A mnemonic device used in some schools designed to help students when drawing up maps. BOLTS stands for:

B - Border
O - Orientation
L - Legend
T - Title
S - Scale

The basic idea behind 'BOLTS' is that all maps should include a border, some form of orientation (eg. defining which direction North is), a legend (or 'key') containing all used symbols, a title on what the map is of, and a scale. Some teachers actually take it quite seriously, as I learned in year 7, when failure to take the BOLTS rule into consideration resulted in an evil 'UNSATISFACTORY' grade.

Sometimes an extra S is added in to represent 'source'. In other words, if someone used another source or sources to draw up their map they should state so.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.