Use this approach when the ideas are yours and you want help with emphasis, paragraph order, or an awkward transition. For grammar-only corrections, keep the narrower task in the proofreading guide.
Show a sample that fits this audience
Choose a passage you wrote and are allowed to provide. A relaxed team update can be a better reference for another team update than an old formal application. Explain what to carry across: contractions, direct verbs, short paragraphs, or the amount of background the reader already knows.
Anthropic's prompting guidance recommends clear instructions, relevant context, and examples. A writing sample gives Claude something concrete to inspect. It does not guarantee that the next paragraph will match your voice.
Keep the reference and the current draft visibly separate. Otherwise, a sentence from the sample can become an invented fact in the new piece. State that the sample provides language preferences only.
Decide what the revision should accomplish
In this original fictional example, an author needs to explain a small trial to colleagues:
We undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the revised collection process. There were three late collections during the trial week. The driver schedule changed that week too. It would therefore be useful to consider some further analysis prior to implementation.
The author's separate style sample says:
The new shelf labels are up. Please use the blue tray for returns while we check the layout this week. Tell me if an item has no clear home.
The first paragraph needs a clearer next step and less ceremony. It also needs to retain uncertainty: three late collections do not establish that the revised process caused the delays when the driver schedule changed too.
Revise the draft below for [AUDIENCE] who need to understand
[PURPOSE OR NEXT DECISION].
My writing sample, for language preferences only:
[PASTE A SHORT SAMPLE I WROTE]
Current draft:
[PASTE]
First describe the sample's observable writing choices in three or
four concrete notes. Do not infer my personality or borrow its facts.
Then revise the current draft. You may reorder paragraphs and shorten
sentences to make the purpose clear. Keep the supplied facts, degree
of certainty, named people, numbers, and intended request unchanged.
Do not add results, anecdotes, promises, or reader reactions.
Show the revision and a short explanation of substantial changes.
If a clearer conclusion requires a fact I have not supplied, ask for
it separately rather than inventing it. Do not send or publish this.
An illustrative revision, written for this article, is:
Three collections were late during the trial week. The driver schedule changed too, so we cannot tell from this week whether the new process contributed to the delays. Let's review the collection records before deciding whether to adopt it.
This version changes the order of information and makes the proposed review explicit. It does not announce a cause, claim the trial succeeded, or specify who will review the records. The author still needs to decide whether “let's review” expresses the request they want to make.
Review one paragraph before expanding the edit
Check the factual boundaries first. Does a possible explanation become a conclusion? Does an invitation become an instruction? Then read for voice: would you say “contributed to the delays,” or would you normally write “played a part”? Either can work if it preserves the uncertainty.
When a phrase misses, give focused feedback:
Keep the revised information order and the three late collections.
Replace “adopt it” with “use it for all collections,” which is how
we describe the decision internally. Keep the cause unresolved.
Revise only this paragraph.
After that paragraph works, apply the same decisions to the rest of the piece. A useful revision instruction names the change you accepted, rather than asking for another complete rewrite and hoping it lands closer.
Keep project preferences separate from this draft's facts
For recurring work, Claude has account-wide instructions and project-specific instructions. Its current personalization documentation describes those scopes. Put durable communication preferences in the appropriate place and supply the current evidence with each assignment. An old sample's dates and results should never become background facts for every new draft.
Finish by reading the piece aloud once. Keep the sentences you would use with these readers, restore any meaning the revision weakened, and confirm the next action is one you actually intend to request.