An essay planning mind map built around one claim

Open the Essay Planning template

The Essay Planning template is one of the 13 starters Canvasola ships with, filed under education in the gallery. It arrives as a root called Essay with five branches: Thesis Statement, Arguments, Introduction, Conclusion and Sources. Arguments holds three children, Point 1 + Evidence, Point 2 + Evidence and Counterargument.

That is a plan of an essay, which is a different thing from an outline of a topic. An outline says what you will talk about, and a plan says what you will argue. The Arguments branch is the part that has to be rewritten, because a branch named Point 1 + Evidence is a slot rather than a claim.

Choose Essay Planning from the gallery, which the Templates button in the mind map toolbar opens, or reach the same list from the command palette with Ctrl/Cmd+K. The thesis guide covers the longer version of this work, and the study template guide covers turning your sources into notes you can actually use.

• Five branches, and Arguments arrives with three slots
• The template describes a plan, not an outline
• Rename the root to the essay title, not the word Essay
• Keep one map per essay, and export it as you revise

Note: Choosing a template replaces the open map, so keep any earlier work in another workspace tab before you start.

Write the question the essay answers

An essay answers a question, and the question has to be written down before the arguments make sense. Put it in the root label, where it replaces the word Essay: "Should cities charge for congestion?" or "Why did the 2008 crisis happen?". A label holds up to 8,000 characters, so a full question fits easily.

Then the Thesis Statement branch holds the answer. Write the claim in one sentence that could be wrong, because a thesis nobody can disagree with is not an argument, it is a topic. "Cities should charge for congestion" is arguable, while "Cities are improving" is not.

If the thesis will not come yet, write the question and leave the thesis branch with a note saying what would have to be true. That is a legitimate state for a plan two weeks before the deadline, and it is more useful than a thesis invented to fill the box.

• The question goes in the root label
• The thesis is one sentence that could be wrong
• A thesis nobody can disagree with is a topic
• Leave the thesis empty rather than inventing one

Give every body branch a claim

Rename Point 1 + Evidence into the claim that argument makes, and do the same for Point 2. The label is the claim and the child nodes are the evidence, so "Congestion charges reduce peak traffic" with a study, a figure and a city example underneath is a paragraph you could write tomorrow.

Use Shift+Enter to add a fourth argument when you have one, and keep the Counterargument branch where the template put it, as the objection you have to answer rather than a topic you might mention. The strongest version of that branch holds the best objection you can find, because answering it is what makes an essay convincing.

Per-node typography helps you see the shape of the argument. Font family, size, weight, style and alignment are set per node, so make the thesis larger than the arguments and the arguments larger than the evidence, and the map starts to look like the essay it will become.

• Each argument branch holds a claim somebody could dispute
• Evidence hangs under the claim, not beside it
• The counterargument is the objection you must answer
• Type size can show the weight of each part

Park the evidence under each claim

Evidence is what stops an essay from being opinion, and it belongs directly under the claim it supports. One child node per source, with the citation in the label: "DfT, 2021, congestion charge pilots". The Sources branch then holds the full reference, so the body reads as argument and the bibliography reads as bibliography.

Put the quotation in the rich note of the source node, with the page number, because you will want the exact words later and you will not remember them. A note can hold up to 80,000 characters, so paste the quotation in and leave the label short.

The Markdown export turns the whole map into a nested bullet list, which is the form that pastes into a document as a first draft. Export it when the structure is settled, and the draft starts as an argument rather than a blank page.

• One child node per source, with the citation in the label
• The quotation and the page number go in the note
• The Sources branch holds the full references
• A link is not a source, a book with a page number is

Order the branches to build the argument

The order of the branches is the order of the paragraphs, so it is worth deciding rather than inheriting. The usual shape is a first claim that gives the reader the frame, a second that does the work, and a third that answers the objection. Build the branches in the order you want the essay to read, because that is the order they keep.

The template's Arguments branch already holds the slots in a sensible order, with the counterargument last, so the work is naming and filling rather than rearranging. Decide the order before you write the evidence, because a claim that turns out to belong in the first paragraph is cheap to move early and awkward to move later.

Then check the order by reading the map as slides. Press P and the root comes first, then one slide per first-level branch, so a run-through shows the order of your argument in seconds. An objection that arrives before the reader knows what is being argued shows up as an awkward slide.

• Create the branches in the order the essay should read
• The counterargument usually comes last
• The first branch gives the reader the frame
• Read the map as slides to check the order

Cut the branch that repeats another

The most common flaw in an essay plan is a claim that says the same thing as another in different words, and it is easy to miss on paper. Collapse the branches one at a time with the chevron, read the collapsed labels in order, and ask of each one whether it could be a paragraph of its own. Two branches answering one question are one branch.

When a branch repeats another, cut it rather than merging it quietly. Select it and press Delete, which takes its evidence with it, then check the Sources branch: a source that only supported the deleted claim is now decoration, and it should go too.

Collapse All is the other half of the check. With every branch folded, the map is a list of claims, which is exactly what a marker wants to see: does each one add something, and is the order right? The shortcut cheat sheet has the keys for collapsing and for presenting.

• Collapse each branch and read the labels in order
• Two claims that answer one question are one claim
• Deleting a branch takes its evidence with it
• Collapse All shows the list of claims at a glance

A checklist you can reuse

• The root label holds the question the essay answers
• The thesis is one sentence somebody could disagree with
• Every argument branch is a claim rather than a topic
• Each claim has evidence children with citations
• The counterargument holds the strongest objection
• The branches were created in the order the essay reads
• Branches that repeat another were cut, with their evidence
• The finished plan was exported as Markdown for the draft

Common mistakes to avoid

• Listing topics instead of claims. A branch called Social media is a topic, and a topic cannot be argued. Write the claim you will defend and hang the sources under it.
• A thesis nobody can dispute. If your thesis is true whatever you argue, it is a subject rather than a position. Rewrite it until somebody could reasonably disagree.
• Evidence floating beside the claim. Sources that sit in a list at the end cannot be tied to the argument they support. Put each source under the claim it proves.
• Cutting evidence by accident. Deleting a branch takes its children with it, including the sources underneath. Check the Sources branch afterwards for orphans.
• Exporting before the structure settles. Markdown exports the structure as it stands, so an export made before the claims are named gives you a draft full of placeholders.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Essay Planning template an outline?

Not quite. The template is organized around an argument: a thesis, three argument slots including a counterargument, an introduction, a conclusion and a source list. An outline would list the topics you will cover, and the difference is the part you have to fill in yourself.

How many arguments should an essay plan have?

Two to four is a normal range, and the template gives you two plus a counterargument. More than four claims is usually more than the word count can support, and fewer than two leaves the thesis with nothing to rest on.

How do I get the plan into my draft?

Export the map as Markdown and it comes out as a nested bullet list you can paste into a document as the skeleton of the first draft. The plain-text outline and OPML exports work too, and a Markdown outline can be imported back into a map if you would rather keep editing there.

Can I check my argument with the map?

Yes. Collapse the branches and read the labels in order, which gives you the list of claims without the evidence, and press P to read the map as slides. A repeated claim or a gap in the order shows up quickly that way.

This guide is part of the template guides collection. For the wider product tour, read the complete Canvasola guide, and keep the keyboard shortcut cheat sheet open while you work.