If you want an app that can help you with your mind maps, try this one.

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MindMeister is an app for quickly creating mind maps. Within five minutes of making an account and logging in, I was able to build one from scratch easily after tinkering around a little bit. I prefer to use my computer when I can, not my phone, so I tried it out there first. Once you figure out how to build branches off of existing topics—which the software guides you to do by lightly suggesting which keystrokes to hit—you're basically off to the races. To my surprise, it was just as easy on mobile, although I was annoyed the screen wasn't really big enough to fit a large mind map. (You can scroll around and zoom in and out with no problem, though.) That's a personal preference, so it's not really an issue with the app—I'm simply a computer girl.

Credit: Lindsey Ellefson

Using an app that is designed to help you produce visual representations of your ideas through lines and bubbles is already much easier than trying to do this from scratch on paper or in a plain drawing program, but even that can be tedious if not properly implemented. MindMeister thought of that, though: It comes preloaded with a bunch of templates, which I think is its strongest attribute. Most of these are for work settings—"Business plan" and "OKR Planning" are both available as templates—but others have broader uses, like the template designed for SMART goals. Better yet, it has a subsection full of education-focused map templates for students. There's a template for taking notes using the Cornell method, an exam prep template, a lesson plan template, one that features the 7 Es of studying, and another designed to help you perfectly outline a five-paragraph essay. These are all editable and customizable, so your essay could actually be a 20-page behemoth and still benefit from being outlined in MindMeister.