How to Write Better ChatGPT Prompts (Examples)

 

As ChatGPT continues to gain traction globally, it has become imperative to know how best to interact with the chatbot to solve different tasks.

Therefore, this tutorial will delve into ways to improve ChatGPT prompts in order to get optimal results.

A ChatGPT prompt is simply text that is used to communicate with ChatGPT in order to get a desired response.

The process of crafting a good prompt is known as prompt engineering.

Here is an overview:

Let’s dive into the discussion

 

A Prompt Should Be Specific

The more specific a prompt is, the greater the chance of getting the desired response.

Vague prompt: “Teach me how to draw”

Specific prompt: Teach me how to draw a portrait image using watercolor

 

 

ChatGPT somewhat exhibits the garbage in, garbage out behavior, because when you give it a vague prompt, it will most likely give you a vague or generic response, which might not be so helpful.

But a specific prompt directs ChatGPT to the goal of the prompt, and it thus returns the desired response. It’s like telling a little child to pick a ball for you from a ball pit. Because the instruction is vague, the child randomly picks a yellow ball whereas you wanted a green ball.

The outcome would be very different if you tell the child that he should pick a green-colored ball from the ball pit. Very certainly, you will get the desired outcome.
 

A Prompt Should Be Detailed

Giving ChatGPT as much relevant information as possible will guide it to produce the desired output.

Detailed prompt: “Give me practical suggestions on how to keep warm during winter, especially when there are blizzards and the temperature is very low.”

 

 

As you can see in the above image, the response given by ChatGPT is a comprehensive one because the prompt is detailed. The prompt helped ChatGPT to know how much information it should return in its response that would be helpful.

However, a prompt does not necessarily have to contain many words or phrases for it to be detailed. A one-sentence prompt can have just the sufficient amount of relevant information for ChatGPT to give a good response.
 

A Prompt Should Contain Instruction

Give ChatGPT specific instruction. At least an instruction or question should be present in the prompt passed to ChatGPT.

Prompt with instruction: “Translate ‘here comes the sun’ from English to French”

 

 

An instruction simply tells ChatGPT what to do. As demonstrated in the example above, ChatGPT is told or instructed to perform a translation task, which it does.

Depending on an individual’s need, a prompt could be just a simple instruction as demonstrated above, or it could be a much more detailed instruction.
 

A Prompt Should Have A Context

Another good way to improve ChatGPT prompt is to give it a context. A context will help ChatGPT understand very well what is required of it. Context can include a scenario, a paragraph, an article, or keywords.

Prompt with context: “Imagine you are lost in a jungle and you are low on food and water, what are the best ways of increasing your chance of survival?”

 

 

Because a context was given in the above example, ChatGPT could give an appropriate response within the given context; thus making its response relevant.
 

A Prompt Should Include A Role

Assigning a role to ChatGPT enables it to give responses specific to the role it is playing. For example, if you want to draw up a marketing strategy for your new product, you can ask ChatGPT to assume the role of a marketing strategist or consultant. That way, it prepares the response from the perspective of the professional it is playing.

Prompt with role: “As an experienced marketing consultant and strategist, write a marketing plan for my new product ‘Happy Sweet’, which is a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. My target audience are housewives and mums.”

 

 

Giving ChatGPT a role to play is closely related to giving it a context. As a matter of fact, both methods are often combined together in one prompt.

For example, the above prompt can also be written this way:

“As an experienced marketing consultant and strategist, with over 20 years of experience working in the health care industry, write a marketing plan for my new product ‘Happy Sweet’, which is a healthy alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. My target audience are housewives and mums.”

We’ve now given ChatGPT both a context and a role.
 

A Prompt Should Be Well-Written

Very importantly, ChatGPT prompts should be well-written, with good grammar and sentence construction. While ChatGPT is good at inferring the intention of a user even when a prompt is poorly written, a well-written prompt reduces the chance of ChatGPT being mislead and thus hallucinating.

Also, a prompt should include relevant terminologies and jargons from the discipline or field in which you are trying to solve a task.

Prompt with terminology: “As a trained machine learning engineer, suggest tools that can be used for exploratory data analysis, data cleaning, model training, and model deployment.”

 

 
Sometimes, ChatGPT makes some unfounded claims and assumptions. One way to mitigate this is by first of all having sufficient knowledge of the context in which you are using ChatGPT, so that if it gives you a wrong answer, you can detect it and ask it to make a correction.

Another way is to guide it by using the correct and explicit terminologies and lingos of the field in which you are asking it to perform a task. I have found this to work on many occasions.

The suggestions above are certainly not exhaustive. There are many other things that can be done to improve ChatGPT prompts, and thus enhance the quality of the output.

For instance, there is a vast amount of online resources that can guide you even further in crafting effective ChatGPT prompts.

A simple Google search can return a ton of relevant results.

 

Video, Further Resources & Summary

Do you need more explanations on how to write better ChatGPT prompts? Then you should have a look at the following YouTube video of the Statistics Globe YouTube channel.

In the video, we explain how to write better ChatGPT prompts in some more detail.

 

The YouTube video will be added soon.

 

Furthermore, you could have a look at some of the other interesting AI-based tutorials on Statistics Globe:

• What is A ChatGPT Prompt? (5 Example)
• How to Use ChatGPT for Story Writing (Example)
• Best ChatGPT for Marketing (5 Example)
• How to Make AI-Generated Art in Python (Example)
• Introduction to Python Programming

This post has shown how to write better ChatGPT prompts. Although the suggestions above are universally recommended, ultimately, there is no hard and fast rule with regard to prompting ChatGPT.

ChatGPT allows users to express their creativity when prompting the chatbot. Prompts can be tweaked, and several iterations can be run as well until the desired output is produced.

It is also not compulsory that a prompt incorporates all 6 suggestions at a time in order to get good results. Depending on your need, you can apply one or a combination of a few of the suggestions at a time when crafting your own prompt.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! In case you have further questions, you may leave a comment below.