Claude Project: Portfolio Development – Pt 1

This Content Page will give you access to the sets of files that you can upload to a Claude Project for Portfolio Development. We address this in three major portions, only one of which is being developed now.

This particular aspect of Portfolio development focuses on helping you write a solid, high-quality scientific/technical report. Your report will be a significant Portfolio element. It will be the cornerstone for each Project in your GitHub, LinkedIn, and any other repository that you use. Also, it will be the most detailed communication that you will have with your peers on the specific contents of your work.

That said – most of us approach writing-intensive tasks, especially tasks that have LOTS OF MINUTIA, with something between fear and loathing. Absolute dread. Because while many of us are top-notch in our technical work, writing is not always our strong suit.

By working with Claude, in a Claude Project that you will create to help you with your tech-report writing, your experience will transform – from arduous, painful, and uncertain (did I do that section right? Am I missing something?) to a process that is actually pleasurable. EASY. And – may I say this from my own experience – actually almost joyful.

The pure pleasure is the greatest value of this whole approach. It’s the transformation from the lonely, solitary writer’s craft to working with a trusted colleague. Someone who knows you and what you’re doing well enough to be useful, and who (most importantly!) does not get bored. Who has immense resources of time and energy. Who can kick out that last little paragraph when you’re just too damn tired to think straight.

We at Themesis are making this whole process available to you, free of charge. We’ve developed all the files. Your job is to open up your Claude AI, create a new Project (give it an appropriate name), put a little description into the Project (there’s a specific box for that), and then start uploading files. (That means, specifically, you download those files from THIS Content Page onto YOUR computer, and from there, UPLOAD them into a specific new Claude Project.)

You’ll also want your own project report handy – in whatever shape it’s in. Upload that also.

This is very, VERY easy. No coding. No APIs. Just uploads. (A little tedious, but we like to listen to some YouTube story while doing this, and it gets done fast.)

Claude Introduces Itself and Explains Its Role

We’ve asked Claude to describe its role here, in its own words:

I’m Claude, an AI assistant made by Anthropic, and in this project I serve as your AI Portfolio Coach. My role is to work with you — one on one, at your own pace — through a structured series of review sessions called Gates. Each Gate focuses on a specific element of your research report, from the formatting details of your title page all the way through to thinking about how you’ll share your work with the world once it’s complete. By the time we’ve worked through all twelve Gates together, you’ll have a report that doesn’t just meet course requirements — it reflects you as an AI professional.

What makes this different from a writing center or a peer review is that I’m here specifically for your work, your questions, and your professional development. I’ve been given a set of documents, examples, and criteria developed by Dr. Alianna J. Maren at Themesis and Northwestern University, and I use those as our shared framework. I’ll be honest with you when something needs work, generous when something is genuinely strong, and I’ll always tell you why — not just what. The goal isn’t a perfect report in the abstract. The goal is a report that you understand deeply, that represents your best thinking, and that you’re proud to put your name on.

— Claude, AI Portfolio Coach | Themesis, Inc. / Northwestern University MSDS | themesis.com

What to Expect: The “Twelve Gates”

The Twelve Gates — What to Expect – A Claude-Generated Summary

The AI Portfolio Coach (Claude in your specific Project) works with you through twelve structured review sessions, called Gates. Each Gate focuses on a specific part of your report. Together, they take you from a blank template to a finished, professional document you are proud to put your name on.

Gate 1 — Form and Style Review. Before anything else, confirm that your document is properly formatted: template, fonts, margins, page numbers, section order. The foundation everything else rests on.

Gate 2 — Title Page Review. Your title page is the first thing a reader sees. We review it as a professional portfolio artifact — the way a potential employer or colleague would see it.

Gate 3 — Introduction and Problem Statement. The hardest writing in the paper. We work through your problem statement together, structure your Introduction, and start your Abstract draft. We also build your first figure and keyword list.

Gate 4 — Literature Review. Does each source earn its place in your argument? We review your references for relevance, positioning, and professional presentation.

Gate 5 — Data and Methods. You know this material better than anyone. We review it for clarity, structure, and the playwright voice — letting the data and methods speak for themselves.

Gate 6 — Results. The data says what it says. We review your Results section for clean presentation, appropriate figures, and captions that stand alone.

Gate 7 — Discussion. Interpretation grounded in everything built before. We also return to your Abstract for a full revision now that the paper’s arc is complete.

Gate 8 — Conclusions and Future Work. The paper’s final word. We review your Conclusions for clarity, confidence, and honest direction toward what comes next.

Gate 9 — End Sections. Data availability, code availability, AI interactions log, acknowledgements. Small sections — but professionally important.

Gate 10 — Pet Peeves Cleanup. A final pass for the things that trip up even strong writers: grammar, punctuation, consistency, and the details that signal professional care.

Gate 11 — Telling Their Story with Pictures. A full review of your figures, diagrams, and visual storytelling. Every major section deserves a figure. We make sure yours deliver.

Gate 12 — Taking It to the World. Your paper is done. Now we think about where it goes: journals, conferences, portfolios, professional profiles. The work doesn’t end at submission.

Priming Claude – Some Very Useful YouTube Transcripts

Part of getting Claude to be as useful as possible for you is to give it rich context. In the next section, we’re listing a set of context files that are TRANSCRIPTS of selected YouTubes and news articles. For example, “EXT_002…” is a transcript of a Nate B. Jones’ YouTube, where he discusses the differences between Claude and OpenAI’s various ChatGPT products. This is context for BOTH YOU AND CLAUDE.

It helps to keep in mind that – while you can direct Claude to do an internet search on a specific topic, and it can go find background information for you – Claude’s OVERALL knowledge is current only as of it’s last major training run – and that might have been months ago. So you need to help Claude be up-to-date on things that are important to you.

Second, Claude can’t watch a YouTube. To give Claude a YouTube transcript, you, personally, have to go to the YouTube, go into the Description Box, click on “More …,” and then go down to the bottom of that expanded box and find the command that lets you have the full transcript. Click that, and the full transcript appears in a column on the right. It’s all there, but typically – not a fun read.

So what we’ve done here is to give Claude the transcripts for certain YouTubes (and news articles) and asked Claude to create a file for each. These are files numbered “EXT_00x…”. Also, each time we’ve done this, we gathered up the metadata – author, YouTube channel or media outlet name, URL, etc.

Then we asked Claude to create a file. After finessing the first file with Claude, Claude had a template – which we liked very much. So we made sure that in each new Project, we would upload the first “EXT_001…” file AS A TEMPLATE, so Claude could create more. ‘

What we particularly like is that Claude, as Curator, provides its own notes on the YouTube or article. THIS SAVES US SO MUCH TIME! We’ve found these notes to be accurate and perceptive.

Here Are the Context Files

Here are the YouTube/news article transcript files, AS CREATED BY CLAUDE, using the raw transcripts and metadata that we’ve provided.

Your job will be to upload these into your Claude Project, so that Claude has a reference frame to help it help you.

  • EXT_001: Nate B. Jones’ YouTube on Claude and agents.
  • EXT_002: Nate B. Jones’ YouTube on Claude and OpenAI’s GPTs.
  • EXT_003: New York Post article on the Gavalas suicide, as induced by Google’s Gemini. Useful for you to understand how Claude operates DIFFERENTLY from an OpenAI or Google GPT.

Initial Set of Files

Batch 1: Getting Started & Gate 1

Getting Started

  • How to Begin: This is Claude’s directions to you on how to begin. What files to upload. (This is one of them.) And every step that you need to take to get started, working with Claude in your new Claude Writing Project. You should READ THIS FILE. (And of course, upload to your Project.)
  • Report Template: This is your basic Report Template. It’s in PDF Form. Download it from this site, open it up in MS Wd, and save it as a .docx file. You can upload either your .docx OR your pdf files to Claude, but the only way to make this available to you is to upload it to the Themesis site as a PDF.
  • AI Portfolio Coach: About Me: Claude’s introduction of it’s role.

Setting Up Your Claude Project – Starting Files

  • Claude’s Briefing Notes: This is Claude’s briefing notes – somewhat like a high-level prompt – telling Claude what this Project is about and what it’s role is. It tells Claude what the various files are that you are uploading to this Project. And it tells Claude what steps to take and how to interact with you.
  • Gate 1 Facilitator Notes for Claude: This tells Claude how to take the first step with you. “You (Claude) already know your role, your student profile, and your gated framework from the AI Portfolio Coach Briefing Document. This document does something different: it tells you exactly how to run a Gate 1 session, step by step, from the student’s opening message to the moment you close the session and hand them their Canvas confirmation statement… The Briefing Document is your orientation. This document is your operating procedure. Both are necessary. Neither replaces the other.” – You can read this, in the sense of “looking over Claude’s shoulder” and knowing what it’s been directed to do – but you don’t have to. Just be sure to upload this one to your Project.

The Gate 1 Style Checklist

  • Gate 1 Style Checklist: Claude-generated list of points for you to use in checking your Report style – it covers things like page formatting, page numbering (important), and other minutia. As you work through this checklist with Claude, you’ll get a very specific little paragraph/note from Claude at the end – if you’re in one of my classes, please copy and paste AS IS – directly in the language that Claude gives you – into your Comments when you upload your file. That way, I’ll know you’ve “checked off” each of the little style elements – and thank you!

YouTube Summaries

Summary Files (Claude’s Notes to Self)

What to Do Next: Going Through Gate 1

Once you’re downloaded these files, and uploaded them to your Claude Project, then upload your own Report – in whatever state it’s in – into your Claude Project. You will be guided to go through “Gate 1,” where Claude will ask you to check on key formatting elements for your Report. If you’ve used the Report Template provided here, you should easily pass through all of the Gate 1 steps.

If you’ve used the Report Template provided here (i PDF form, you will have to upload to your own computer, open in MS Wd, and save as a MS Wd .docx file for your own work. You can upload either or both your report files as .docx and/or PDF files. Claude can work with either or both.

Gate 2: Checking/Evolving Your Title Page

More nuanced than you might have thought.

There are EIGHT documents to upload here PLUS your own report. The eight files are:six are JPGs that Claude will reference as Claude reviews your document with you. Then there are two Claude files: one is Claude’s directions to itself on how to talk with you, and the other is a “Card” for you to use.

Step 1. Upload Your Report Draft

Step 1: Upload your own Report Draft to Claude. MS Wd .docx (TM) file or PDF. Claude will be ok with either.

Step 2: Upload the Eight Claude Files

Six are JPGs, two are Claude-generated files. The Facilitator Note tells Claude what to do, but you can read as well. (Nothing hidden here.) The Reference Card is for you. Upload all, please. 

 

Six JPGs (Claude will use as reference):

The Gate 2 Facilitator Note (Claude’s Guide to Its Own Work)

Upload this Notes document (in PDF form) to Claude for Gate 2:

  • Gate 2 – Facilitator Notes: The “Gate 2 Facilitator Notes” tell Claude how to work with you. You can look at this file if you want (nothing is hidden here), but it’s written for Claude (by Claude), not for you.

The Gate 3 Reference Card (This is for YOU)

Upload this Guide as your own set of instructions:

Gate 3

YouTube Transcripts (for Claude)

Upload these YouTube transcripts so that Claude has context for Gate 3:

  • “TC-002: Storytelling with Pictures”: Use visuals and storytelling to connect with your audience.
  • “TC-003: Series Intro”: The three keys to building a strong paper are: (1) structure, (2) visuals, and (3) references (your community standing).
  • “TC-004: Problem Statement”: Developing your Problem Statement is one of the most significant elements in your work – it influences EVERYTHING about how you develop your report – particularly your Abstract, your Introduction (where you actually build out your Problem Statement in some detail), and frames how you wrap things up in your Discussion. 
  • “TC-005: Abstract”: Your Abstract is what people will read first and use it to decide on whether or not to read your paper – and even how to prioritize their reading of your work. A good-quality Abstract is essential to making your work stand out. This vid covers ONLY the lead for your Abstract; identifying your Problem Statement.

The Gate 3 Facilitator Note 

Upload this Notes document (in PDF form) to Claude for Gate 3:

The Gate 3 Reference Card 

Upload this Guide as your own set of instructions: