An essay prompt is only as useful as the criteria used to judge the answers it produces. If a teacher assigns a question about Derviš i smrt without deciding what a strong response must include, grading becomes a matter of impression, and students sense the inconsistency. Pairing each prompt with its own short set of criteria solves this before a single essay is written.

Consider a prompt that asks whether Nurudin's faith ultimately protects him or helps him avoid responsibility. This question has no single correct answer, so the criteria should reward the quality of the argument rather than the conclusion reached. Look for a clear position, evidence from both early and late sections of the novel, and acknowledgment of the strongest case against the student's own view.

A second prompt might ask how Selimović's choice of a first-person narrator shapes the reader's judgment of Nurudin. Here the criteria shift toward technique, so the grader should expect specific attention to voice, self-justification, and moments where the narrator's account seems incomplete. An essay that simply says the narration is "personal" has not yet answered the question.

Prompts About Character and Moral Change

Character prompts work best when they ask for a trajectory instead of a description. Asking how and why Nurudin changes between the opening chapters and the conclusion pushes students to identify turning points and explain what causes them. The criteria should reward essays that name specific scenes, connect them causally, and avoid treating the change as sudden when the novel presents it as gradual.

• Prompt: Does Nurudin betray his ideals, or were they never as firm as he believed?
• Prompt: How does Selimović use Harun's absence to shape Nurudin's inner life?
• Prompt: Is the novel a critique of religion, of power, or of both?
• Prompt: What does the novel suggest about the cost of survival under an unjust authority?
• Prompt: How does the setting of a Sarajevo lodge shape the novel's central conflict?

Prompts About Theme and Politics

Theme prompts risk becoming vague unless they are tied to a concrete question. Asking "what does the novel say about power" invites generalities, while asking how institutions in the novel pressure individuals to compromise gives students something specific to examine. Criteria for these prompts should require students to anchor broad claims in particular events, dialogue, or narration.

Political and allegorical readings deserve extra care in grading. Students may connect the novel to twentieth-century authoritarianism, and a strong essay does so without flattening the work into a simple political message. Criteria should reward essays that acknowledge the novel's historical setting while also explaining why its questions still feel relevant.

Aligning Criteria With Grade Level

The same prompt can be used with different expectations depending on whether the class is eleventh grade, an advanced seminar, or a first-year college course. For younger students, criteria may emphasize a clear thesis and well-explained evidence, while advanced students may be expected to engage with narrative technique and competing interpretations. Writing down these expectations ahead of time prevents grading drift across sections.

Share the criteria with students when the prompt is distributed, not after the grades are returned. When students know that evidence from at least three points in the novel is required, they plan their reading and note-taking accordingly. Transparency tends to raise the quality of submissions more than any other single change.

Turning Criteria Into Faster Feedback

Once criteria are written, they can double as the backbone of your feedback. Instead of composing every comment from nothing, you can respond to each criterion in turn, noting where the essay met it and where it fell short. AI grading tools can apply the same criteria to every submission, producing a consistent first draft of feedback that the teacher then refines.

This approach is especially valuable for teachers who assign multiple prompts in the same class. Each prompt carries its own criteria, and the feedback stays tied to the question the student actually answered. The result is feedback that feels specific rather than recycled, even when the volume of grading is high.