MAPS NEED BOLTSSSS9 ATSS Mrs. Cousar

MAPS NEED BOLTSSSS9 ATSS Mrs. Cousar

SO WHAT DOES “BOLTSS” MEAN?You’re about to see…

BOLTSS BOLTSS is a way to

remember the crucial things a map MUST have: Border Orientation Legend Title Scale Source

B = BORDER A border shows where the map begins

and ends The border must enclose the whole

map Lines will run to the edge of the border,

and be cut off (like if we took a picture and things went out of frame)

Never cross the border of your map with a line!

BORDER The border of this

map is the black line that runs around its edge.

Maps don’t have to take up the entire paper. You can put a map on part of a page, then use the rest of the page to explain what the map means in detail.

O = ORIENTATION At the bare minimum, your map must

show which way is North. This must be completely accurate

(sometimes north is not straight up!). It is customary nowadays to put North at

the top of a map (but this wasn’t always the tradition).

You may also include south, east and west, (and NE, NW, SE and SW) but they are not required.

ORIENTATION Here is the north

arrow on the sample map. Notice that it is close to the title, and large enough to be seen clearly.

L = LEGEND The legend explains the choices you

made on your map. Colour-coding, symbols, etc. must be

explained on every map. NOTE: Blue should not be used for

anything but water—otherwise your reader will be confused!

LEGEND On this map, the

legend explains that numbers were used to represent countries that were too small to label.

Put your legend in an otherwise “empty” spot on your map (somewhere nothing important is showing).

T = TITLE The title of a map should briefly tell why it

was made. What are you showing on your map? What is the point?

Your title should be large enough to see easily and clearly. It should be the largest writing on the map.

Notice that the title is INSIDE the border. Be sure you have no spelling, capitalization, or grammatical errors in your title. Underline it.

TITLE This map has a poor

title. “Europe” is not enough information.

If what you show can change over time, you should tell what time your map represents. If your map is of “the

countries in Europe,” which ones? A map like that of countries in 1600 is VERY different than a map of the countries in 2013!

A better title for this map would be “Political Map of Europe in 2010”.

S = SCALE The scale on the map tells your reader how

far apart things are in real life. There are three kinds of scale:

Ratio (e.g. 1:25 000) means 1 cm on the map is25 000 cm in real life. Equality (e.g. 1 inch = 250 miles) is pretty clear

on its own. Bar shows the scale visually:

Be sure your scale is the same on all parts of your map, and it is accurate!

SCALE The bar scale on this

map is very poorly done.

It does not include numbers, so the reader doesn’t know what the scale really is!

Be sure you use a clear scale that helps your reader understand your map.

S = SOURCE You MUST tell your reader two things

under source: Where you got the information that is on the

map (you weren’t born knowing where the border between Switzerland and France is!)

Be sure that you use proper MLA formatting—not just the URL or title of a book—to share this information.

Who YOU are, so your reader can decide whether or not to trust your map (and so you can get the marks you earned).

SOURCE This map includes

the “author” part, but does not include where the information came from.

It is plagiarized. If the author of this map handed it in, he would get 0 and a phone call home!

SOURCE CON’T If you are not sure how to write sources down

properly (in MLA style), please see the “Titan Research Sources” handout.

Here is an example from a book: Cousar, Elizabeth. Teaching MLA Formatting.

Abbotsford, Canada: Abbotsford Publishing, Inc. 2025. Print.

And one from a website: Jeffries, Hasan Kwame. “Modern Civil Rights

Movement in Alabama”. The Encyclopedia of Alabama. Auburn University. 16 May 2011. Web. 07 February 2012.

SUMMARY Maps need a clear Border,

Orientation marker, Legend, Title, Scale and Sources to be complete.

You will need to learn (or review) the MLA rules and map scale, as well as other mapping skills to be sure all of these are accurate and appropriate.

MAPS NEED BOLTSS!!