Prompt Engineering Basics

1. Be Specific (The "Pizza" Rule)#

If you order "a pizza," you might get anchovies. If you order "a large pepperoni pizza with extra cheese and thin crust," you get exactly what you want.

• Bad: "Write a blog post."
• Good: "Write a 500-word blog post about the benefits of gardening for mental health. Use a friendly, encouraging tone."

2. Give Context (The "Who Am I?quot; Rule)#

Tell the AI who it should be or who the audience is.

• Bad: "Explain quantum physics."
• Good: "Explain quantum physics to a 5-year-old using analogies about toys."
• Good: "Act as a senior physics professor and explain quantum physics to a college student."

3. Provide Examples (The "Show, Don't Just Tell" Rule)#

This is the most powerful trick. If you want the AI to follow a specific format, show it an example.

• Prompt:

  "Convert these movie titles into emojis.
  Example: Star Wars -> ⭐️⚔️
  Example: Spider-Man -> 🕷️🕸️

  Titanic ->"

• AI Answer: 🚢🧊