How to Write AI Prompts That Actually Work: A Beginner’s Guide
Prompts are just instructions. The clearer your instructions, the less guesswork an AI has to do, and the better your results. You don’t need to be technical, just consistent.
The core parts of a good prompt
- Intent - Say the job plainly with a strong verb, summarize, outline, draft
- Context - Give only what is relevant, audience, background, voice
- Guidelines - Choose Tone, Length, Style, add any must include or avoid items
- Format - Be explicit, bullets, short sections, or a table, add Medium and Type if helpful, email or presentation, statement, question, plan, instruction, script
Quick template
- Task - What to produce with a clear verb
- Audience - Who it is for
- Context - Relevant background or source
- Guidelines - Tone, Length, Style, plus any must have or avoid
- Medium - Email, social, presentation, chat, letter
- Type - Statement, question, plan, instruction, script
- Format - Paragraph, bullets, sections, table
- Examples optional, one short example
Before and after examples
Example 1 email rewrite
Before “Rewrite this to sound better.”
After
- Task, rewrite this email clearly and politely
- Audience, busy customers considering a free trial
- Context, friendly voice, no jargon, under 120 words
- Guidelines, Tone professional, Length short, Style clear
- Medium, email
- Type, statement
- Format, one short paragraph and a subject line
Example 2 lesson outline
Before “Make a lesson plan about photosynthesis.”
After
- Task, create a 30 minute lesson outline on photosynthesis for 12 year olds
- Audience, Year 8 students with basic biology
- Context, hands on activity, avoid complex chemistry terms
- Guidelines, Tone instructive, Length medium, Style detailed
- Medium, presentation
- Type, plan
- Format, bulleted outline with section headings and time per section
Common mistakes and fixes
- Vague tasks - Use precise verbs
- Too much context - Keep only what changes the output
- No guidelines - Add Tone, Length, Style
- No format - Request the structure you need directly
Try the template, save your best results, and reuse them. Our free tool follows similar choices and gives you an Optimized Prompt you can paste anywhere.
Visit Prompt Help to learn more, or use the tool on the homepage.