Am I obliged to answer student queries that can readily be answered by reading the syllabus? [closed]

First, the students' decision to ask you questions directly makes sense if you consider their decision from their perspective. As a student, would you rather spend 30 seconds asking the lecturer a question directly; or spend 10 minutes to read through the syllabus carefully to find the answer to the question himself/herself? By asking you questions directly, the students are merely minimizing their effort in order to get the information that they require.

You should consider whether the syllabus is well-organized and clearly written. If the syllabus is long and rambling, it is understandable why the students prefer not to read it. As a teacher, I believe that it is your responsibility to spend a reasonable effort to organize course related information so that it is easy for a student to understand.

I'm currently teaching a course with more than 600 students. We seldom receive e-mail inquiries from students. I believe the reason for this is that I spent quite a bit of time thinking through how to structure our course webpage so that it is easy for students to find the information they need.

• We have a master page which contains links to the pages on specific topics.
• We have a webpage which contains information about the textbook for the course. This webpage contains a table which indicates which chapter and which pages of the textbook to read for each lecture.
• We have a webpage which contains information about the quizzes. This webpage explains clearly which lectures are tested for each quiz.

Finally, I would not answer any questions if the answers are clearly written in a document which has been given to the students. For example, if you have a short webpage or document which contains all the information relevant say to Quiz 1, and students ask you questions about Quiz 1, I would just tell the students, "Please read the Quiz 1 document carefully for the answer to your question."