Give every section a shape
Six structural rules that stop an article turning into a wall of bullets. These are what make Claude's output look edited.
7 min read
Curious
0 XPLeft alone, Claude writes lists. Lists are easy, they look organized, and they let it avoid making an argument.
An article that is 60% bullets reads as thin even when every bullet is true. These rules fix that.
The rules
| Rule | Why it exists |
|---|---|
| Prose on both sides of every list and table | A heading sitting straight on top of a table means nobody set it up. A section ending on a list means nobody drew a conclusion. |
| No more than 3 body lists in a guide | The cap forces the fourth list to become prose, which forces an actual argument. |
| At least 2 tables, where a table genuinely helps | Comparisons, cost ranges, criteria. Never a table for the sake of having one. |
| Ten items maximum per list | Past ten, a list is a database and should be a table. |
| Plain list items, no bold labels | "Speed: it is fast" is a table row pretending to be a bullet. Write the statement. |
| Key takeaways under the H1, then exactly 5 FAQs at the end | Fixed slots at both ends. The reader always knows where the summary is. |
The sandwich rule is the important one
Every heading gets at least one sentence of prose before any list or table. Every list or table gets at least one sentence of prose after it. Rich formatting is sandwiched by prose on both sides, always.
Unsandwiched
- ## Choosing a forecasting method
- | Method | Best for |
- | ------ | -------- |
- | Moving average | Stable demand |
- ## Next section
- Nobody said what the table shows, and nobody said what to conclude.
Sandwiched
- ## Choosing a forecasting method
- Three methods cover most of what a distributor needs, and they differ mainly in how they handle a demand spike.
- | Method | Best for |
- | ------ | -------- |
- | Moving average | Stable demand |
- Start with a moving average unless your demand swings more than about 20% month to month.
Show how, not just what
This is the rule that separates a useful article from a summary of other articles.
"Set up barcode scanning" is a label. It tells the reader what to do without telling them how, which means it helps nobody who did not already know.
The version that helps says what gets scanned, at which step, and what happens on a mismatch. That is three more sentences and it is the entire value of the section.
Fix the section
35 XP+9 perfectA section opens with an H2, then goes straight into a five-item bulleted list, then the next H2 starts. What is wrong with it?
Pick the full answer.
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