Create a Custom Essay Prompt

If you are subscribed to a program content bundle that includes essay prompt functionality, you can write custom essay prompts. Custom essay prompts are evaluated on an overall score.

Both trained and untrained prompts provide students with detailed score values for each of the six traits of writing on our rubric. See Trained and Untrained Essay Prompts for more information.

Select the My Library tab.
Select Write an essay prompt under the Create Content menu on the left.
Enter the Title and Prompt.
Use the Program drop down to select a program that you are subscribed to.
Select a Writing Level.
Select the Prompt type. This selection will determine the expected genre of the essay and affects the advice the students receive as feedback on their essays.
Select Save.

Edit a Custom Essay Prompt

Once you have created a custom essay prompt, you can edit the prompt from My Library.

Select the My Library tab.
Select the 3-dot on the right of the essay box for the essay prompt you want to change, and then select Edit.
Do one or more of the following:
- Edit the text in the Title and Prompt boxes.
- Change the Writing Level or Prompt type.
- You can't change the program that the essay is a part of.
When finished, select Save.

View example essay

The essay scorer's "Essay examples" feature presents a modal with a model essay and a mirrored scoring panel. The teachers and students can select an outcome (excluding non-applicable ones like "spelling") to view targeted instructional text and highlight the corresponding section in the example essay.

Within the essay prompt window, select the View example essay button on the top right of the window.

The example essay window appears along with the outcomes on the left pane.
Select the required option in the outcome section.

The right pane will display the essay text area containing instructional text. A section of the essay text will be highlighted to provide specific guidance.
Select Close button at the bottom right to exit the example essay window.