Every teacher has assigned the prompt that produced thirty nearly identical essays. "Discuss the theme of gender roles in A Doll's House" is a common culprit. It is easy to write, and it invites students to repeat what the class already said.

Broad prompts also make grading harder. When students can go in any direction, you have no shared target to measure them against. You end up comparing very different papers on impression alone.

A narrower prompt does the opposite. It asks for a position on a specific question and points toward a body of evidence, which makes essays more varied in argument and more alike in structure. That combination is what you want when you have to score them fairly.

Good prompts share a few traits. They ask how or why rather than what, they leave room for reasonable disagreement, and they can be answered with evidence from the text alone. If a student needs outside sources to respond, it is a research prompt and should be labeled as one.

Prompt formats that work well

Tension prompts ask students to weigh two readings, such as whether Torvald is a villain or a product of his world. Craft prompts ask how Ibsen builds an effect, such as the way the third act reverses the mood of the first two. Choice prompts ask why a detail matters, such as why the play is set at Christmas. Each one produces a real argument and a clear set of evidence.

• To what extent does Ibsen present Torvald as a villain, and to what extent as a product of his society?
• How does the letterbox build suspense across Acts Two and Three?
• Why does Ibsen set the play at Christmas, and what does the holiday setting reveal about the Helmers' marriage?
• Is Kristine Linde a foil for Nora, a model for her, or both?
• What does the final conversation between Nora and Torvald change about everything that came before it?

Building in gradability

State the length, the number of pieces of evidence you expect, and the part of the play to focus on. Constraints sound limiting, but they make students more creative, since they have to choose their best material. They also make your job easier, because every paper is aiming at the same kind of target.

Match the prompt to the rubric. If the rubric rewards counterargument, the prompt should invite one. A mismatch between what you ask for and what you score is one of the most common sources of frustration on both sides.

Prompts for different levels

For younger or newer writers, offer two or three focused choices instead of one open field. A choice gives students ownership without leaving them lost. Sentence-level supports, like a suggested first move, can help too.

For advanced students, invite them to write their own question and defend why it matters. That step is a skill in itself and often produces the most interesting work. Approve the questions ahead of time so you know what you will be grading.

Keeping prompts fresh

If you teach the play every year, rotate your prompts so older siblings and online forums cannot supply the answers. Change the angle, not just the wording. A prompt about the Christmas setting one year can become a prompt about stage directions the next.

After grading, note which prompts produced strong, varied essays and which produced repetition. That record is more useful than memory the following fall. It also makes it easier to share what works with colleagues teaching the same unit.