以往學者對八股文研究不足，對小題尤其陌生，既有的零星論述，多有誤解，彼此間也常見衝突、紛歧，故筆者立足於文獻上重新探究。 本文首先論述小題和截搭題的性質、定義，分析其產生的原因、在考試時防止擬題、剽竊以及使考官易於閱卷等作用。並辨析：小題題目字數是否一定很少？單句題是大題還是小題？小題篇幅是否趨於短小？筆者強調：大、小題的命名，原出於考題在鄉、會試或用於小試之別，本不以題目字數多寡而分，但視其偏全、難易，因此，單句題可能是大題也可能是小題，小題也可長達數十、數百字。且八股文的字數必須恪遵規定、小題並不具篇幅短小的特色。 關於小題、截搭題產生的年代，學者眾說紛紜。筆者據文獻推論：在成化之際，小試中已有出小題的趨向，成化、弘治時，小題名家開始出現，萬曆時小題臻於極盛，而截搭題應在萬曆年間小題極盛時產生。

Among scholars of the Ming-Qing imperial examinations, not much attention has been paid to the subject of the eight-legged essay, much less to the issues related to xiaoti (small version of the eight-legged essay test). Indeed, the existing scholarship on xiaoti is at best fragmented; at worst, it is marked by instances of misunderstanding and conflicting accounts. In this paper I propose to re-open the study of xiaoti. I discuss the nature and content of xiaoti, as well as that of jiedati (test pm fragmented texts taken from the classics). In addition, I analyze the factors which gave rise to the appearance of xiaoti and jiedati, and explain their advantages in preventing niti (guessing the test questions beforehand) and plagiarism, as well as in making the grading process easier. In particular, I focus on the following questions: Was it necessary that the tests of xiaoti contained shorter statements than the normal dati (big vesion)? As to the tests which contained merely a single-sentence statement (danjuti), did they belong to the category of xiaoti, or that of dati? Finally, did the tests of xiaoti actually display the tendency of having shortened statements? My basic contention is that the naming of dati and xiaoti actually originated from the ranking of different levels of examinations-provincial, metropolitan, and county examinations-where the tests took place. In other words, as far as the content of the test was concerned, the distinction between dati and xiaoti was not determined by its length, but by its comprehensiveness and complexity. As to the first appearance of xiaoti, I suggest that it be dated to the Mind Chenghua reign (1465-1487), during which more and more of the county examinations were inclined to adopt the formulation of xiaoti. From then on and through the Hongzhi reign (1488-1505), notable experts on xiaoti began to arrive on the scene. As the popularity of xiaoti reached its climax in the Wanli reign (1573-1620), it also facilitated the first appearance of jiedati.