This paper presents some results from an ongoing review on self-explanation prompts. An emphasis is laid on design principles based on empirical research. The review is grounded in scaffolding theory, which means that the self-explanation prompts are seen as a temporary support that the student shall learn to manage without. Three themes identified in the review are described and discussed in relation to design and implementation of tasks with self-explanation prompts: prompts with different purposes, the necessity to adapt prompt to students’ prior knowledge, and factors of importance for students’ engagement in the prompts. Examples of tasks with prompts for which these design aspects have been taken into account are given in the paper.