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A “prompt” is the set of instructions that you input into a genAI tool. It is the way you ask genAI to do something. The way a prompt is written has a direct effect on the quality of the results you get. As you work with these tools, it is unlikely that you will get the results you are looking for on the first try. It often takes several iterations of your prompt to accomplish this. Refining your prompt to get an effective result is part of the process. If you are working with genAI tools, it is good to spend some time learning about prompting.

There are different approaches to, and methods of, prompting, and you should use the one that works best for you and for the goal of your task. There is no one “correct” way. Different tasks will benefit from different styles of prompting. Prompting for a visual image, for example, has different needs than prompting for text. There are some basics, however, that will help you to develop your prompts. The infographic below will guide you on these basics. For a PDF version of this infographic, please visit: Writing_Prompts_for_GAI_LEC_Infographic.pdf

Try practicing with some prompts using these components. The order you put these components in is not important. What is important is that you include any of these elements that may affect the quality of the results.