Writing Prompts Correctly

A prompt is a clear and precise instruction that tells artificial intelligence (AI) what you want from it. The quality of your prompts has a major impact on how helpful the AI answers are.

Improve your prompt in 6 steps

The quality of our models' answers depends heavily on your input. Writing good prompts requires following these steps, but also practice.

Step 1: Clear goal

Think carefully about what you expect from the AI. Make sure you formulate your goal precisely and concisely.

Good:

"Write me a short summary of Goethe's novel 'Faust' in no more than 100 words."

Less good:

"Tell me something about 'Faust'."

Step 2: Define a role

It is helpful to clearly tell the AI from which perspective it should answer. This influences the tone and wording.

Example:

"You are a history teacher. Explain the causes of World War II briefly and clearly."

Step 3: Context

The more relevant context you provide, such as background information, data, tables, or concrete examples, the better and more accurate the AI's answer will be.

Example:

"Based on these sales figures (table), create a short analysis of which products sell best and why."

Step 4: Format

Describe exactly what form you want your answer to take:

Running text
Bullet points
Table
Step-by-step guide

Example:

"Create a list of 5 important facts about renewable energy."

Step 5: Level of detail & style

AI can use different styles and language levels. Clearly specify which style or level you want:

Example:

"Explain the theory of relativity simply enough for 8th-grade students to understand."

Step 6: Allow follow-up questions

If you are not sure whether your prompt is clear enough, add:

Example:

"If important information is missing, feel free to ask follow-up questions."

Common mistakes

Here is a brief overview of what you should avoid:

Questions that are too general: The more specific, the better.
Multiple tasks in one prompt: Better to split them into separate prompts.
No clear target group or perspective: Always specify the target group or perspective.

Checklist

✅ Have I clearly stated what I want?
✅ Does the AI know who or what it should be?
✅ Is my desired format clearly specified?
✅ Have I described the level of detail and style?
✅ Is the prompt specific enough?

Follow these steps and you will quickly get better answers from your AI!

Writing Prompts Correctly

A prompt is a clear and precise instruction that tells artificial intelligence (AI) what you want from it. The quality of your prompts has a major impact on how helpful the AI answers are.

Improve your prompt in 6 steps

The quality of our models' answers depends heavily on your input. Writing good prompts requires following these steps, but also practice.

Step 1: Clear goal

Think carefully about what you expect from the AI. Make sure you formulate your goal precisely and concisely.

Good:

"Write me a short summary of Goethe's novel 'Faust' in no more than 100 words."

Less good:

"Tell me something about 'Faust'."

Step 2: Define a role

It is helpful to clearly tell the AI from which perspective it should answer. This influences the tone and wording.

Example:

"You are a history teacher. Explain the causes of World War II briefly and clearly."

Step 3: Context

The more relevant context you provide, such as background information, data, tables, or concrete examples, the better and more accurate the AI's answer will be.

Example:

"Based on these sales figures (table), create a short analysis of which products sell best and why."

Step 4: Format

Describe exactly what form you want your answer to take:

Running text
Bullet points
Table
Step-by-step guide

Example:

"Create a list of 5 important facts about renewable energy."

Step 5: Level of detail & style

AI can use different styles and language levels. Clearly specify which style or level you want:

Example:

"Explain the theory of relativity simply enough for 8th-grade students to understand."

Step 6: Allow follow-up questions

If you are not sure whether your prompt is clear enough, add:

Example:

"If important information is missing, feel free to ask follow-up questions."

Common mistakes

Here is a brief overview of what you should avoid:

Questions that are too general: The more specific, the better.
Multiple tasks in one prompt: Better to split them into separate prompts.
No clear target group or perspective: Always specify the target group or perspective.

Checklist

✅ Have I clearly stated what I want?
✅ Does the AI know who or what it should be?
✅ Is my desired format clearly specified?
✅ Have I described the level of detail and style?
✅ Is the prompt specific enough?

Follow these steps and you will quickly get better answers from your AI!