Claude

Claude, developed by Anthropic, is renowned for its highly nuanced, natural writing style and its massive "context window," meaning it can process and remember vast amounts of text in a single conversation without losing the thread.

Why Claude Excels

Many users find Claude's output to be less "robotic" and more conversational than other models. It is particularly adept at matching specific brand tones and adhering strictly to complex, multi-step instructions, making it ideal for drafting external communications or processing heavy documentation.

Document Comparison

Use Case: Analysing themes across multiple large texts.

Example Prompt: "Attached are three different departmental policy PDFs. Compare how each handles flexible working arrangements and provide a summary table of the differences."

Tone Matching

Use Case: Mimicking the university's established voice.

Example Prompt: "Read this previous newsletter I wrote to understand my tone. Now, write a new 300-word update about the campus sustainability initiative, matching that exact writing style."

Unique Features (Artifacts & Projects)

Claude includes several unique user interface features that improve productivity:

  • Artifacts: When Claude generates code, web designs, or complex text documents, it displays them in a dedicated side-panel (an Artifact) so you can view, edit, and copy the work without scrolling through the chat history.
  • Projects (Pro Feature): Allows you to group chats together and upload permanent background knowledge (like style guides or policy docs) that Claude will reference across all conversations in that Project.
  • Large Context Window: Claude can read the equivalent of a medium-sized novel in a single prompt, making it unparalleled for deep textual analysis.

How to Access

To start using Claude, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to claude.ai in your web browser.
  2. Sign up using an email address or a Google account.
  3. Verify your account (Anthropic often requires a phone number for verification).
  4. Start a new chat and use the attachment icon to upload files you want it to read.

Top Daily Use Cases

  • Copywriting: Drafting sensitive or highly nuanced emails where the tone must be perfect.
  • Coding Assistance: Using the Artifacts feature to preview HTML/CSS web components instantly.
  • Data Extraction: Uploading messy text documents and asking Claude to format the information into a clean CSV layout.
  • Academic Summarisation: Breaking down complex journal articles into easily digestible summaries for lay audiences.

Advanced Coding with Claude

Because of the Artifacts UI, Claude is widely considered one of the best AI assistants for web development and scripting. You can ask it to generate an interactive React component or a Python dashboard, and it will render the visual result right next to your conversation, allowing for rapid iteration.

Security Reminder

Always adhere to the University's data handling policies. Unless you are using an explicitly procured enterprise version of Claude, do not upload documents containing sensitive personal information, financial data, or classified research.

These pages are currently in beta. To give feedback, please contact DTS at ai.training@reading.ac.uk.