SS9 ATSS
MAPS NEED BOLTSS
Mrs. Cousar
SS9 ATSS
MAPS NEED BOLTSS
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 is
25 000 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!!
