Essay questions give students an opportunity to display their comprehension of a subject more thoroughly than any other question type. They can be difficult to write and even harder to grade, however, so both the question and answer must be clear and unambiguous.
Guidelines for Writing Effective Essay Questions
•Make sure that wording is clear and unambiguous.
oIf wording is not clear, students may be answering a question that is different from the one you intended to ask. For example, the question "Describe three stars", might refer to three types of stellar bodies or three specific stellar bodies. To avoid this problem, add enough detail to the question to make the type of answer that you're looking for clear.
•Make sure the intended answers are unambiguous.
•Use several short questions rather than one long question.
•Assign points to each question part so that learners can earn partial credit.
•Specify how the student should answer the question.
•Write an answer explanation that includes all expected variations of the answer.
oNot all instructors may think of the answer to an essay question the same way, so it is important to include all of the acceptable answers to each question part in the Answer Explanation. You may enter more question parts than are called for in the question, but that will prevent learners from failing to receive credit for a valid answer. Additionally, if a learner provides an incorrect but plausible answer, it will be easier for an instructor with a comprehensive answer list to grade it as incorrect.
