Loyola Support Documentation

How do I create a Short Answer/Essay question?

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This allows for a short answer or essay question to be added to a new or existing assessment. This question type presents users with a question followed by a text box in which they enter the answer. This type of question must be manually graded.

Select Tests & Quizzes.

Select Tests & Quizzes

Select the Test & Quizzes tool from the site's Tool Menu.

Select an assessment.

Questions may be added to any assessment. Select an existing assessment or create a new one.

Create a New Assessment.

Select Add.

Select Add

Note: For more information on creating new assessments, see How do I create an assessment?

Enter a title and select Create.

Enter a title and select Create
  1. Enter a title in the Assessment Title field.
  2. Select Create.

Or, edit an existing assessment.

Select Actions and choose Edit
  1. Select the Actions menu to the right of the draft assessment.
  2. Choose Edit.

Choose Short Answer/Essay.

Choose Short Answer/Essay from the dropdown menu

Choose Short Answer/Essay from the Add Question dropdown menu.

Set the point value for the question.

Enter a point value

Enter the point value for this question. Questions may be worth any point value you choose.  

Tip: Keep in mind that the point value of all the questions in the assessment will equal the point value of the assessment in the Gradebook. So if you want your assessment to be worth a total of 100 points, you should assign point values to your questions accordingly.

Display points?

Choose whether to display the point value

Do you want students to see the point value as they are taking the test?  If so, leave the default setting of Yes. If you prefer that students do not see the point value for the question, select No.

Extra Credit. (Optional)

Designate questions as extra credit

Selecting this option lets you mark a question as extra credit. This means that the points awarded for this question are not counted as part of the "total points" for the assessment and there are no points deducted for skipping this question or answering incorrectly. However, users answering correctly will receive the question point value added on top of their total points earned in the assessment.

Add Rubric. (Optional)

Assign a rubric to the question

Grading rubrics can be selected on manually graded question types. You can select an existing rubric or create a new one by following the steps outlined in How do I add a rubric to an assessment (i.e., test or quiz)?

Add Question Text.

Enter question text

Type the Question Text into the text field provided.

Note: To edit with Rich Text Editor, select the hyperlink to open the full menu.

Add Attachments. (Optional)

Select Add Attachments

Select Add Attachments to browse for and select a file attachment if desired.

Assign to part. (Optional)

Choose to assign to a part

If you have multiple parts in your assessment, you may assign the question to a different part.

Assign to pool. (Optional)

Choose to assign to a pool

If you have an existing question pool and would like to copy this question to the pool, select the pool name here.

Provide model answer. (Optional)

Provide a model answer

Provide a model answer to the short answer/essay question in order to show students a generic version of the expected answer. It may also assist graders with providing feedback.

Provide Feedback. (Optional)

Provide feedback

Feedback is optional text available for students to view after the particular question is graded.

Select Save.

Select Save

Select Save to save the question.

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