When you’re starting a program for learning new vocabulary words, you might envision sitting down at a desk with a list of words and definitions, black letters on white pages, and a dry and boring routine. In fact, if this is the only way you’re set up to study vocabulary, it might very well be boring to you, which will discourage you from practicing your vocabulary improvement, and even make it more difficult to learn and remember the words you’re looking at.

Humans are visual animals for the most part, and even if your own particular learning method tends to be more auditory (you learn best by listening) or kinesthetic (you learn quickly when you’re doing hands-on work), everyone has an element of visual learning in the way they receive and process information. Because of this, adding images or other interesting and significant visual elements to vocabulary study will do two things: first, it will keep you focused on the words and concepts; and second, it will make those words and concepts easier to learn and remember. Here are a few tips on adding this visual component to your study program:

Incorporate images. Wherever possible, include a picture or other image that illustrates the word you’re trying to learn. For nouns and certain verbs, this is relatively easy; the internet has millions of image files for everything from aardvark to zyzzyva. For some words, however, you’ll do better trying to sketch out a picture for yourself that helps you visualize the concept; for example, you might create an image of a chess board with the two sets of black and white men lined up in rows on either side, plus a few additional pawns to the side, to illustrate the word extraneous.

Weave a web. Word mapping helps you discover the links between words, and strengthens your ability to recall both the primary word you’re learning and the additional related words. The Ultimate Vocabulary system has a feature called “Word Discovery” that helps you map words and explore these connections.

Activate your eyes. By creating your own images, you’ll activate more areas of your brain, and this additional activity will help your brain encode and store the memories of the words and their definitions. This stimulation will be even greater if you’re using a pen or pencil to sketch out the images.