Your goal
Say what the output is for, not just what it is. "A summary so my manager can decide whether to fund this" produces a very different summary from "a summary".
Lesson 4
Context
Context is the single biggest lever on output quality. Claude can only use what you give it.
Your files
Upload or paste the real material: the draft, the spreadsheet, the policy, the transcript. Working from your source beats working from Claude's general knowledge.
Your examples
Show one or two examples of what good looks like. An example communicates tone, length and structure faster than any description. Say what to copy from it and what to ignore.
Your audience
Who will read this, and what do they already know? Experts want density; newcomers want definitions. Name the reader.
Your constraints
Word limits, banned phrases, brand rules, legal limits, deadlines, budget, tools you must use. Constraints stop Claude from producing something technically good and practically useless.
Try this prompt
Here is my goal: [...]. Here is the material: [paste]. Here is an example of the style I want: [paste]. The reader is [...]. Constraints: [...]. Ask me anything you need before you start.
Avoid
- Describing a file instead of attaching it
- No example of the desired style
- Hiding constraints until after the first draft