How to Write a Prompt for an AI Essay Writer?
You might have heard from your peers that the appearance of Artificial Intelligence has made their life much easier. Is it so?
You decide to test it, open an AI essay generator, and enter the prompt, “Write a blog post on the health benefits of red caviar.” The tool starts working, and in a few seconds, you get an article that can be considered perfect and free of any mistakes. Is it as perfect as you have expected? It may not. Some important information may be missing, and the structure is not clear. In addition, the tone of voice may be too formal, and the AI tool has created only 750 words instead of the 1200 you need. You read an essay and think that you could have done it much better. Being frustrated, you close the tab and decide never to come back to it again.
Though, is there a problem with the AI essay writer? Be sure, there is not. The true problem lies in prompts you create. Unfortunately, AI generator does not have any emotional intelligence and cannot guess what you want exactly. It just follows your prompt and generates accordingly.
That is why you need some explanation and training on how to make the right prompt for an AI-powered writing tool.
The Main Steps for Creating a Prompt for AI Essay Writer
Creating a great prompt may need some of your time, too. It should be clear and detailed instruction on what you would like to see in the end. Here are some steps you have to follow to cope with this task:
- Clearly state the topic and subject you want the AI tool to address, including the main theme of the essay.
- Explain the essay’s purpose, for example, analyzing, informing, comparing, or persuading so that AI could understand the goal of your writing.
- Describe the desired tone and writing style, like formal, academic, technical, informal, conversational, etc. to let the tool pick out the appropriate language.
- Make an outline for the main subtopics and point you want to cover in your essay to help the AI writer include relevant information.
- Specify the desired word count or the suggested length of the essay to prompt the tool on the depth and scope of the content.
- Make a list of relevant keywords and phrases to get the content aligned with the specific terms and concepts.
- Check whether the prompt is clear, consistent, well-structured, and unambiguous to avoid the tool getting confused.
Topic: “Alternative Energy: Expectations and Reality”
Prompt: Write a 1200-word essay discussing the pros and cons of using alternative energy for the global economy and people’s well-being. Your essay should indicate the main sources of alternative energy and shortly describe them. Consider people’s and government’s expectations for different energy sources and the situation with these sources right now. Cover whether they have the potential to develop, in what direction, and why we may need them soon. Please use a formal tone and include the data and real-life examples to support all the points. Address business people and investors who are on average familiar with these technologies but do not know about them in detail. Ensure to mention of ecological outcomes and economic consequences of alternative energy sources.
This prompt looks pretty structured and comprehensive, and it will allow the AI tool to generate an essay that will meet your requirements and expectations. You should also remember that any AI-generated content needs to be reviewed and edited by a human. Only in this case, you can receive an accurate, coherent, and adherent text that corresponds to your purpose and ethical guidelines.
How to Make AI Prompts More Effective?
When you work with any AI-powered writing tool, you need to implement the principles described below.
First of all, you have to clarify what you want to create and why you need to create it. Define the goals achieved by the content, your target audience and their educational background in the subject matter, and what you want them to do after they have read your essay.
Vague and unclear prompts will not help much, and the AI response will be unstructured and misaligned. For instance, if your prompt sounds like, “What Is Happiness?” the answer will be ambiguous. Instead, you may write, “Explain some psychological backgrounds for a person to feel happy.”
Ask yourself, “What would I write if I get a prompt like this one? Or like that one, already improved?” When you can answer these questions clearly, continue describing the task, specifying the length, format (a listing, an argumentative essay, a report, etc.), your audience’s expected reactions and follow-up steps, and the tone and style. Remember that you will always get a better output if you make your prompt more detailed.
Try to avoid “Yes/No” questions because the AI tool will not be able to generate detailed responses to them. All your questions need to be open-ended. For instance, if you ask, “Is taking food supplements bad for health?” you will get a formal and ambiguous answer of something like “Yes, they are bad because…” Of course, you do not mean that, so it is better to ask, “What are the benefits and drawbacks of taking food supplements provide?” In this case, the tool will be able to answer with more detail, explanation, and examples.
Always check grammar and spelling in your prompt when you use the AI tool. Some bad mistakes or typos can confuse AI and prevent it from creating adequate content. You should also avoid the use of slang terms, jargon, and abbreviations.
Your AI essay writer may be pretty advanced and potent, but it will be useless if you do not provide contextual information and background for writing on the topic and the expected quality of the future text.
Topic: The Importance of Consistency in Parenting Practices
Prompt: Write a well-researched and well-structured article of about 1400 words on the topic of consistent parenting practices and their importance for children’s well-being. Your article should explore the connection between poor behaviors, children’s disrespect, and their testing boundaries and their parents’ approaches to consistent discipline, setting limits and daily routines, and controlling their implementation. Provide engaging and encouraging examples and cases to support the ideas of consistency in parenting practices. Address the article to those parents who struggle with bad behaviors, poor academic performance, and lack of self-control in their kids. Though, do not provide specialized knowledge and terminology in the field of psychology. Maintain a positive and objective tone.
Final Thoughts
Now, you know that writing a perfect prompt for an AI-powered content-generating tool always includes certain points that can be summarized by the following formula, “none-size-fits-all.” Do not forget about a clear topic statement, the purpose and audience, specific ideas and instructions, the context and background, keywords and phrases, style and tone, and ethical considerations. You should also check the text before the submission.
We hope these tips will help you maintain more fruitful cooperation with AI and improve your writing style.