Essay Mapping Tool

Instructions

Effective writing at university is a process:

Analyse the task → Gather content → Plan → Draft → Edit

This tool may help you to bridge from planning to drafting by helping you arrange your sentences in a logical order. It also provides tips for each component of an essay – the introduction, body, and conclusion. It can be used to improve your understanding of essay writing in general or as a planning tool for one of your university assignments.

Because this tool is for your personal use only, you may decide to write in bullet points, but we recommend full sentences. Once you have filled in each section, a complete essay overview will be generated which can be printed.

1. Introduction

1.1 Orientation: Background information on the topic of the essay (one to two sentences).

1.2 Thesis Statement: The purpose for writing your essay. This is where you give a direct answer to the question and your interpretation. To test if the purpose is strong use 'So what?' test (one to two sentences).

1.3 Outline: A roadmap to show how you are going to prove your thesis statement. Brief statements on the content of your assignment. This must be in the same order as the paragraphs in your assignment (one to two sentences).

2. Body

Three paragraphs planning spaces have been provided for you. You can add or delete as necessary.

The purpose of the body is to logically develop the points made in your thesis and outline statements. There are no rules about the number of paragraphs required in assignment, but in general, you are advised to develop one idea per paragraph. This is done with a clear and coherent structure which introduces the topic in a topic sentence, defines or clarifies which aspect of the topic you are going to discuss, develops and supports your discussion and (optionally) concludes your discussion.

A topic sentence generally has two parts. You may refer to the overall essay topic and also introduce the specific aspect you plan to discuss in this paragraph. This is referred to as topic + controlling idea. You can also use a topic sentence to link to or contrast with the previous paragraph. This is an effective strategy to use with the second body paragraph onwards. You may choose to conclude the paragraph with a summary sentence; however, you are advised not to overuse this type of sentence as it may seem repetitious.

Cohesion and coherence refer to how effectively sentences are connected and how smoothly the writing flows. This is not simply achieved by following a logical paragraph structure, but also by using linking words (e.g. however/furthermore/consequently) and referring words (e.g. this/that/these/those)

When you develop your argument, remember to use a range of support. You can use examples, logical reasoning, speculation, statistics and citations

Paragraph 1

Topic Sentence

Write the topic and controlling idea (one sentence).

Support

Support your controlling idea using evidence, examples, elaboration or explanations. Do not go off topic. Do use in-text references.

Conclude (optional)

Sum up the paragraph and link to your thesis OR link to the next paragraph (one sentence).

Paragraph 2

Topic Sentence

Write the topic and controlling idea (one sentence).

Support

Support your controlling idea using evidence, examples, elaboration or explanations. Do not go off topic. Do use in-text references.

Conclude (optional)

Sum up the paragraph and link to your thesis OR link to the next paragraph (one sentence).

Paragraph 3

Topic Sentence

Write the topic and controlling idea (one sentence).

Support

Support your controlling idea using evidence, examples, elaboration or explanations. Do not go off topic. Do use in-text references.

Conclude (optional)

Sum up the paragraph and link to your thesis OR link to the next paragraph (one sentence).

3. Conclusion

The purpose of the conclusion is to summarize the key points you have discussed; however, it often contains a paraphrase of the thesis statement. This helps link the whole essay together. A conclusion may also contain a statement which links the essay to the broader topic or suggests a future action.

You can begin with the phrase 'In conclusion,' but there are other phrases you could consider: In summary/This assignment has…/In this essay, I have…. Avoid Finally/Briefly/

3.1 Summarise all the main points from your body paragraph. This should be in the same logical order of your outline in your introduction.

3.2 Link the main points to your thesis statement.

3.3 Link back to your opening sentence in your introduction to show how your essay has impact or relates to the broader topic (optional).

3.4 Reference

Remember to reference any sources you have used. Refer to CDU Library for more information on referencing.

4. Preview

Show Headings

Introduction

Body

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2

Paragraph 3

Conclusion

To save as a PDF, click the Print button and then change your printer destination to "Save As PDF".

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