Start a good conversation

What Claude is, and what it is not

Claude is made by Anthropic; this free course is independent and not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic.

Claude is an AI assistant made by Anthropic. You type or speak a request, and it writes a reply. It is very good at language: drafting, summarizing, explaining, reorganizing and brainstorming. It works by predicting useful text, not by looking things up in a perfect database of facts.

That means it can sound sure and still be wrong. Think of Claude as a quick, well-read helper who has never met you. It needs to be told the situation, and its work needs a check before it leaves your desk. Features change, so look at the product's current help pages for what your plan includes.

Four parts of a strong first message

A strong message has four parts: the task, the context, the audience and the format. The task is what you want done. The context is the background Claude cannot guess. The audience is who will read the result. The format is the shape you want back, such as a short email, a table or a list of steps.

Compare two requests. Weak: "Write something about our shop opening." Strong: "Write a friendly three-sentence announcement for customers of my bakery in Lagos. We open a second shop on Saturday. Mention the free tasting and keep it warm, not salesy." The second one gives Claude almost nothing to guess.

Worked example: a message to a landlord

Say your kitchen tap has leaked for a week. You write: "Help me write to my landlord. The tap in the kitchen has leaked since last Monday. I told her by phone on Wednesday and nothing happened. I want it fixed this week. Keep it polite but firm, under 120 words, and add a line asking her to confirm a repair date."

Claude can turn that into a clear message in seconds. Read it, change anything that does not sound like you, and check the facts. If it added a detail you did not give, such as a date, remove it. You stay the author. Claude is the first draft.

Keep going: chats are conversations

You do not need a perfect first message. Reply to what you got. Say "shorter", "less formal", "add an example from a school setting" or "you missed my second point." Each reply steers the work. This is faster than rewriting the whole request.

Also ask Claude to ask you questions. Try: "Before you write, ask me up to three questions you need answered." This is useful when you are not sure what you need. If a chat gets long and starts to drift, start a fresh one and paste in only the key facts.