a map or blueprint of an essay brainly

Module 2: Reading Strategies

Outlining and mapping, learning objectives.

• Use outlining as a reading strategy

When summarizing a reading, it is often a good idea to make an outline. This can be especially helpful for summarizing the important details from a textbook, as the general organization is already laid out for you. Outlining and mapping can help you break down a text into the most important ideas and concepts, but it also useful for organizing your own thoughts before you begin to write. An outline will:

• Present information in an organized and logical manner
• Focus on main ideas and key details
• Show how information is related
• Cover a lot of material in a small space

This video explains how to create an outline, and covers these main rules:

• Parallelism: Headings of the same level are of the same kind (a noun, a verb, etc.)
• Coordination: Headings of the same level are of the same rank
• Subordination: Information moves from general to specific by indenting from left to right
• Division: Each heading must have at least two subheadings in order to be divided

You can view the transcript for “How to Make an Outline” here (opens in new win dow) .

Just as outlining is helpful for understanding the organization of a piece of text, mapping can help you visualize the important components of a passage. Mapping is similar to outlining in that the goal is to write out the main ideas and key supporting details of a text or map out ideas for something you want to write.

To create a concept map:

• Write down the name of the text (or concept) you want to map.
• Draw a box for the main idea.
• Draw boxes for supporting ideas.
• Draw more boxes for supporting details.
• Draw arrows connecting the boxes. Organization flows vertically in this example, but concept maps can be organized horizontally, or even with the main idea in the center and supporting ideas and details surrounding it.

In this video, you’ll see how you can use a concept map to visually analyze a text.

You can view the transcript for “Creating a Concept Map” here (opens in new window) .

• Creating and Outline. Provided by : Excelsior Online Reading Lab. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/orc/what-to-do-after-reading/analyzing/creating-an-outline/ . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Concept Mapping. Provided by : Excelsior College Online Reading Lab. Located at : https://owl.excelsior.edu/orc/what-to-do-after-reading/analyzing/creating-a-concept-map/ . License : CC BY: Attribution

Chapter 2: Evidence

Drafting the Blueprint

Following the information-gathering stage described in Chapter 1, the essay blueprint is the next step toward purposeful writing. The essay blueprint is NOT a summary (nor should it be confused with the essay roadmap, to be discussed in Chapter 4). Drafting an  essay blueprint is an exercise that demonstrates clear understanding, meaningful citing and concise paraphrasing of the text’s argument. In this sense, the essay blueprint is as much a reading comprehension exercise as it is an organizational exercise. Your thorough understanding of the text you are analyzing will determine the structure of your essay and its validity.

When drafting the blueprint, be sure the evidence you use reflects accurately the content of the original text you are analyzing. In an analytical essay you must combine different ideas, theories, and facts to construct a coherent argument.  In your blueprint you should consider the purpose and lay the groundwork for the analytical essay you will be writing.

A good blueprint should distill the main points of the other writer’s work and organize them in a way that best suits your analytical reading. Keep your future essay in mind as you construct your blueprint, and remember that your essay should lead your reader through the same analytical process you went through to arrive at the claim you are making.

Before we start constructing the blueprint, let’s watch Video 2.1: The Blueprint . This video describes some of the habits, or “Don’ts,” we want to avoid when taking an analytical approach to an article. This lecture uses David Bollier’s “The Plot to Privatize Common Knowledge,” so have your diagnostic essay handy.

Write Here, Right Now: An Interactive Introduction to Academic Writing and Research Copyright © 2018 by Ryerson University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

Blueprinting: using the thesis paragraph to plan your essay.

Jerz >  Writing > Academic     [ Argument | Title  |  Thesis  | Blueprint | Pro/Con | Quoting |  MLA Format ]

The blueprint, typically found in the thesis paragraph, is a  list of the topics you plan to cover in oder to prove your thesis.  A useful blueprint will preview the relationship between all sub-points (or at least list the points) in the order they will appear in the body of your paper, before the paper launches into details about the first sub-point.

Including a good blueprint will not only help your reader follow your argument, it will help your writing. It’s easier to add a room, move a hallway, or redesign a whole wing at the blueprinting stage, rather than tearing down sections of a partially-built house.

If your paper begins with a rambling introduction that serves up chunks that you recall from lectures and random web pages, the reader will have a hard time picking out your main point (because you don’t really have one).

Serial Organization (weak integration)

Revision: Some Attempt to Organize

The list of topics you plan to address in the body of your paper is important, but I’m using letters so that you can focus more closely on the structures that link those ideas.

Examples of thesis statements with a reasoning blueprint:

Note that the reasoning blueprint introduces subpoints that the reader will expect you to cover in the same order.

Personal essays and reflection papers may require no sources other than the author’s opinions and personal experiences, but a college research paper will require deep engagement with outside sources. For the next example, we’ll assume your instructor accepts Smith as a credible source for this paper.

Below is an even more complex argument, which demonstrates a college-level ability to sift through ideas from multiple sources.

Use “Thesis Reminders” for Transitions

No matter how good your thesis, your writing is worth little if it does not cohere (hold together) and demonstrate to the reader how each new point advances the main idea . You can accomplish both goals by providing your reader with thesis reminders.

A  thesis reminder  is a direct echo of the  thesis statement , used as a transition between supporting points.

A good thesis sentence has three main parts: the  limited subject  (what your paper is about), the  precise opinion  (what you’re trying to say about that subject), and the blueprint (what this web page is about). (See: “ Thesis Statements “)

Here are two examples of using the  thesis  and the  blueprint  to maintain coherence.

Thesis:  Restoring old houses is rewarding  because it is  exciting ,  relaxing , and  satisfying .

Thesis:  Becoming a ski patroller turned out to be harder than I thought  because of  the studying,  the  skiing , and  the time demands .

You Don’t Need Exactly Three Points!

If you are writing a more complex essay, you may use a different format, but you still must include blueprints and reminders.

For example, a critical essay may have a thesis, antithesis, and a synthesis.  The antithesis presents all the arguments against your thesis, and a synthesis is a kind of compromise, in which you attempt to prove that, whatever points your opponents might have in their favor, your thesis still stands.

Each of these sections may have 3 or more points, which are united by local blueprints and local reminders, capped off by local conclusions, and worked into by the tapestry of the whole argument.

Varieties of Blueprints

These are all acceptable ways to blueprint in a thesis statement.

Use Good Structure

The  order of the points  in the blueprint should perfectly parallel the points in the essay. If you say you are going to talk about “ships, shoes, and sealing wax,” but your essay starts with “sealing wax,” then your blueprint is distorted.

Here is an example of a different kind of distortion — faulty parallelism .

Note : A thesis statement amounts to nothing if the paper is not completely focused on that main point.  Proper blueprinting facilitates the  coherency  of the thesis throughout the rest of the essay.

8 thoughts on “ Blueprinting: Using the Thesis Paragraph to Plan Your Essay ”

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in what essay type do we use blue printing?

Other writing teachers may have a different name for the overview, road map, list of supporting points, abstract, etc., but I would say any kind of complex persuasive or informative essay would benefit from a blueprint.

this topic is incredibly helpful.

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yes this blue print is not difficult, u can also use in the conclusion the clincher and the reminder of the thesis .

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