Main Guidelines for Question Writing

Question topics

• Relate questions to course objectives.
• Understand purposes of questioning strategies and how they relate to class activities.
• Avoid questions on trivial or inconsequential details.
• Avoid questions that can be answered solely on the basis of intelligence or general knowledge.
• Develop questions for varied knowledge levels.

Question-writing protocol

• Use clear, concise, and precise language.
• Each item (question) should test only one idea.
• Each item should contain only material relevant to its solution.
• Don’t take questions directly from the wording in textbooks or readings.
• Don't use acronyms in the questions without defining them unless the acronym is common knowledge or you are asking for a definition of the acronym.
• Review and edit your questions.
• After your own review, ask someone less familiar with the material to review the questions for clarity and grammar.