Master the Basics: How to Write AI Prompts

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What Are Prompts, and Why Do They Matter?

When interacting with AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or other large language models, the quality of your results hinges on how well you know how to write AI prompts. Prompts are the instructions you give the AI to generate a response. Think of them as the blueprint that guides the AI in producing text tailored to your needs.

It turns out the quality of the response varies significantly based on how you format and ask the question. In this article I’m going to provide some guidelines aimed for beginner to intermediate users to use as a goal post for writing effective prompts.

For example:

  • Vague Prompt: “Tell me about dogs.”
    Output: “Dogs are domestic animals.”
  • Effective Prompt: “What are the most popular dog breeds in the U.S., and what are their unique characteristics?”
    Output: A detailed list of breeds with traits like size, temperament, and popularity rankings.

The more detailed and specific your prompt, the better the output. Let’s explore how to craft prompts that work effectively.

The Golden Rules of Writing Effective Prompts

To make the most of your AI interactions, follow these core principles on how to write AI prompts:

  1. Be Specific:
    • Provide clear details and avoid ambiguity. If you want a detailed list or a particular style, say so.
    • Example: “List five creative birthday party ideas for kids aged 5-8, including themes and activities.”
  2. Use Context:
    • Frame your prompt with relevant background information. For instance, specify the audience or format of the response.
    • Example: “Explain the concept of gravity to a 10-year-old in simple terms.”
  3. Break Down Tasks:
    • For complex questions, use step-by-step or multi-part prompts.
    • Example: “First, list three major renewable energy sources. Then, explain how solar energy works in detail.”
  4. Experiment and Iterate:
    • Don’t hesitate to tweak your prompts. Try variations until you achieve the desired output.
  5. Provide Examples:
    • Show the AI the structure or tone you want by embedding an example.
    • Example: “Write a motivational quote about persistence, similar to: ‘The only way to do great work is to love what you do.’ ”

In my efforts to learn about AI – I’m creating a coloring book to sell (or sit idly, most likely) on Amazon KDP as a learning experience. I had an idea for a coloring book I wanted to run with but wanted help to scale quickly as I didn’t want to come up with the idea for each coloring page manually. I just wanted the AI to act as a surrogate to my initial seed of the theme and idea I had in my head.

I’m considering partaking in an amazon kdp program. I’m coming up with an idea for a children’s coloring book where it’s animals doing jobs. Here are three of my ideas. Can you help me come up with a total of 50 ideas? The animals should loosely be related to the job they are doing. Animals doing jobs
Squirrel chopping a tree
Kangaroo playing basketball
Racoon taking out the trash

The outcome was very on target for what I was hoping to get from ChatGPT. I then asked it to write a prompt to illustrate each of those 50 ideas. That gave me the basis for prompting pages for a coloring book. If I had put each of those steps in my first prompt the quality would probably suffer. Anyways, let’s continue – I just want to give you some real life use case examples.

Beginner-Friendly Prompt Examples to Get You Started

Here are some simple yet effective prompts categorized by use case:

Creative Writing:

  • “Write a short story about a talking cat who helps a child solve a mystery.”
  • “Create a poem about a rainy day in the style of Dr. Seuss.”

Research:

  • “Summarize the benefits of meditation for reducing stress in 100 words.”
  • “What were the main causes of World War II?”

Brainstorming:

  • “List 10 unique business ideas for eco-friendly startups.”
  • “Suggest creative ways to use leftover holiday wrapping paper.”

Here is a free pdf guide I made with some more examples: 10 Prompts to Jumpstart Your AI Journey.

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Tips to Move From Beginner to Intermediate Prompts

Once you’ve mastered the basics, step up your game with these techniques:

  1. Role-Playing Prompts:
    • Assign a role to the AI for more targeted responses.
    • Example: “You are a history professor. Explain the significance of the Renaissance to a high school student.”
  2. Chain-of-Thought Prompts:
    • Encourage the AI to explain its reasoning step by step.
    • Example: “Solve this math problem step by step: A train travels 60 miles in 1.5 hours. What is its average speed?”
  3. Advanced Settings:
    • If your platform allows, experiment with parameters like temperature (for creativity) or token limits (for brevity).
    • Example: Use a lower temperature for factual answers and higher for creative tasks.
  4. Iterative Prompts:
    • Refine your outputs by asking follow-up questions or tweaking your original prompt.
    • Example: Start with, “List three benefits of renewable energy.” Follow up with, “Explain each benefit in detail.”

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even experienced users sometimes stumble when crafting prompts. Here are some common pitfalls and their solutions:

  1. Being Too Broad:
    • Mistake: “Tell me about history.”
    • Fix: “Summarize the key events of the American Revolution in 200 words.”
  2. Overloading the Prompt:
    • Mistake: “List 10 business ideas, explain each one, and write a marketing plan for all of them.”
    • Fix: Break it into smaller, manageable parts.
  3. Ignoring Output Quality:
    • Mistake: Accepting the first response without review.
    • Fix: Proofread, refine, and regenerate as needed.

Conclusion

Crafting effective prompts for LLMs is an invaluable skill that opens up many possibilities, whether you’re brainstorming, solving problems, or exploring new ideas. Learning how to learn, and thus, how to write AI prompts effectively is far more valuable, in my opinion, than any rote memorization you work on in school. This used to mean how to craft a Google search query to quickly find what you are looking for. Now, it is quickly becoming prompting AI to do your bidding. Remember: clear, specific, and structured prompts lead to the best results. With practice and creativity, you’ll unlock the full potential of AI tools.

Ready to start experimenting? Bookmark this guide and try out some of the examples today. Have a favorite prompt or a tip of your own? Contact me at ben@exploreaitogether.com. Behind the scenes tip: I am of course learning with the rest of you. I tried the blog writing prompt from MudasirItoo from his post I am building free ChatGPT tool for everyone, suggest few features for me to build : r/ChatGPTPromptGenius. So far, I can recommend his prompt library.