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More Info — Lesson 4: Getting Better Results — Prompts and Formats

This page goes deeper on the ideas from Lesson 4. You'll find a simple template, real examples of strong prompts, and how to ask for different formats.

A simple prompt template

You don't need to memorize anything complicated. Most good prompts have three ingredients:

[What you want] + [Context or who it's for] + [Format or tone]

You don't always need all three — but the more you include, the better the result.

| Ingredient | What it means | Example | |---|---|---| | What you want | The task itself | "Write a short email" | | Context | Who's involved, what the situation is | "to my landlord about a leaky faucet that hasn't been fixed in two weeks" | | Format/tone | How it should be presented | "Keep it polite but firm, under 150 words" |

Combined: "Write a short email to my landlord about a leaky faucet that hasn't been fixed in two weeks. Keep it polite but firm, under 150 words."

That's it. Clear, useful, takes 20 seconds to write.

Real examples: vague vs. specific

Writing help

| Vague | Specific | |---|---| | "Write a cover letter." | "Write a cover letter for an office manager position at a healthcare clinic. I have 8 years of admin experience and am changing industries from retail. Friendly but professional tone, one page." |

Explanation

| Vague | Specific | |---|---| | "Explain Medicare." | "Explain the difference between Medicare Part A and Part B in plain language for someone who just turned 64 and is starting to research their options. No jargon." |

Planning

| Vague | Specific | |---|---| | "Help me plan a trip." | "I'm planning a 4-day trip to New Orleans with my elderly mother who uses a cane. What neighborhoods are most accessible, and what are some low-key things to do?" |

Notice that "specific" doesn't mean longer. It means clearer. You're giving the chatbot the information it needs to give you something actually useful.

How to ask for different formats

One of the handiest things about a chatbot is that you can ask for the same information in completely different shapes. Here are some format requests that work well:

Lists

  • "Give me this as a bullet list."
  • "Make it a numbered step-by-step guide."
  • "Turn this into a checklist I can print."

Tables

  • "Put that in a table with two columns: pros and cons."
  • "Compare those three options in a table."

Short vs. long

  • "Give me the short version — three sentences max."
  • "Expand on that — I want more detail."
  • "Summarize this in one paragraph."

Tone adjustments

  • "More casual — like I'm texting a friend."
  • "More formal — this is for a business email."
  • "Simpler — like you're explaining it to someone with no background."
  • "Friendlier — this is going to parents of young kids."

Structure

  • "Use headers so it's easy to skim."
  • "No headers — just flowing text."
  • "Give me this as a FAQ."

Useful phrases to keep in mind

These phrases are reliable and easy to use:

  • "In plain language, no jargon" — great for technical or medical topics
  • "Give me three options" — useful when you want choices, not just one answer
  • "Act as a [role]" — e.g., "Act as a patient teacher explaining this to a first-timer"
  • "What am I missing?" — useful after you've written something yourself
  • "Assume I know nothing about this topic" — sets the baseline clearly
  • "Start with the most important thing" — gets key info up front

What if the first response isn't quite right?

You don't have to start over. Just say what you want adjusted:

  • "Good, but make it shorter."
  • "I like the structure but the tone is too stiff — can you loosen it up?"
  • "That's helpful, but I need it to be for a younger audience."
  • "The second option is closest — can you build on that one?"

Treating the chatbot as a drafting partner — iterating rather than hoping the first result is perfect — usually gets you much further.

The bottom line

You don't need perfect grammar or special commands. A clear sense of what you want, who it's for, and what format fits your purpose gets you most of the way there. And you can always refine.

← Back to Lesson 4: How you ask matters.