Essay Maps

(This activity is brought to us via the excellent writers of our textbook.)

One tool for planning your research is to write an essay map. An essay map answers these questions:

What am I going to write about?

What am I trying to demonstrate (or compare or persuade or describe)?
What is the purpose of my research?
What are the main points (or sources) I hope to use as evidence?

Here's a first attempt at an essay map:

In this essay, I am going to write about three films based on Edith Wharton’s novels. I want to demonstrate that in The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth the main characters are prisoners of their society. My research will be to find out how the values of nineteenth-century American society imprisoned certain individuals, in particular, I want to look at the way that society limited the activity of upper-class women. I will also look at Wharton’s own life to see if there are any clues to her interest in this theme.

Here is a revision that is a little shorter and smoother:

Two recent films based on Edith Wharton’s novels show upper-class women imprisoned in

their society. Set in the world of “old New York” in which the author grew up, The House of Mirth and The Age of Innocence explore the lives of such victims.