Prompting is briefing
You do not need secret vocabulary. You need to describe the work. Most weak prompts name a topic but leave the goal, audience, available information, and desired output unstated.
Imagine handing the task to a smart colleague who has not been in your meetings. What would they need to know before starting? Put that in the prompt.
Use five parts
A reliable first draft can be built from the same five pieces.
- Goal: what you want to accomplish and why.
- Context: the facts, source material, audience, and situation.
- Constraints: what to include, avoid, verify, or leave unchanged.
- Format: the structure, length, tone, or file you need.
- Example: a short sample when the pattern or voice matters.
Then make the review criteria explicit
Tell the AI how you will judge the result. You might ask it to identify unsupported claims, separate known facts from assumptions, cite each source, or ask questions when required information is missing.
A stronger prompt improves direction. It does not make the output automatically true. Verification still depends on the task and the consequence of an error.
A reusable starter
Try this: “My goal is [outcome]. The audience is [person]. Use only [context]. Follow these constraints: [rules]. Return [format]. A good result should [criteria]. Ask me up to three questions if missing information would change the answer.”
Take a prompt you used recently and add the missing parts. Compare the old and new results, then save the version that produced less cleanup.
Sources and further reading
Product capabilities and policies change. These are the primary sources used for this guide.