The Minute Paper is a very commonly used classroom assessment technique. It
really does take about a minute and, while usually used at the end of class, it can be
used at the end of any topic discussion. Its major advantage is that it provides rapid
feedback on whether the professor's main idea and what the students perceived as the
main idea are the same. Additionally, by asking students to add a question at the end,
this assessment becomes an integrative task. Students must first organize their thinking to
rank the major points and then decide upon a significant question. Sometimes, instead
of asking for the main point, a professor may wish to probe for the most disturbing or
most surprising item. It is thus a very adaptable tool.
Typically, professors can read about four Minute Papers per minute. Adapted from
T.A. Angelo and K. P. Cross, 1993. Classroom Assessment Techniques, 2nd ed. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass. p.148-53.
The Minute Paper
CE LT T IP S HE ET S
Center for the Enhancement of Learning & Teaching
108 Bromfield Road | Somerville, MA 02143 | 617 627 4000 | celt@tufts.edu
Sample Form: The Minute Paper
In concise, well-planned sentences, please answer the two questions below:
1. What are the two [three, four, five] most significant [central, useful, meaningful,
surprising, disturbing] things you have learned during this session?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. What question(s) remain uppermost in your mind?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. Is there anything you did not understand?
________________________________________________________________________
