas

For instance, when we generate content without strategizing or planning, we tend to make errors that, in turn, lead us to waste time and not be as efficient as we would like. That’s why graphic organizers are so functional.

The Different Types of Graphic Organizers

There are many types of graphic organizers , each with a particular purpose and method of thinking.

In this post, Glorify will introduce you to 15 innovative graphic organizers to help you visualize details so that you can stay organized and add to all your concepts.

1. Circle Map Graphic Organizer

The aim of the circle map is to formulate an idea or theme using relevant data. It consists of a circle within another larger circle, where the central theme or concept is the main focus. Encircling the central theme is the larger circle in which the related concepts move. As the second circle fills up, the interactions and meanings expand both gradually and creatively. In the second circle, the main concept is described by any form of wording such as nouns, adjectives, and even phrases.

How to use it

Circle maps are useful for strategizing the very start of an idea. You can use it on a whiteboard for a brainstorming session at a party. With the aid of a circle diagram, brilliant ideas will begin to take shape and ultimately become fully functional and dynamic.

2. Spider Map Graphic Organizer

The aim of the spider map is to establish the main theme with clear descriptive relations. In this case, the center circle emerges from other circles that encircle it, producing a visual image of a spider. Each linked leg and circle will have an adjective or phrase description.

While circle maps are used for organizational activities, spider maps are better suited to explain a subject. In a marketing environment, you can use a spider map to identify the characteristics of a specific audience.

3. Idea Wheel Graphic Organizer

The idea wheel is like a combination of the circle map and the spider map. This graphic organizer focuses on creative thinking and arranging ideas at the same stage. The main theme being examined appears in the center of the chart. There may be other circles or shapes around it, a sectioned larger circle, or interconnected bubbles.

The goal of using an idea wheel is to organize information numerically or as a series. Thoughts are applied to the main concept in particular sections and then clarified in the same circle or with a shape that stems from it. Idea wheels are effective for freestyle strategizing and organizing information on a specific subject. It helps to take notes when performing an analysis or forming a concept of a larger image.

4. Idea Web Graphic Organizer

The idea of a web graphic organizer is a blend of different spider maps. It’s simply a contrast organizer that identifies similarities and dissimilarities between concepts. The two central circles contain the key ideas of the web idea. Arising out of each are two styles of circles. There are shared resemblances in the first two stemmed circles.  The circles on the sides explain the differences.

Whenever you have to choose between two solutions to a question, a web-based idea will assist you in making a potential choice. The web concept can be a slide inside a presentation. It can show a comparative study between ideas. Idea webs will function just as well as illustrations. There is no need for the arrangement of the circles to maintain a particular grid. You are free to use your imagination when arranging the circles, as long as the ideas are clearly presented.

5. Concept Map Graphic Organizer

The concept map closely resembles the idea web. The difference is that the web idea is for contrasting while the concept map is for strategizing and arranging.

This type of organizational chart is typically very diverse and detailed.

This type of graphic organizer is best for evaluating one specific topic rather than two or more topics simultaneously. It ideally suits individual use rather than infographic or presentation purposes. However, a concept map is often used for data visualizations that display relations between themes.

6. Venn Diagram Graphic Organizer

These graphic organizers are important for web concepts. The visual distinction is that the circles or sections overlap each other instead of being attached to the lines. Venn Diagrams are useful to identify similarities and dissimilarities between definitions.

Similarities in the Venn diagram are positioned in a formation of two or more circles, while inequalities are inserted where the circles do not overlap. Venn diagrams may become very complicated, with several circles (or other patterns) overlapping in various places. Venn diagrams are used to show similarities and variations between a variety of distinct objects.

7. Tree Chart Graphic Organizer

The tree chart can be a huge benefit in the identification and organization of details. Visually, the tree map looks like a real tree, and some may even compare it to a family tree. The uppermost segment is the main title or theme, below which are the qualifying or sub categories. Below the subcategories, there is a list of related details.

A tree chart may be used as a graphical overview for any form of a written task such as an article or blog post. The name and the overview are placed at the top and the paragraphs at the end.

8. Organization Chart

Although it looks similar to a tree map, the organization chart has a specific target. The tree chart divides knowledge into parts that originate from each other as a grouping while the organizational chart is all about rank. The topics at the top of the map are for the CEO, CFO, etc. Below are supervisors, and so on in the organizational hierarchy.

Organizational charts are most commonly used for a company’s internal activities. They help to digitally display the roles of leaders and anyone who falls after them. The very same method can be used to organize a working unit inside a business.

9. Sequence of Events Graphic Organizer

A chain of incidents is almost like a flowchart. This type graphic organizer is an illustration of a method, change, or collection of guidelines.

The key theme of a chain of events is placed outside the map in the rectangle that borders it. Linked shapes show the steps or progress of a sequence. Some of the shapes may include an extra shape connected to it to explain a specific idea.

Sequence of events graphic organizers are mostly used in classrooms to explain the plot of stories and novels. However, they can come in handy in many circumstances, especially if there are ordered events.

10. Cause and Effect Map Graphic Organizer

The cause and effect map is among the most functional of all graphic organizers. It aims to describe the sources and consequences of certain cases.

Start with the main event that will occupy the large center portion of the map. Through the main body, the other related shapes are left and right. The shapes on the left reflect the factors that assisted to make the situation occur. The shapes to the right are the results of the event selected. In certain cases, the result may also become a source, forming a vicious circle.

11. Brace Map Graphic Organize r

Graphically, the brace map appears like a tree chart on the edge. The exception is that the brace map extends over all sections of the main map.

This form of organizer must have the actual object or condition as the basic assumption. Ideas and theories are not necessarily what brace maps are about.

The brace map helps to examine pieces of the object and the connection between them.

12. Analogy Graphic Organizer

The analogy organizer is a more functional example of a visual organizer and an efficient way to share information among people.

This organizer is used to identify a connection between items and establish analogies. It’s a concept used to equate two items by displaying their similarities. An analogy organizer can be chosen to develop a storytelling form for a collection of written work. Another use of the analogy organizer is the orientation process of a new employee.

13. T-Chart Graphic Organizer

The T-Chart is a basic, very flexible organizational chart. Digitally, the T-Chart has a wide header at the top with the title and two columns filled with details on each subject. Graphically, it represents the letter T.

It is primarily used to differentiate between two subjects. Its most prominent use is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of an action that needs to be taken.

The other graphical uses of this sort of organizational chart are to distinguish two items by their disparities. T-Charts are not for the purpose of identifying parallels between items.

14. Timeline Chart Graphic Organizer

The timeline map is a long line that reflects a time frame. All along the graph, the linked shapes originate from events taking place during specific periods. The activities are arranged in sequential order.

The mainline representing the time span can be visualized horizontally, vertically, or even as a free-hand structure. A timeline chart can often look like a chained series of activities. It can also be used to depict simple roadmaps or long term and short term plans.

15. Storyboard Graphic Organizer

The storyboard is the last organizational chart on this list. A storyboard resembles a basic cartoon book and aims to visualize a picture plot. The storyboard does not have to be a fixed page with circles, it can also be split into parts and utilized for artistic composition.

A popular use for a storyboard is the creation of animation and movies. Each square in the storyboard will contain a particular plotline in the movie. Storyboards are also used by UX designers to build prospects and future scenarios where the website, software or product is utilized.

Create Your Own Graphic Organizer Easily Using Glorify

Organizing your workflow just got a whole lot easier with Glorify. You can easily create any type of graphic organizer you like, depending on your purpose and needs. The best part is, you don't have to stick to the rules You can customize your design to your heart's content and even add your brand colors for extra flair.

Here's a step by step guide on how to create a variety of graphic organizers using Glorify.

Circle Map Graphic Organizer

Step 1: Go to Shapes and choose a circle from the Shape section. A circle will appear on the canvas.

Step 2: Select the circle and click Shape Settings in the edit panel on the right side of the editor.

Step 3: Drag the colour to transparent in the colour palette to make the shape transparent.

Step 4: Add border color to the shape and adjust the color and thickness of the circle border.

Step 5: Select the shape and you will see a duplicate icon over it or right click and select duplicate also you can press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to duplicate it.

Step 7.  Resize the duplicate shapes to a smaller size, then drag them into the center of the original circle.

Idea Web Graphic Organizer

Step 1: Click the Plus icon Libraries and go to the Shapes section, and open the Basic Shapes library.

Step 2: Select an Oval shape.

Step 3: Select the shape and you will see a duplicate icon over it or right-click and select duplicate also you can press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to duplicate the oval 4 times.

Step 4: Click the Arrow tool and choose the arrow you want to use.

Step 5: Select the arrow on the canvas and you will see a duplicate icon over it or right-click and select duplicate also you can press Ctrl + D on your keyboard to duplicate the oval 4 times. You can also change the colour of the arrow by going to the right-side of the canvas.

Step 6: Resize the arrow according to your liking, and place one shape in the center and move the arrows according to your layout.

Venn Diagram Graphic Organizer

Step 4: Add border colour to the shape and adjust the colour and thickness of the circle border.

Step 6: Drag the circles to make them overlap.

Final thoughts

As you’ve seen, graphic organizers are a beneficial tool for any innovative, critical thought process. They enable us to visualize and communicate even the most abstract thoughts in simple, comprehensive ways. How do you plan on using graphic organizers? Which one of them is your favorite? Do let us know your thoughts, ideas, and queries in the comments below! Start designing your own graphic organizer in just a few clicks with Glorify !

Types of Graphic Organizers: FAQs

1) what are graphic organizers used for.

Graphic organizers are used to map out ideas and visually represent concepts in a comprehensive way. By simplifying information, they make complex plans, problems and solutions relatively easy to understand.

2) What is a story graphic organizer?

A story graphic organizer or story map is a technique that enables people to understand the elements of a book or story using a graphic organizer.

3) How are graphic organizers used in writing?

As part of the creative process, graphic organizers are used to help students plan out concepts, story lines, character descriptions and scenarios before beginning to write.

4) What are the 8 types of graphic organizers?

There are many different graphic organizers. Some of the main types are circle maps, venn diagrams, idea webs, T-charts, idea wheels, tree charts and storyboards.

5) Is an infographic a graphic organizer?

Though the differences are subtle, an infographic is not classified as a graphic organizer. Infographics focus more on heavy aesthetics to keep people engaged. They often contain multiple data visualizations. Graphic organizers use simple shapes and designs to maintain practicality and most often display just one data visualization.

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Best Graphic Organizers

Graphic organizers are effective pedagogical tools that help students express their knowledge visually and form relationships between pieces of information. The visual aid facilitates the learning process in several ways; it can be used as a tool for research, brainstorming, or a tool for simplifying complicated topics and aiding decision-making.

Graphic Organizers, including mind maps, Venn diagrams, infographics and other tools, allow teachers and students to organize and present facts and ideas visually in order to facilitate teaching and learning. Graphic organizers can be applied to a range of subjects, such as science, languages, history, and math. There are different types of graphic organizers that students can use depending on how students would like to group information.

A graphic organizer is a teaching and learning tool that is used to organize information and ideas in a way that is easy to comprehend and internalize. You can use Graphic Organizers at any point in the lesson to structure information into understandable chunks.

Here is the list of the best graphic organizers you can use during various scenarios, whether you are reading, writing, doing research or studying for exams. 

Bublup is a versatile and powerful app for organising any kind of content visually. The application is rich with features that enables you to save links, documents, notes, videos, photos, GIFs, and music within visual folders with pictures, titles, and descriptions.

Ideal for teaching, personal or business use Bublup offers a unique experience when it comes to visual organisation and productivity. Bublup is a perfect solution for those who want to enjoy visual organizing and take control of their work and life.

Devices:  iOS, Android, Web Browsers, Chrome Extensions

Price:  Free; Premium - $6.99 per month; Team - $24.99 per month 

2. Bubbl.us

Bubbl.us is a popular graphic organization tool that allows users to collaboratively create and edit mind maps, save them as images, share, collaborate and present. This simple and free online tool allows you to brainstorm ideas and create concept maps with no special software. 

Bubbl.us features some highly interactive abilities: saving your mind map as an image, sharing (emailing) your work with a friend, printing your organizer, creating colorful mind map organizers, embedding your work into a website or blog, and working with friends. 

Devices:  Web Browsers

Price:  Free; Premium - $6 per month; Team - $18 per month (3 users)

3. Popplet Lite

Popplet is a collaborative visualization tool that is ideal for developing graphic organizers and presentations. Popplet is a tool that allows users to visualize ideas. Teachers and students can create graphic organizers, timelines, and many other forms of visual organization.

Popplet's strength as a collaborative brainstorming tool, however, should not lead teachers to overlook its usefulness as an effective presentation tool.

Devices:  iOS, Web Browsers

Price:  Free; Premium - $3 per month

4. Venngage

Venngage is a reliable infographic design application that converts data and processes into accessible and memorable content. It provides a wide range of simple export options, clipart, icons, customizable templates and themes, free-form design canvas and drag & drop user interface.

This tool is a great way to create visually appealing and informative graphic organizers and infographics. It allows you to collaborate with others, add multiple pages, images, and premium icons and charts, and even print your creations out.

This free graphic organizer maker is definitely one of the tools that you must try.

Devices:  iOS, Android, Web Browsers

Price:  Free; Premium - $19 per month; Business - $49/month

Padlet is a great tool for graphic design because it allows you to create and share your designs with others in a collaborative and interactive way. You can add text, images, videos, links, and more to your walls, and you can even add polls and quizzes to get feedback from your audience.

Padlet is a free tool for educators that can be used as an online bulletin board or a graphic organizer and in a variety of ways to present information. Students can make graphic organizers such as Venn Diagrams that compare and contrast two things.

Padlet is a great tool for anyone who wants to create a collaborative and engaging learning environment.

6. MindMeister

Mindmeister is an online graphic organizer tool available on various web browsers. It hosts a wide range of free templates, as well as the option to make your own. The good thing about this tool is it makes file management simple for a user-friendly experience.

Another convenient feature that the tool provides is that it allows users to embed their maps and charts to websites via URL. Generally speaking, you will have most premium features for free which makes it a great graphic organizer creator. 

Price:  Free with limited features; Personal - $6.99 per month; Business - $18.99/month

7. Mindomo (mind mapping)

Mindomo is the best all-in-one visual tool to help you make mind mapping, concept mapping, and outlining accessible for students. This graphic organizer also lets a user flip their classroom, collaborate, comment, and much more.

You can also add links to other maps or web pages, and you can embed multimedia files like videos and images. You can use shapes and arrows to help illustrate relationships between different elements. Once you’ve finished, you can even use colors to make the organizer look more appealing.

Price:  Free with limited features; Personal - $6 per user per month

Mural is a virtual collaborative whiteboard that can be used as either a presentation tool or an interactive workspace. You can customize element sizes, colors, and more. You can also upload files that will appear as thumbnails and can be viewed or downloaded by collaborators. 

Mural is a creative tool for you to drag-and-drop rich media files, links and documents onto a big HTML5 drawing board, which is a great way to collect inspiration and gather your thoughts. It also supports collaboration that allows designers to brainstorm cool ideas remotely. Plus, it is optimised for iPad and gesture-friendly.

Use digital sticky notes to create and organize lists, flowcharts, diagrams, frameworks, methods and drawings. Integrated with Dropbox, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Google Calendar and other top apps. 

Devices:  iOS, Android, Web Browsers, Mac, Windows, Linux

Price:  Free with limited features; Team - $9.99 per user per month; Business - $17.99 per user per month

Mind42 is another free tool that you can use to make graphic diagrams and charts. You can compare this tool to Google Docs and Spreadsheet because it is cloud-based, and you do everything online. Files are automatically saved in your cloud and are private by default. You can choose to share the charts that you created with other users if you also want to.

On the other hand, if creating your own is not your cup of tea, then you can search the library of free-to-use charts found within the tool. In general, you will find this online graphic organizer maker really useful from time to time.

Price:  Free 

10. StormBoard

Stormboard is a program used to replace sticky notes and a whiteboard with online visual and virtual brainstorming. Provides online brainstorming and collaboration in real-time, with certified data security. Integrated with popular apps such as Google Sheets, Slack, Microsoft Teams and others

Price:  Free with limited features; Business: $10 per user/month

Graphic organizers are a great way to help students learn and remember new information. Students can use graphic organizers to make connections between different concepts and organize their thoughts in a meaningful way. And teachers can use them to craft more effective lessons that stick. 

Although we have covered various graphic organizer tools in this post, there are plenty more that can be useful to our users. Know more? 

You may also like:

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Workplace Graphic Organizer

It seems that you like this template, workplace graphic organizer presentation, free google slides theme, powerpoint template, and canva presentation template.

When it comes to organizing your workplace, there's a lot to keep track of. From project deadlines to meeting notes, it can quickly become overwhelming. Enter this Google Slides and PowerPoint template that's here to save the day (and your sanity)! With a stylish design that includes abstract elements and colorful gradient strokes, this graphic organizer is both functional and visually stunning. Plus, the white slides provide the perfect blank canvas for all your workplace needs. Whether you're organizing a big presentation or just keeping track of your daily tasks, this template is sure to make your work life a little easier (and a lot more stylish).

Features of this template

• 100% editable and easy to modify
• 35 different slides to impress your audience
• Contains easy-to-edit graphics such as graphs, maps, tables, timelines and mockups
• Includes 500+ icons and Flaticon’s extension for customizing your slides
• Designed to be used in Google Slides, Canva, and Microsoft PowerPoint
• 16:9 widescreen format suitable for all types of screens
• Includes information about fonts, colors, and credits of the resources used

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