Creating an Essay Question
The Essay Question type gives the student room to compose a few sentences or paragraphs in response to a question. This must then be scored manually by an instructor. For more information, see Manual Grading.
NOTE: For longer essays, it is recommended that instructors use the Assignment Activity as the Essay question is intended for no more than a couple of paragraphs of text.
- Log in to the CLE (cle.ucsf.edu)
-
If you haven't already created a quiz (see the CLE Quiz page to review the steps for adding a quiz), go to the secondary navigation bar, click More>Question bank, and then click the Create a new question button and choose the Essay question type.
-
If you've already created a quiz, go to the quiz and click the Questions tab in the Quiz navigation bar. The question setting options will appear. Please select + a new question from the 'Add' drop-down menu, then choose the Essay question type.
-
Give the question a descriptive name so that you can find it in the Question bank.
-
Fill in the Question text field with your question. This will be the title and details of the essay you want them to write.
-
Set the Default points as well as any 'General Feedback' if necessary. This is the text that the student sees after you have graded their essay.
- Click Save changes.
Response options
- You can select a maximum and minimum word count for the Essay question in the CLE.
- If students write too few or too many words, they will receive an alert.
Essay Question Resources