Academic writing is a key determinant to be successful in higher education institutions, and graduation requirements often involve students producing theses and dissertations using academic writing skills after conducting research. The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected pre-service teachers' learning in higher education institutions, and with the continued existence of problems in both writing and academic writing, this research investigates mind mapping software to aid pre-service teachers in writing academically. It aims to determine whether "i-Think" maps through software help pre-service teachers to perform academic writing, and explores their perceptions of learning academic writing with this software. Sequential explanatory mixed methods were used where single-subject experiments and online interviews were employed. Twenty pre-service teachers from a private university in Malaysia have participated in the research. Findings show that pre-service teachers experienced significant improvement in academic writing after "i-Think" maps and software were introduced; the pre-service teachers interviewed generally agreed that the software incorporating "i-Think" maps is useful for learning academic writing, and academic writing is a skill that must be mastered throughout the study. Practical and clinical suggestions related to academic writing and the findings obtained are provided.