Prompts are instructions, not search terms
A prompt is everything you give the assistant: your request, the context, any examples and any files. Good prompts read less like search queries and more like a brief you would give a capable new colleague who knows nothing about your situation.
The five building blocks
Strong prompts usually contain some combination of these five parts:
- Role: the perspective to take. “Act as an experienced hiring manager.”
- Task: the specific job. “Review this résumé for a junior data analyst role.”
- Context: background the assistant cannot guess. “The candidate is changing careers from teaching. The role values SQL and communication.”
- Format: the shape of the output. “Give a table with Strength, Concern, Suggested fix.”
- Constraints: boundaries and rules. “Maximum 8 rows. Do not rewrite the résumé. Flag anything you are unsure about.”
Not every prompt needs all five. A quick question needs only a task. But when results disappoint, the missing piece is almost always one of these.
Example: from weak to strong
Weak:
Give me marketing ideas.
Strong:
Role: You are a marketing consultant for small local businesses.
Task: Suggest marketing ideas for my dog-grooming salon.
Context: We're in a mid-sized town, we've been open 6 months, most
customers find us through word of mouth, and our budget is small.
Our quietest days are Tuesday and Wednesday.
Format: A numbered list of 8 ideas. For each: the idea in one line,
estimated effort (low/medium/high), and why it fits us.
Constraints: Prioritize ideas that fill Tuesday and Wednesday.
No paid TV or radio.
The strong version takes 60 seconds longer to write and saves many rounds of back-and-forth. Notice that the context (quiet days, small budget, word of mouth) is what makes the ideas specific to this salon rather than generic.
Put the most important instruction where it cannot be missed
For long prompts, especially ones with pasted documents, make the task clear at the start and restate key rules at the end:
Task: Summarize the meeting transcript below for my manager.
[transcript pasted here]
Remember: maximum 150 words, list decisions and owners first,
and do not include small talk.
Clear beats clever
You may see “magic prompt” tricks online, such as offering the AI a tip or claiming your job depends on the answer. Modern assistants respond best to plain, specific instructions. Spend your effort on context and clarity, not gimmicks.
Say what to do, not only what to avoid
“Don’t be too formal” leaves the assistant guessing. “Write in a warm, conversational tone, like a message to a colleague you like” tells it exactly where to aim. Positive instructions are easier to follow. Keep “don’t” rules for true deal-breakers.
Use delimiters for pasted material
When you paste text, mark clearly where it starts and ends, using triple quotes, XML-style tags or headings:
Rewrite the product description between the <draft> tags so it's
easier to scan.
<draft>
Our blender has a 1200W motor and six speeds and is easy to clean...
</draft>
Delimiters stop the assistant confusing your instructions with the material you want it to work on.
Practice task
Take a prompt you have used recently that gave a mediocre result. Rewrite it using all five building blocks (role, task, context, format, constraints) and use delimiters around any pasted material. Run both versions in the same assistant and write down three specific ways the new answer is better or worse.