A fishbone template is an essay planning tool. Whereas the burger diagram encourages students to think in terms of introduction, three main sections and a conclusion, the fishbone approach involves selecting four main factors, then providing three key pieces of detail about each.

This is really a very straightforward template, which would be ideal as a homework / extension activity prior to a written essay test in examination conditions. Students could be asked to produce and print off a fishbone diagram for the key question under consideration, which they could then use for reference purposes during the test.

• Each student could save their completed template to the school network so that they can be compared and contrasted. Which fishbones are the most similar? Which one is the most original? Which one appears to have broken the topic down most appropriately?

Excellent Screencast from the Edtechroundup site