Decide what type of concept map you're going to use. There are four kinds: spider, hierarchy, flowchart, and the systems concept map. The spider map has a central idea in the middle of the page where supporting ideas expand outward, surrounding the main idea. The hierarchy map places ideas and information in order of importance with the most important idea at the top. The flowchart concept map structures ideas and information in a linear style. The systems concept map structures information and ideas into a flowchart that includes conditional responses, or inputs and outputs. The systems concept map's organization depends on what idea you enter into the map. There are also other kinds of maps that take a more detailed approach.
Choose the main topic or idea you want to write about. For example, organize your ideas by using the spider concept map for your essay. Write your main topic in the central bubble of the page. Remember that each bubble should have arrows pointing to each supporting idea, while the most important ideas are positioned closer to the center of the page.
Brainstorm any ideas that relate to your main topic. Write them in bubbles that branch out from your main topic. Draw more bubbles that connect to your sub-topics, and write down ideas, phrases or research that describes them.
Re-draw these bubbles with the same ideas on a second page, so that they fit into the three main sections, which will organize your essay. Include an introduction, body and conclusion section on the concept map's second page. Use all of your ideas and supporting information in the bubbles to explain and introduce your topic in the introduction section. Draw bubbles containing ideas and research in the body section. These bubbles will expand from your main topic, and lead to a detailed explanation of your essay's main ideas. This section of the concept map can be broken up into multiple sub-sections depending on the complexity of your idea. You can even color code each group of bubbles to represent a specific category or statement you're making. Cause and effect are good examples.
Continue to expand the bubbles into a conclusion section. Write ideas that will help conclude the sub-topics and main topic of the concept map. When you're finished, the basic structure of your map will show the main idea expand out towards a related idea, and show it branching into a detail or example.
Look at your concept map as a whole, and follow the ideas and the way they're organized on the map. Write your essay if everything makes sense. Re-structure your map if some ideas are not developed enough, so that everything flows better.