@amandataintor , in my courses, I post some general instructions about discussion participation to give my students an idea of what I expect and how I will assess their participation.
Protocol for posting questions: Your questions should be thoughtfully formulated and should inspire an open-ended discussion. Closed-ended questions--the sort of question that can be answered in a few words or with a simple "yes" or "no"--will not be considered for credit. To receive credit for posing a question on a discussion topic, your question must be open-ended: the kind of question that will prompt exposition.
Protocol for posting answers: Your answer should be comprehensive and, ideally, should incorporate support from the textbook or from ancillary sources provided in the chapter presentations. Don't worry if your answer doesn't completely address every aspect of a student's question; indeed, your answer can contain additional thought-provoking questions that continue the conversation. Responses to the Reflections Spotlight [n.b. that's the name of one of the discussion topics where I post examples for students] should consist of thoughtful evaluations of and commentary on the posted exemplar.
I boiled all of this down from the QFT, described here: Harvard Education Publishing Group
Hope this helps!
I have shared it to Canvas Commons (title: Guidelines for Discussions & Netiquette) with a CC- BY, NC license. I hope that helps! 
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