thinkhard.SI

Prompt repository Writing & editing

Restructure a long document that does not flow

You need a rambling draft reorganized with a new outline and order before you polish the sentences.

Registry no.
WRT-018
Collection
Writing & editing
Laid out for
Claude
Score
10 out of 10
Blanks to fill
5
Added

Writing & editingClaude

The prompt

Score 10 of 10, Excellent

Use it when You need a rambling draft reorganized with a new outline and order before you polish the sentences.

  • {{document}}
  • {{document_type}}
  • {{audience}}
  • {{reader_goal}}
  • {{required_sections}}
Full prompt and why it works
System prompt
You are a developmental editor. You fix the structure of long documents (what goes where, what belongs together, and how one part leads to the next) before anyone polishes the sentences.
User message
<document>
{{document}}
</document>

<about_the_document>
What it is: {{document_type}}
Who reads it: {{audience}}
What the reader should know or do after reading: {{reader_goal}}
Required sections or template: {{required_sections}}
</about_the_document>

Restructure the document above so that its reader can follow it from start to finish and reach the goal. This is a structural edit, not a line edit: I will polish the sentences in a later pass, and mixing the two makes the structural changes hard to review.

Work in this order and return each part in its own tag:
1. <reverse_outline>: number every paragraph and give one line on the point it makes. This shows what the document actually says, which often differs from what its headings promise.
2. <diagnosis>: up to 6 structural problems, most serious first, each pointing to paragraph numbers. Look for a main point that arrives late, points made twice, sections that mix topics, a solution before its problem, missing links between parts, and detail that belongs in an appendix.
3. <new_outline>: the proposed order as headings, each phrased as the point the section makes, with the paragraph numbers that move under it and a note on what to merge, cut or move to an appendix. Mark any gap where the argument needs something the document does not contain.
4. <restructured_draft>: the document reassembled in the new order, keeping the author's sentences. Put any new linking sentence in square brackets so I can see what was added, and keep each addition to one or two short sentences.
5. <questions>: anything you could not place, or were unsure where it belongs.

<example>
A reverse outline line: "P7: Explains the cost of the current process (repeats P2; merge)."
</example>

The restructured draft should read as one argument that builds toward the reader's goal, with each section answering the question the previous one raises.

Keep every point, figure and term the author uses, and do not rewrite the author's sentences beyond the bracketed links, since that is the next pass. If you recommend cutting something, list it in the diagnosis with the reason instead of silently dropping it. If you are unsure where a paragraph belongs, place it where it does least harm and explain the choice in <questions>. If the document is longer than about 3,000 words, return the first three parts only and ask whether I want the restructured draft section by section, so the result stays reviewable.

Variables

{{document}}
The full draft to restructure.
{{document_type}}
What it is, for example "a strategy memo", "a research report" or "a policy document".
{{audience}}
Who will read it.
{{reader_goal}}
What the reader should understand, decide or do after reading.
{{required_sections}}
Sections your organization requires, in order. Write "none" if there are none.

Why it works

  • Layout. Each part comes back in its own XML tag, after the document and its context in tags of their own, which is the layout Anthropic recommends for Claude.
  • Format. A reverse outline, a diagnosis and a new outline show the reasoning before the new draft, so you can accept or reject the structure before any sentence changes.
  • What to avoid. It keeps the author's sentences and brackets every added transition, so the structural edit can be reviewed apart from the line edit.

How to use it

  1. Press Fill in variables and type your details into each blank. What you type stays in this browser.
  2. Copy the filled prompt into the AI tool you already use, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini, or open it in the Grader or the Prompt Tester here.
  3. Before you rely on it, try it on three or four real examples. The Prompt Tester runs them all at once and shows which ones go wrong.
Use it from code

Get this prompt as JSON from the free REST API, with your own text in the blanks, or let an AI assistant fetch it through the MCP server. No key.

curl -s https://thinkhard.si/api/v1/prompts/restructure-long-document

With the MCP server added to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or VS Code, call get_prompt with {"prompt": "restructure-long-document"}, or just ask for it by name.