Plan an essay around an argument, not a topic

Replace the topic with a provisional answer

“Urban transport” can produce an endless list. “A congestion charge should be paired with affordable public transport” gives your map an argument to examine. It can change as you read; provisional means you are testing it, not defending it at any cost.

Keep the exact assignment question in the main node's notes. Include the word limit, required scope, and assessment criteria. This helps you notice when an interesting branch no longer belongs in this particular essay.

Build a claim-and-evidence pair

For each main claim, add children for evidence, reasoning, and limitations. Evidence is not self-explanatory: write why it supports the claim and what it cannot establish. A result from one city does not automatically settle a question about every city.

For the transport example, one branch could ask how a charge changes travel behavior. Another could consider who carries the cost. A third could examine what realistic alternatives exist. These are research questions to investigate, not conclusions to assume.

Store source links, author names, dates, and relevant page numbers in expanded notes. Keep your bibliography in the format your course requires. Mappy is not a citation manager, and a link in a node does not generate a complete academic reference.

Give the counterargument a real branch

Write the strongest objection you can find, not a weak version that is easy to dismiss. Under it, separate evidence that contradicts your argument from evidence that merely narrows it. You may need to change the thesis rather than add a defensive sentence at the end.

• What would a reasonable reader disagree with?
• Which assumption carries the most weight?
• What evidence would change your answer?
• Does the conclusion go further than the evidence allows?

Turn the map into a linear outline

An essay is read in order even when it was planned spatially. Number the claims in a sequence that builds the argument. For each planned paragraph, write a topic sentence, the evidence it needs, and the connection to the next paragraph.

Move branches that do not advance the answer into a separate “Not for this essay” note. Saving an idea is different from including it. Leave enough room for explanation and evaluation instead of filling the word count with every fact you found.

Finally, read only the topic sentences. If they form a coherent answer to the assignment, the map has done its job. Draft the prose in whichever writing tool suits the final submission.