# Your Writing Guide

Your instruction file tells your assistant who you are and what it must never do. This guide tells it
how you write, so its drafts sound like you and need less fixing.

Fill in what applies and delete the rest. Each example is one faculty member's answer. Keep it to a
page.

## 1. Who I write for

The people you write to most, and how you address each of them.

> Example: Students, mostly undergraduates; colleagues; administrators. Students get first names and
> plain words. Colleagues get the field's terms.

## 2. How I sound

Three or four words for your voice, and what you never want to sound like.

> Example: Direct, warm, plain. Never breezy, never salesy, no cheerleading.

## 3. Sentences and paragraphs

Length, first person or not, active or passive voice.

> Example: Short sentences. First person is fine. Active voice unless who did it does not matter. One
> idea per paragraph.

## 4. Punctuation and formatting

The marks and formatting you use, and the ones you avoid.

> Example: Few dashes; use a colon, a semicolon, or a comma instead. Italics for titles only. Bold for
> key terms, and rarely. No emoji. Headings in sentence case.

## 5. Words I use, and words I don't

Style words, not field terms (those go in "My vocabulary" in your instruction file).

> Example: "Use," not "utilize." "Help," not "empower." Never "delve," "leverage," or "in today's
> fast-paced world."

## 6. What I write most

The kinds of writing you do often, and what each one needs.

> Example: Emails to students: the answer in the first line, under 150 words, signed with my first
> name. Feedback: one strength, then the one thing to fix. Announcements: what, when, and what to do.

## 7. A sample of my writing

One or two short pieces you wrote yourself, without AI, that sound the way you want to sound. Attach
them as files or paste them below. Tell the assistant to match the voice, not the content.

> Leave out anything that identifies a student.

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**How to use it.** Keep this guide with your instruction file and add it the same way: as a file in a
Gem's knowledge, in a Claude project, or in VandalChat's My Documents. Or paste the parts that matter
most into your instruction file. Ask for a draft, then read it against this guide. Wherever it misses,
add a line.