Get students talking by having them answer prompts. Asking questions in which students describe their own experiences with a topic, such as whether they were ever persuaded to buy something in response to an ad campaign only to be disappointed by the quality of the product, makes the topic relevant to their lives and sharing responses with classmates gives students a chance to express themselves.
Support active learning with the questions. Avoid lecturing about how to generate content for a paper; instead, have a list of questions ready and give students the freedom to answer the ones that resonate most with them to help focus their thoughts and generate content for their papers. Ask them to reflect on their answers, searching for patterns or discovering ideas they can expand upon when completing their next assignment.
Give students real-life problems to solve through formulating their own questions. According to the Harbrace Handbook by Cheryl Glenn and Loretta Gray, "journalists' questions---Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How?---are easy to use." Have students work together in groups to discover the complexities of an issue and to offer ways they can take action.
Combine all reading assignments with a writing component in which students answer questions. Creating meaning from a text is more likely if students have plenty of time to think more deeply about the issues and have a chance to create a well formulated response.
Avoid rushing through questions at the end of class. In the book "A Handbook for Adjunct/Part-Time Faculty of Teachers and Adults," author Donald Grieve advises, "encouraging student questioning means eliminating any threat to the questioner." Schedule enough time to answer students' questions about assignments, due dates and the like. Inviting students to write out questions and leave them with you at the end of class to answer the next session may encourage quieter students to participate.