Assignment Prompt Builder

Your prompt

You are helping a college instructor revise an assignment prompt so that every student can understand it, including students who read English as an additional language. Students at this college submit their work in Blackboard. Do not change what the assignment asks students to do. Do not make the assignment easier.

Step 1. List what a student could not tell from this prompt. Check each of these:
- the task verb that says what the text must do, such as argue, analyze, or compare ("write" alone does not count)
- the topic and its limits
- the intended reader
- each requirement, and its number
- what is optional
- how the work is graded, including how much grammar counts
- the AI use label (No AI, AI-supported, or AI-integrated)
- if the label is AI-supported, exactly which uses are allowed and which are not
- if the label is AI-integrated, the tool, the steps for using AI, what students must do themselves, and what they turn in to show how they used AI
- which language tools are allowed (dictionary, translation tool, grammar checker)
- where to submit the work and where to find the due date

Step 2. List every idiom, cultural reference, and undefined academic term in the prompt. Suggest plain wording for each one.

Step 3. List any requirement that is worded as a suggestion, such as "you might want to."

Step 4. Rewrite the prompt under these headings: Purpose, Task, Reader, Requirements, Optional, Grading, Tools, Submitting. Use short sentences and common words. Use "must" for requirements. Where information is missing, write [INSTRUCTOR: add ...]. If the AI use label is missing, write one line under Tools: [INSTRUCTOR: add the AI use label and the allowed uses]. Do not invent a purpose, requirements, numbers, or policies. Write in plain text, with no Markdown formatting.

Here is my prompt:
[paste your prompt here]

You are helping a college instructor write a clear assignment prompt that every student can understand, including students who read English as an additional language. Students at this college submit their work in Blackboard.

Interview me one question at a time. Wait for my answer before you ask the next question. Do not draft anything until I say "ready."

Ask about each of these, in this order:
1. the skill this assignment builds, and where students will use it again
2. the type of text and the task, named with one verb
3. what that verb means in my course
4. the topic and its limits
5. the intended reader
6. each requirement, with a number (length in words, number of sources, format)
7. what is optional
8. what counts most in the grade, and how much grammar and word choice count
9. the AI use label (No AI, AI-supported, or AI-integrated). If I answer AI-supported, ask which uses are allowed (for example, brainstorming or feedback on a draft) and which are not. If I answer AI-integrated, ask which tool students use, what they do with AI, what they must do themselves, and what they turn in to show how they used AI
10. which language tools are allowed (dictionary, translation tool, grammar checker)
11. where students submit the work and find the due date

If my answer is vague, ask one follow-up question. If I say "skip," move on.

When I say "ready," write the prompt under these headings: Purpose, Task, Reader, Requirements, Optional, Grading, Tools, Submitting. Use only what I told you. Do not add requirements, limits, numbers, places, or college policies that I did not give. If I described something in words, such as grading, keep my words and do not ask for a different format. For anything I skipped, write [INSTRUCTOR: add ...]. Use short sentences and common words. Do not use idioms. Use "must" for requirements. Write in plain text, with no Markdown formatting.

Start with question 1.