Essay Tutorial

Example

Here's the Essay content we'll create in this tutorial:

When to use Essay

An Essay content type can be used for various types of exercises. In this tutorial, we will use Essay to get a summary of the book the learner has read. Also, we will define some keywords for which we will give points/feedback if the learner mentions them in his or her answer.

Step 1: Topic

This content should assist the learner to write an Essay on the novel "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien with at least 100 characters. The learner will be awarded points and receive feedback if he or she use specific keywords.

Step 2: Creating an Essay

Select the New content option and choose Essay from the list of Content types:

Step 3: Creating an Essay

The Essay editor should now appear. The main part of the editor looks like this:

The Essay editor consists of Task description, Help text, Sample solution and Keywords.

Step 4: Task description 

In the Task description field, we give the learner basic instructions or introduce the problem to be solved. We'll use this text for the Task description: Please describe the novel "The Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien with at least 100 characters and up to 500 characters.

Step 5: Help text

In the Help text field, we give the learner some line to help start the writing process. This text will appear as a placeholder text inside the input field where the learner will type his answer. This text is optional. In our example, we'll use this text for the Help text: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit ...

Step 6: Sample solution

In the Sample solution, we show the learner an example of how the finished essay can look. The student will see this sample after he is done. This text is optional. For our example, type this for Sample solution: 

Introduction: Please remember that you were not expected to come up with the exact same solution. It is just a good example.

Sample solution text: The book is about a guy called Bilbo. One day, he gets some unexpected visitors: Gandalf, the wizard, and nine dwarfs. Some of them had strange names such as Gloin or Dori. Together, they go on an adventure and try to retrieve a treasure from Smaug, an old dragon. Bilbo somewhat betrays the dwarfs, but still is the hero. Bilbo is a good guy.

Step 7: Keywords

Using keywords we define how many points we will attribute for the appearance of a specific word. In our example we want to set points for these keywords:

It is possible to add variations for each keyword, for example: (adventure or quest or journey). The learner will get 10 points if he mentions any variation of this word.

Let's start filling in the keywords and points from the information in the table above. We add new keywords by clicking on the "Add keyword"  button and if a keyword has variations we add variations by clicking on the "Add variation"  button. If the word has more than one variation, use the "Add variation" button for each new variation. The points for each keyword are set under Points, Options and Feedback group. 

When we are done adding all keywords, it should look like this:



Various options are available per keyword such as:

• Points - The number of points a learner will earn if this word is used
• Occurrences - How many times we should give the points for this word
• Case sensitive - Is the answer case sensitive or not
• Forgive minor mistakes - Accepting minor spelling mistakes ( 3-9 characters: 1 mistake, >9 characters: 2 mistakes)
• Feedback if keyword included - Provide feedback if the user has used this word
• Feedback if keyword missing - Provide feedback if the user did not use this word 

Step 8: Behavioural settings

Below are the optional settings for this content type, like minimum and a maximum number of characters the learner is supposed to type, enabling Retry and more:

Step 9: Finishing up

Save the node/article to view your finished Essay.
You should now have the same result as the example on top of the page.   
Feel free to leave any comments or suggestions on how to improve this tutorial.