Write a course syllabus students will actually read
A clear, student-friendly syllabus with outcomes, grading, schedule, and policies, plus a one-page quick-start version.
The prompt
Help me write a syllabus for my course.
Course title, level, and format: [e.g. "PSYC 210, sophomore, in person, 3 credits"]
Learning outcomes: [PASTE OR DESCRIBE]
Major assessments and weights: [e.g. "3 exams 45%, project 30%, weekly quizzes 15%, participation 10%"]
Schedule: [TERM DATES, MEETING DAYS, KEY DEADLINES]
Policies I want: [late work, attendance, regrades, AI use, communication response time]
Required institutional statements: [PASTE - accessibility, academic integrity, Title IX, etc.]
Tone I want: [warm / straightforward / formal]
Write the syllabus with these sections: welcome and why this course matters, how to reach me, learning outcomes, materials, how the course works week to week, assessments and grading (with a table), policies, support resources, and a week-by-week schedule.
Rules:
- Use plain language and second person ("you will"). Explain the reason behind each policy in one sentence.
- Put deadlines and point values in tables, not paragraphs.
- Keep institutional statements word-for-word as I pasted them; if one is missing, insert [ADD REQUIRED STATEMENT] rather than writing your own.
- Make the late-work and regrade policies specific enough to apply consistently.
Also return a one-page "Start here" summary and 5 syllabus quiz questions I can give in week 1.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Learning & Teaching prompts
What to fill in
- e.g. "PSYC 210, sophomore, in person, 3 credits"
- PASTE OR DESCRIBE
- TERM DATES, MEETING DAYS, KEY DEADLINES
- PASTE - accessibility, academic integrity, Title IX, etc.
- warm / straightforward / formal
- ADD REQUIRED STATEMENT
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the Few-Shot structure (Few-shot prompting). A few-shot prompt includes one or more worked examples of the input and the output you want, so the model can copy the pattern instead of guessing it.
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