Essay assessments ask students to demonstrate a point of view supported by evidence. They allow students to demonstrate what they've learned and build their writing skills.
An essay question prompts a written response, which may vary from a few paragraphs to a number of pages.
Essay questions are generally open-ended. They differ from short answer questions in that they:
Essays can be used to test students' higher order thinking.
Effective essay questions provide students with a focus (types of thinking and content) to use in their response.
Make sure your essay question:
Review the question and improve using the following questions:
To ensure the assessment item aligns with learning outcomes:
Make sure your students are prepared by:
In the table below you will find lists of verbs that are commonly used in essay questions. These words:
Descriptive question words | Critical question words |
---|---|
Define | Analyse |
Demonstrate | Evaluate |
Describe | Justify |
Elaborate | Critically evaluate |
Explain | Review |
Explore | Assess |
Identify | Discuss |
Outline | Examine |
Summarise | To what extent |
Compare | |
Contrast |