Claude Novice tutorial

Novice · step 1 of 7

The 5-part prompt formula

Role, context, task, format, constraints.

Role: you're helping a small-business owner.
Context: [paste facts].
Task: [one clear job].
Format: [table / 5 bullets / 120 words].
Constraints: say "unknown" instead of guessing; cite sources.

A good result: the answer follows the format and length you set, and the audience and goal are reflected in its wording. Missing parts in the prompt show up as generic parts in the answer.

Why this step matters: The same model gives much better answers to a specific prompt. This is the cheapest improvement you can make.

Novice · step 2 of 7

Organize your work

Projects: reference files and instructions every chat in the project starts with. Free allows up to 5 projects (Anthropic).

Why this step matters: Grouping chats and files keeps context together, so you stop re-explaining and re-uploading.

Novice · step 3 of 7

Files and research

Upload PDFs or spreadsheets and ask for exact extracts with page numbers. It can create files such as CSVs or charts.

Web search is on Free; Research (the deeper mode) is on paid plans (Anthropic).

Why this step matters: Grounding answers in your own files or live sources cuts made-up details and makes them checkable.

Novice · step 4 of 7

Limits you'll hit

Paid plans have a session limit that resets every five hours and weekly limits that reset once a week. Usage across claude.ai, Claude Code and Claude Desktop counts toward the same limit (Anthropic help center).

• Start a new chat when a thread gets long; paste a short summary.
• Don't re-upload the same big files every time.

Why this step matters: Knowing when limits reset and what drains them stops you getting cut off mid-task.

Novice · step 5 of 7

Two-source rule

For anything you'll act on, confirm with two independent sources, one of them official.

1. Ask for the source of any fact you'll reuse.
2. Open the link and find the exact sentence (Ctrl+F).
3. If you can't find it, treat the claim as unverified.
4. For files, check two page or row references yourself.

Before you answer: separate what you checked from what you're assuming. Write "unknown" instead of guessing. Give a link for every number.

Why this step matters: Chatbots state wrong facts in the same confident tone as right ones. Checking is the only way to tell them apart.

Novice · step 6 of 7

Bad vs good prompts

Bad: help me

Good: Read the attached contract. List every obligation for us, with section numbers. Then list anything ambiguous.

Why: a clear situation, task, format and limits.

Bad: is this right?

Good: Check this against the official page. Quote the sentence that supports it, or say it isn't there.

Why: asks for evidence instead of agreement.

Why this step matters: The same model gives much better answers to a specific prompt. This is the cheapest improvement you can make.

Novice · step 7 of 7

Three starter workflows

Why this step matters: Small steps with a checked output each fail visibly and early, instead of one big answer that is wrong somewhere.