Creating Essay Questions
Essay questions allow students to write free-text responses. They are ideal for assessing critical thinking, analysis, and communication skills. Unlike other question types, essay questions require manual grading by an instructor.
Step-by-Step Creation
1
Navigate to Questions
Go to Questions → Create Question from the sidebar.
2
Select Essay type
Choose "ESSAY" from the Question Type dropdown.
3
Write the question prompt
Enter a clear, detailed prompt. For essay questions, the prompt should specify what you expect: scope, format, and evaluation criteria.
4
Set word limits
Optionally set minimum and maximum word counts. These guide students on expected response length.
5
Add a grading rubric
Enter a rubric that describes how the answer will be evaluated. Include criteria, point breakdowns, and quality levels.
6
Provide a sample answer
Optionally add a model answer that instructors can reference during manual grading.
7
Set points and difficulty
Assign total marks. Essay questions typically carry more points than objective types.
8
Save
Click Save. The question is created in DRAFT status.
Essay-Specific Fields
In addition to common fields (question text, points, difficulty, subject, tags), essay questions have these specific fields:
| Field | Required | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
Min Words | Optional | number | Minimum word count required. Students see a warning if their response is below this limit. |
Max Words | Optional | number | Maximum word count allowed. The editor enforces this limit and shows a word counter. |
Rubric | Optional | textarea | Grading rubric or marking guide. Visible to instructors during manual grading. Helps ensure consistent scoring. |
Sample Answer | Optional | textarea | An example correct answer. Shown to instructors as reference during grading. Not visible to students. |
Data Structure
The essay data object (EssayData) stores:
minWords— optional minimum word countmaxWords— optional maximum word countrubric— optional grading rubric textsampleAnswer— optional model answer for graders
Writing an Effective Rubric
A good rubric ensures consistent grading across multiple instructors. Include:
- Criteria — what aspects are being evaluated (content accuracy, structure, grammar, depth of analysis)
- Point allocation — how many points each criterion is worth out of the total
- Quality levels — describe what constitutes excellent, good, adequate, and poor responses for each criterion
Manual Grading Workflow
- Students submit their exam with essay responses.
- Auto-graded questions (MCQ, True/False, etc.) are scored immediately.
- Instructors navigate to Grading → select the exam → review each essay response.
- The rubric and sample answer are displayed alongside the student's response.
- Instructors assign a score (0 to the question's total points) and optionally add feedback.
- Once all essays are graded, the final exam score is calculated and published.