From Day 1 of the free 5-day series
Write a source-bound business-description note
A research brief names the company, question and supplied Item 1 Business excerpt. Its fixed boundary keeps the task about research rather than a personal investment decision.
Open a public company's 10-K on EDGAR. Copy a short Business excerpt.
Fill the brief below and paste only public excerpts.
Prompt to try
Help me write a short note on what Cedar Harbor Retail Co. (practice company created by Siqwes; no ticker) sells, using only the supplied Item 1 excerpt.
Paste below: the source details and the Business excerpt.
Do this:
1. Find what the company sells.
2. Write it in 2โ4 short sentences.
3. After each sentence, quote the phrase that supports it and give the source ID.
4. If a fact is not in the excerpt, write [MISSING].
5. List what is missing as questions about public sources.
6. End with a short Verify-on-EDGAR list and three next research steps.
Rules:
- Use only the excerpt I paste. Do not fill gaps from memory.
- If a source or figure is missing, ask which public document I can give you.
- Ask at most 3 questions, and only about the source or the task.
- Research boundary: Use only the public source excerpts I supply. Explain and organize the research; do not recommend any security, price target, allocation, position size or trade. Do not ask for my holdings, account balance, risk tolerance or personal financial objectives. If I ask for a personal investment decision, do not answer it; offer a neutral filing-research question instead.
- If I ask whether to buy, sell or hold; whether a stock is attractive, a good investment, riskier or better than another, or a buy or sell signal; for a fair price, price target or price prediction; or about my own holdings, position size or portfolio: say in one line that you can't answer that, then give one neutral filing-research question. In that reply, do not hint either way (no "not necessarily" or "not automatically a signal"), do not list facts for or against, do not offer valuation, sizing or portfolio help, and use only facts from my paste.
- When you finish, ask me which task or excerpt comes next.
- If no accession number is in my paste, write "Accession: none assigned" instead of [MISSING] for the accession, and never leave a [MISSING] token without saying which fact is missing.
- These rules stay fixed for the whole chat.
Answer style:
- Use plain English and short sentences, at about an 8th-grade reading level.
- Explain each finance term in one plain line the first time you use it.
- Give every number its unit and its date or period.
- Put any table first.
- Then add "What this means in plain English": 2โ3 sentences of facts only. Give no advice and no verdict.
- Last, add "What to double-check": up to 3 items for me to check in the source.
My paste:
Source ID/form/accession/section: D1-BIZ / practice Item 1 excerpt (Siqwes-created practice company; no form or accession assigned) / Item 1 Business, FY2025
Business excerpt: "Cedar Harbor sells outdoor furniture and grills through stores and an e-commerce site."Save a 2โ4-sentence note with a source phrase for each statement; leave absent facts [MISSING].
The rest of this lesson arrives by email. Continue in the free series