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What Is a Prompt in Writing? (Ultimate Guide + 200 Examples)

Ever stumbled upon a blank page and didn’t know where to start?

That’s where a writing prompt steps in, kicking your creativity into gear and guiding your pen (or cursor) in the right direction.

What is a prompt in writing?

A prompt in writing is a starting point designed to ignite creativity, guiding writers to explore themes, genres, or emotions. It can be a word, question, image, or scenario, aiding in overcoming writer’s block.

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about prompts in writing.

What Is a Prompt in Writing (Long Description)?

Table of Contents

A writing prompt is essentially a starting point.

Think of it as a spark designed to ignite your creativity and guide your thoughts in a specific direction.

This little nudge can come in various forms – a word, a sentence, a question, or even a picture – and serves the purpose of inspiring you to write.

Whether you’re drafting a story, an essay, or just jotting down your thoughts, prompts help overcome the intimidation of a blank page.

It sets a predefined theme or direction for your writing.

They’re not just about what you write, but how you think and approach writing, encouraging you to explore new ideas, genres, and perspectives.

Here is a good video that explains prompts in writing:

Types of Prompts in Writing

Now let’s go over different types of prompts in writing.

Common prompt types include:

The Story Starter

The question quest, picture this, the first line frenzy.

The Story Starter is your classic nudge towards narrative creativity.

It’s a sentence or scenario meant to kick off your storytelling journey, helping you dive straight into the plot, characters, or setting.

This type of prompt is great for fiction writers looking for a jumping-off point to explore various themes or genres.

It can be as detailed or as open-ended as you like, providing just enough information to spark an idea without dictating the direction of your story.

• “When the clock struck midnight, she realized…”
• “Lost in the forest, he stumbled upon a hidden village…”
• “The last person on Earth sat alone in a room. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door…”
• “In a world where magic is real, a young apprentice discovers…”
• “The photograph in the old book revealed a secret that would change everything…”
• “Stranded on a desert island, they found a message in a bottle…”
• “On her hundredth birthday, she received a letter that took her back to her youth…”
• “The map led them to a place that wasn’t supposed to exist…”
• “In the midst of war, a forbidden love blossomed…”
• “He inherited an old mansion, not knowing the ancestors would still be around…”

The Question Quest prompt type uses intriguing questions to push your thinking boundaries and explore ideas in depth.

It’s perfect for essays, reflective writing, or exploring complex themes and issues.

These prompts challenge you to consider different perspectives, analyze situations, and develop reasoned arguments or narratives based on the question posed.

• “What would you do if you could travel back in time?”
• “How would society change if humans lived to be 300 years old?”
• “Is it possible to live a completely ethical life in today’s world?”
• “What does true bravery look like?”
• “How would the discovery of extraterrestrial life impact humanity?”
• “What is the true cost of progress?”
• “Can happiness be measured?”
• “What role does fate play in our lives?”
• “Is technology bringing us closer together or driving us apart?”
• “What would you change if you were the leader of your country for a day?”

Picture This prompts use images as the springboard for writing.

A photograph, painting, or even a random doodle can unlock a flood of creativity.

Which makes it an excellent tool for both fiction and non-fiction writers.

This visual cue encourages you to dive into descriptive writing, storytelling, or even analytical essays, exploring the emotions, stories, or ideas evoked by the image.

• A deserted street at dawn, with an old bicycle leaning against a lamppost.
• A vintage suitcase, open and filled with letters and photographs.
• A bustling market scene in a foreign country.
• A child gazing out of a rain-spattered window.
• A majestic mountain range under the stars.
• An abandoned house, its rooms still furnished but covered in dust.
• A close-up of a spider web with dewdrops.
• A lively street festival, with people dancing and musicians playing.
• An old, faded map with several places marked in red.
• A serene lake at sunset, with a lone boat tied to a wooden dock.

The First Line Frenzy is a thrilling way to dive into a story.

These prompts provide the opening sentence of your narrative, setting the tone and direction for everything that follows.

It’s a fantastic method for overcoming writer’s block and sparking your imagination, as the initial line can lead to unexpected and exciting story developments.

• “The day began with a mysterious package on my doorstep.”
• “I never believed in ghosts until I moved into the old Henderson house.”
• “The moment I heard the news, I knew my life would never be the same.”
• “Under the light of a full moon, the city revealed its true secrets.”
• “It was the kind of café you’d stumble upon once and never find again.”
• “With a deep breath, I stepped into the unknown.”
• “The letter, sealed with a wax emblem, contained a proposition I couldn’t refuse.”
• “As the train pulled away, she realized her mistake.”
• “In the heart of the ancient forest, a hidden path led to unexpected wonders.”
• “The discovery promised to rewrite history, but at what cost?”

Dialogue Driven

Dialogue Driven prompts center around a snippet of conversation, offering a dynamic entry point into your writing.

This approach is particularly effective for character development and exploring relationships through direct speech.

It can set the scene, reveal personalities, and drive the plot forward, all through the power of dialogue.

• “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?” “I was hoping.”
• “Why is this door always locked?” “You’re not ready to know what’s behind it.”
• “Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.” “That’s where you’re wrong.”
• “The stars look different here.” “Everything does.”
• “I wish I could stay.” “Then why are you leaving?”
• “It’s not about what I want anymore.” “Then what’s it about?”
• “I’ve never seen anything like it.” “And you never will again.”
• “Can you keep a secret?” “Depends on the secret.”
• “We’re not in Kansas anymore.” “We’re not even on the same planet.”
• “It was supposed to be a simple plan.” “Since when does anything go according to plan?”

The Sensory Dive

The Sensory Dive prompts are designed to immerse you and your reader in vivid, sensory-rich experiences.

These prompts encourage descriptive writing that appeals to the senses, painting a scene so tangible that readers feel they can touch, taste, hear, see, and smell it.

It’s a powerful tool for creating immersive worlds and experiences.

• Describe the cacophony of a bustling city market at noon.
• The taste of the first snowflake of winter.
• The scent of old books in a forgotten library.
• The feeling of sand between your toes as waves crash on the shore.
• The sight of a landscape transformed by autumn’s touch.
• The sound of a distant thunderstorm approaching.
• The warmth of a crackling fire on a cold night.
• The chill of walking through a foggy graveyard at dusk.
• The texture of an ancient, carved stone.
• The silence of a snow-covered forest.

The What-If Wonder

The What-If Wonder prompts take you on a journey of imagination, exploring alternate realities and scenarios.

These prompts ask you to consider how different choices, events, or conditions might alter the world, characters, or story.

It’s an excellent way to delve into speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy, pushing the boundaries of reality.

• What if humans had the ability to communicate telepathically?
• What if gravity suddenly became a variable force on Earth?
• What if you woke up 100 years in the past with your current memories intact?
• What if plants were the dominant intelligent species on the planet?
• What if you could see the future but only 24 hours ahead?
• What if water was as rare as gold?
• What if everyone had their lifespan displayed above their heads?
• What if you found a door that could take you to parallel universes?
• What if animals could petition for their rights?
• What if dreams were actually glimpses into alternate realities?

The Emotional Rollercoaster

The Emotional Rollercoaster prompt is all about exploring the depths of human emotion, challenging you to convey complex feelings and reactions.

These prompts are perfect for delving into character development, interpersonal relationships, and personal reflection.

By focusing on the emotional landscape, writers can create compelling narratives that resonate with readers on a deeply personal level.

• The moment you realized you were in love.
• Feeling utterly lost in a place you once called home.
• The bitter sweetness of a farewell.
• Overcoming a fear that once held you back.
• The complex emotions of reuniting with someone after many years.
• The guilt of a lie that spiraled out of control.
• The rush of achieving something you thought was impossible.
• The profound sadness of losing a cherished memory to time.
• The unexpected joy found in a simple act of kindness.
• The peace of accepting things you cannot change.

The Genre Blender

The Genre Blender prompts encourage you to mix elements from different genres, creating unique and innovative narratives.

These prompts are excellent for writers looking to break the mold and experiment with their storytelling.

Whether it’s combining science fiction with historical fiction or fantasy with mystery, the possibilities are endless.

• A detective in a dystopian future solving a crime that could change the course of history.
• A romance blossoming in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.
• A fantasy world where magic is dying, and technology is on the rise.
• A historical drama set in ancient Rome, but with a twist of time travel.
• A horror story set in space, aboard a ship with a mysterious alien artifact.
• A western where the frontier towns are protected by wizards instead of gunslingers.
• A cyberpunk thriller featuring a heist in a virtual reality world.
• A mystery set in a magical school where the students must uncover a dark secret.
• A superhero story grounded in the real-world challenges of modern society.
• An adventure tale that blends deep-sea exploration with ancient mythology.

The Time Traveler’s Gateway

The Time Traveler’s Gateway prompts explore the intricacies of time travel, its implications, and its paradoxes.

This type of prompt is perfect for science fiction and speculative fiction writers, offering a playground for the imagination that challenges our understanding of time, history, and causality.

• Discovering a time machine in your backyard and deciding where to go first.
• A message from the future warning of an impending disaster.
• The consequences of changing a small event in the past.
• A society where time travel is common, but strictly regulated.
• An ancient civilization that had advanced time travel technology.
• Meeting your ancestors and learning their secrets.
• The ethical dilemmas of using time travel for personal gain.
• A love story that transcends time barriers.
• The discovery that history is a construct, shaped by time travelers.
• A time loop where the protagonist must solve a puzzle to escape.

The World Builder’s Dream

The World Builder’s Dream prompts invite you to create entire worlds from scratch.

This type of prompt is a boon for fantasy and science fiction writers, offering the freedom to craft unique settings, cultures, laws of nature, and societies.

It’s an opportunity to let your imagination run wild and establish the groundwork for epic tales.

• A planet where the seasons last for decades.
• A city built entirely on the back of a giant, wandering creature.
• A society where people’s roles are determined by their innate magical abilities.
• An underwater civilization that has never seen the surface.
• A world where dreams can be entered and manipulated.
• A floating island nation that travels the skies.
• A dystopian future where memories can be bought and sold.
• A kingdom where music is the source of all magic.
• A realm where the night lasts half the year.
• An alternate Earth where the continents never split apart.

The Unseen Perspective

The Unseen Perspective prompts challenge you to write from the viewpoint of non-human characters or entities.

This approach forces you to step outside the human experience and consider the world from a completely different angle.

It’s a fantastic way to explore themes of consciousness, nature, and the interconnectedness of life.

• The life of a tree over centuries, witnessing the changes in the world.
• A day in the life of a household pet during a major family event.
• The thoughts of a spaceship AI as it travels through the cosmos.
• The experiences of a ghost haunting an old mansion.
• A story told from the perspective of a river, from source to sea.
• The journey of a single leaf from sprout to falling to the ground.
• The collective consciousness of a hive of bees facing environmental challenges.
• The ancient spirit of a mountain overseeing its surroundings.
• The adventures of a book as it passes from reader to reader, experiencing different interpretations and emotions.
• The perspective of a city as it grows and evolves over centuries, through peace and conflict.

The Emotional Journey

The Emotional Journey prompts focus on the internal growth and transformation of characters.

It invites writers to delve into personal development, self-discovery, and the overcoming of obstacles.

This type of prompt is ideal for character-driven narratives, where the emphasis is on emotional depth and the evolution of the protagonist’s inner self.

• A character grappling with the loss of a loved one and finding a way to move forward.
• The journey of self-acceptance for someone who feels out of place in their world.
• A hero facing their darkest fears in order to save what they cherish most.
• A villain’s realization of the impact of their actions and their quest for redemption.
• A young adult’s transition into independence and the challenges they face along the way.
• The transformation of a skeptic into a believer through a series of unexplainable events.
• The struggle of a character to forgive themselves and others for past mistakes.
• The process of rebuilding one’s life after a catastrophic event.
• A character’s journey from indifference to passionate advocacy for a cause.
• The evolving relationship between two characters who start as rivals and become allies.

The Moral Dilemma

The Moral Dilemma prompts put characters in situations where they must make difficult choices, often between two equally undesirable options.

These prompts are great for exploring ethical questions, character morality, and the complexity of human nature.

They challenge writers to think deeply about what it means to make a “right” decision.

• Choosing between saving a loved one or a group of strangers from danger.
• Deciding whether to expose a painful truth that could destroy a friend’s happiness.
• The choice of upholding the law or doing what is morally right in a corrupt society.
• A character must decide whether to seek revenge or forgive an unforgivable act.
• The dilemma of sacrificing personal dreams for the greater good.
• Deciding whether to keep a secret that protects one person but harms others.
• A leader’s choice between peace at the cost of justice or war for the sake of freedom.
• The ethical implications of using advanced technology to alter human nature.
• A scientist faces a moral conflict over a discovery that could change the world but has dangerous implications.
• The struggle of a character who finds out that their entire life is based on a lie and must choose how to react.

The Creative Challenge

The Creative Challenge prompts are designed to push the boundaries of conventional storytelling.

It encourages experimentation with narrative structure, style, and content.

These prompts invite writers to play with unconventional formats, such as a story told in reverse, a narrative composed entirely of dialogue, or a tale that weaves multiple perspectives into a cohesive whole.

• A story told through a series of diary entries, each revealing a piece of the puzzle.
• A narrative structured as a series of text messages between characters.
• A tale that begins with its conclusion and works backward to the start.
• A story where each chapter is from the perspective of a different character, all revolving around a single event.
• A narrative composed entirely of letters sent between two characters.
• A story told through the lens of an inanimate object witnessing events unfold.
• A tale that intertwines the past and present, revealing how they mirror and affect each other.
• A narrative that challenges the concept of linear time, mixing moments from various points in the characters’ lives.
• A story where the setting changes in each chapter, influencing the plot and characters in unique ways.
• A narrative that plays with genre conventions, blending elements from different genres in unexpected ways.

Final Thoughts: What Is a Prompt in Writing?

I hope this guide “prompts” you to understanding, creativity, and motivation to write.

Check out some of our other great guides below.

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Putting the Pieces Together: Tips for Writing Prompts

Writing prompts: the instructions.

A writing prompt in WRIT will ask you to consider the same set of questions each week. The prompt instructions remind you that there are three very important components that should be included in your response for optimal success. Below is the standard prompt instructions that you’ll see each week in WRIT:

Write a multi-paragraph response (in essay format: introduction, body, conclusion) to the article below.

Your response should accurately summarize the author’s main argument AND critically respond to it.

You may choose to agree with the author’s argument, to disagree with it, or to partially agree/disagree with it.

Your essay should also consider at least one objection a reader might have to your argument. You may respond to this objection in different ways. For example, you may argue against the objection, or you may acknowledge that the objection is a good point and incorporate it into your argument. It’s your choice.

Failing to address each of these goals will significantly reduce your ability to respond appropriately and completely to the prompt.  Don’t worry, though! In WRIT, you’ll learn how to respond to each of the requirements listed in the instructions above; it will just take a bit of time and practice.

Prompt Writing Guide

When you study a writing prompt closely and use it as the basis for your outline, you will be better equipped to address the goals of your own response.  It’s important to do the following when reading and responding to a prompt:

Putting the Pieces Together Copyright © 2020 by Andrew Stracuzzi and André Cormier is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Writing in Literature: Writing the Prompt Paper

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Whether you are given a selection of prompts to choose from or just one, knowing something about the various sorts of writing prompts can help you understand what your teacher expects and how you should approach the project.

“Compare and Contrast”

This classic writing prompt can be quite challenging because it sounds almost as if you are being asked to compile a list of similarities and differences. While a list might be of use in the planning stage, this prompt asks you to use what you discover to arrive at a conclusion about the two works under discussion.

Example: “Compare and contrast the two endings for Dickens’ Great Expectations paying special attention to the situation of Stella at the close of the novel.”

• Find three or four elements from the texts upon which to base your comparison.
• Examine possible connections and determine a thesis.
• Base your outline around the elements you’ve chosen, remembering to give equal coverage to each side.

“Discuss the theme of x as it appears in works a, b, and c.”

This is an extended or re-named compare and contrast prompt. In this situation, you are given a general theme, such as “loss of innocence” or “self-revelation.” Your job is to use the instances of that theme to arrive at some general conclusions regarding how the theme works in the text you are analyzing.

Example: “Discuss the ways in which Shakespeare talks about the passing of time in three of the sonnets we read for class.”

• Re-read carefully the selected works looking specifically for the theme or motif in question. Then research the ways in which other critics have examined this theme.
• Determine your argument. Will you make a claim for similarity (“A, b, and c use x in much the same way.”), difference (“A, b, and c, when dealing with x, take highly individual approaches.”), or superiority (“While a and b deal with x, c clearly demonstrates a richer, more nuanced treatment.”)?
• Organize your paper around the works, making each point deal thoroughly with a discrete work. Remember that connections are of the utmost importance for this paper, so pay close attention to your transitions.

“What is the role of women/the role of class/the role of the Other as presented in this work?”

All three examples above serve as first steps to the larger world of literary theory and criticism. Writing prompts like this ask you to examine a work from a particular perspective. You may not be comfortable with this new perspective. Chances are that since your instructor has given you such an assignment, the issues in question will be at least partially covered in class.

Example: “Discuss the ways in which the outsider or Other is dealt with in James Joyce’s story “The Dead.”

• Categorize the persons or characters in the piece. What are they in the most general, stereotypical way? Male or female? Lower or upper class? Natives or foreigners? Strangers or friends?
• Examine the ways in which the characters you’ve categorized fit or don’t fit into the boxes you’ve assigned them. Do they support or undermine the categories, and what do others (including the author) say about them and their place in the world?
• Write your paper as if you were giving a new definition (or an amended definition)of the category in question using the text as your guide. Your main points should highlight the ways in which the text uses or discards the accepted categories.

“Critic A has famously said “B” about this work. In light of our study of the piece in question, would you agree or disagree, why or why not?”

This sort of question is often asked as an in-class essay, but can appear as a prompt for larger papers. The goal of a question like this is to give you the opportunity to deal with the critical voices of others in your own writings.

Example: “C.S. Lewis has said that Chaucer is “our foremost poet of joy” in the English language, and in this field he “has few equals and no masters.” Discuss how this applies to the ending of “The Knight’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales.”

• Read and re-read the quote from the prompt several times. Ask yourself what seems to be the quote’s central claim.
• Apply that claim to the relevant passage or work. In a way, you are being asked not to examine the literature so much as the claim about the literature. Does it hold up to scrutiny in light of the actual text?
• Your instructor would be equally pleased whether you agree or disagree with the critic’s views as long as you do so in a scholarly fashion. Structure your paper around the claims made by the quote and use lines from the text to support your own reaction.

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Effective Writing Assignments

Six parts of an effective prompt.

One of the most common challenges in designing a prompt is determining how much information to include. We recommend that you  limit the information provided on the prompt to the unique requirements for this assignment  and that you provide students with writing guides distinct from the prompt that outline your expectations for different types of assignments and different disciplines.

Of course, the following is just one model for arranging a prompt. We encourage you to adapt it as you see fit to best provide your students with the guidance that will help them produce the kinds of papers you want to read.

1. Articulation of purpose

This section explains the significance of the assignment itself by explaining  what skills students will display in their writing and why they are important.

This section may also identify the  audience  of the assignment. If the assignment has real-world applications (for example, if students are asked to construct a business memo), this section may present students with a scenario that their writing will address.

De Paul Teaching Commons identifies nine of the most common purposes for writing, including encouraging students to engage course material, to develop scholarly skills, and to bridge academic and real world understanding. On their site, they include a helpful  chart  that breaks each of these purposes into smaller goals and suggests which types of writing assignments engage each.

Below is a sample articulation of purpose. You can find the full prompt from which this example is drawn  here .

2. Summary of assignment

Essentially, this is the “thesis statement” of the prompt. Assignment summaries tend to work best when limited to a few sentences in which you provide students with the  genre of the assignment, the most important components of the assignment, and the audience for their paper.

You can find the full prompt from which this example is drawn here .

3. Logistics

This section provides students with the basic information about your requirements,  including the specific length, the due date, the method of submission, formatting requirements, and citation style.

You can find the full prompt from which this example is drawn  here .

4. Key components of the paper or important sections

This is a where you might provide  a brief synopsis of the genre ,  or type of assignment,in which students are writing and  address the types and number of sources they should use . You might also use this space to refer students to a writing guide.

5. Framing questions

This section is designed to  provide students with further guidance . Depending on the type of assignment, you might include either an overview of important sections or framing questions or both. The length of this section will depend on the degree to which you expect students to develop their own framing questions.

6. Evaluation criteria

This section could refer back to your  rubric , but it’s also a good idea to include those general categories on your prompt as well. Precise language is particularly helpful in this section. For examples of alternatives to criteria like “assignment is well-written,” you may want to check out our examples of precise language .

Bonus: References to Resources, Tips for Approaching the Project, Common Missteps & Models

References to resources.

As its name suggests, this section directs students to resources that will help them with their assignment. You might include links to websites or information about library resources available to them, suggestions for visiting the DEWC or departmental tutors, or other useful information.

Tips for Approaching the Project

Perhaps you want students to write their papers in a particular order or take notes in a certain way. By separating that information from the rest of the prompt, you can offer them with an easy way to reference your suggestions.

Common Errors

This can be a particularly helpful section to include – if students in your Business Writing class often lapse into poetic language or students in your Art History class tend to want to make value judgments about the works they’re analyzing, you can warn them off here.

Reproductions

We recommend providing models for writing  in your class throughout the semester. Providing a model of an exemplary paper for students when you distribute the prompt can go a long way toward producing the kind of papers you want to be grading.

Better Assignments.  Writing Center. Yale College. 2014. Web. 1 June 2014. 

Boye, Allison.  How Do I Create Meaningful and Effective Assignments?  Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center. Texas Tech University. 2014. 1 June 2014.

Brewster, Glen et al.  Formal Biology Lab Reports.  Writer’s Guide. Westfield State College. Web. 1 June 2014. 

Creating Effective Assignments.  Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. University of New Hampshire. 2004. Web. 1 June 2014.

Gardner, Traci.  Ten Tips for Designing Writing Assignments.  Pedablogical. 2001. Web. 1 June 2014.

Gately, Maeve.  Writing an Art History Paper.  Writing Resources. Hamilton College Writing Center. 2014. Web. 1 June 2014.

Guidelines for Analysis of Art .  Department of Art. University of Arkansas at Little Rock. n.d. Web. 1 June 2014.

Jehn, Tom, and Jane Rosenweig.  Writing in the Disciplines: Advice and Models: Supplement to accompany Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference, Sixth Edition.  Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s. 2007.

Matching Learning Goals to Assignment Types.  De Paul Teaching Commons. DePaul University. n.d. Web. 1 June 2014.

Pop, Andrei.  How to Do Things with Pictures: A Guide for Writing in Art History. Disciplinary Writing Guides. Harvard Writing Project. 2008. Web. 1 June 2014.

Writing Assignments . Center for Teaching and Learning. Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 2014. Web. 1 June 2014.

What Is a Writing Prompt and What Types There Are?

June 2, 2022

What Is An Essay Prompt?

Understanding writing prompts, types of writing prompts, how to write a prompt, how to respond to essay writing prompts for beginners, key takeaways.

Do you love writing but sometimes feel stuck or uninspired? Are you looking for a way to jumpstart your creative process ? If so, writing prompts may be just what you need. But what is a writing prompt and what is its role in writing?

In this article, we will discuss the definition of a writing prompt, explore different types of prompts, and learn how to write one yourself.

What Is a Writing Prompt?

A writing prompt is a sentence, paragraph, or (rarer) an image that provides inspiration and guidance for creative writing . It may be used as a possible topic or starting point for an original essay, report, journal entry, story, poem, etc. A writing prompt’s main aim is to test a writer’s analytical capabilities, writing skills, and ability to express their point of view.

Writing prompts for students have long been used in the classroom to encourage student attention and develop their capacity to focus on a certain subject, idea, or concept. They also give students the chance to express their own opinions on a certain topic. Prompts stimulate students’ critical thinking and offer them an opportunity to construct a well-reasoned, structured argument in response to another writer’s viewpoint.

An essay prompt is a subtype of the writing prompt. Essay prompts are generally made up of 1 to 3 sentences that provide some context about the subject, followed by a question that asks students to write about a certain topic in the form of an essay .

The goal is to get students to respond with an essay focusing on a statement or issue in order to assess their writing, reasoning, and analytical abilities.

Analyzing your writing prompt is easier if you highlight the important words while reading it . Here are some of the words you should watch out for:

• Argue – requires you to present facts that support your opinion
• Compare – determine the similarities and differences between two or more concepts
• Define – provide a definition of a specific concept or subject
• Discuss – explain various aspects of a subject or problem and reach a conclusion
• Describe – give a detailed description of an event or a particular person, place, or thing

Prompts can help improve your writing skills by providing practice in brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, and editing . Daily writing prompts can also help you practice and develop your understanding of grammar when learning a new language .

Following are the most common types of writing prompts that students come across as a part of their degrees or continuing education programs:

Descriptive

Descriptive prompts frequently include cue terms such as “describe in detail,” “describe how something looked/felt/smelled/tasted,” and so on. In this type of writing, the reader should be able to experience what you’re writing about. Descriptive writing exercises frequently request writers to provide details that will help the reader construct a vivid picture by including sensory elements , such as sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste.

Expository/Informative

Expository writing prompts are a good writing practice for teens and college students. Expository prompts typically ask the writer to describe, compare and contrast, discuss pros and cons, or define something .

Expository writing has a particular purpose and audience in mind; as a result, the style and voice must correspond to the set subject and audience. The following words are used as cues to elicit expository answers: why, how, what, and explain.

The act of writing a narrative is the process of recording and telling events from one’s personal or fictional experience . Identifying what a narrative writing prompt look like is easy when you know what to look for. These prompts call for insight, creativity, drama, suspense, humor, and/or fantasy, and often contain the term “tell about…,” “write a story,” or “describe”.

Writers should use real or invented experiences when responding to narrative prompts. They should also incorporate dialogue, sensory elements, and sensible sequences into their response.

In this sort of prompt, the writers are expected to express their viewpoint on a certain subject, followed by logical reasoning and facts . This can either be a controversial issue or something light-hearted and fun. No matter what the topic is, if you’re wondering how to start a writing prompt like this, just make sure you’re clear and concise so that the reader knows exactly what is being discussed.

Persuasive prompts are writing prompts that require the writer to convince or persuade the reader to agree with a certain point of view . These types of prompts typically use cue words such as “convince,” “persuade,” and “why” rather than “how.”

To write a persuasive prompt, it is important to first brainstorm ideas and then narrow down your focus to come up with a creative and unique prompt. Remember to consider your audience when writing persuasive prompts.

The research approach to daily writing prompts encourages writers to look for information on a given topic using books, internet resources, films, etc . Such a writing assignment asks students to look up all the details and provide the resources as well, sometimes in the form of a bibliography .

When you start writing, no matter the type and form of the written piece, it’s important to consider your audience and purpose. When you’re responding to a written prompt that lists children as your target audience, for example, you’ll need to use age-appropriate language and focus on the topics that are interesting for the particular age group . Apart from the audience, you need to pay attention to the following factors, as well:

Prompt Construction

Breaking down the writing prompt into three parts is another useful approach for better conveying the task’s meaning:

• the first part introduces the subject
• the second part encourages writers to think about it, perhaps with a brainstorming pre-writing exercise
• the third portion explains what needs to be written

In order to avoid confusion, writing prompts should be brief and focused . The instructor must make sure that the students are provided with sufficient information in order for them to understand the writing assignment completely.

The components of the prompt can be repeated, but using parallel wording will help writers stay focused on the specific writing task.

Bias and Sensitivity

The topics of your creative writing prompts should be inclusive and fair to all potential writers . The prompts should be written in a way that allows writers to easily comprehend them, regardless of their cultural background or other variables. It’s important to avoid cultural, ethnic, gender, or any other form of bias when developing prompts.

After you’ve examined your prompt, it’s time to get creative and prepare for your essay writing:

• First, make a thesis statement to address the main issue . Your thesis statement should be the focal point of your whole essay and should reflect your stance on the issue.
• When responding to writing prompts for beginners, write simple topic sentences that cover all the criteria. Add any facts, elaborations, or evidence you need to back up your viewpoint.
• After you’ve finished, you may add more facts and smooth transitions between each phrase and paragraph . Make sure to include an eye-catching opening line in your first paragraph, as well as a conclusion that summarizes your ideas and thesis statement.

All in all, understanding what is a prompt in writing and how to respond to one is a key skill for all writers. By taking the time to analyze the prompt and brainstorm ideas, you’ll make sure that your written piece is clear, concise, and on-topic. Practicing with different types of prompts will help you hone your skills and become a more confident writer.

The three parts of a writing prompt are the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The introduction sets the tone for the rest of the piece, the body provides support for the thesis, and the conclusion ties everything together and leaves readers with a final thought or impression.

Most writing prompts consist of the following six parts: articulation of purpose, a summary of the assignment, logistics, paper’s key components, framing questions, and evaluation criteria.

What is a writing prompt supposed to be like in order to both challenge a writer and let them showcase their writing skills? It must be clear and concise, and possible to answer in a short amount of time. It should also be open-ended enough to allow for creative interpretation, not requiring prior knowledge in order to be answered.

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CollegeVine's essay prompt database

Find your college’s application essay prompts for 2023-24

Latest essay prompts for the top 100 schools.

At CollegeVine, our goal is to make the college application process a little less stressful, so we’ve compiled the latest essay prompts for the top 100 schools in one easy, searchable database.

Also, every year we create free guides on “ How to Write X School’s Essays ” for the top 100 schools. In these guides, we give you tips and tricks on how to approach each prompt. As such, our prompt database also contains a link to each school's Essay Breakdown.

Manage your college essays in one place for free.

First-year essay prompts

Common App has announced the 2024-2025 essay prompts.

Below is the complete list of the common app essay prompts..

• Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.
• The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?
• Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?
• Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?
• Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.
• Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?
• Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

We will also retain the  optional community disruption  question within the Writing section. 

Looking for tips on how to approach the essay? Check out this video. 

Solutions center for first-year students

Solutions center for transfer students.

The 2021-22 Common Application Essay Prompts

Tips and Guidance for the 7 Essay Options on the New Common Application

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• Ph.D., English, University of Pennsylvania
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For the 2021-22 application cycle, the Common Application  essay prompts remain unchanged from the 2020-21 cycle with the exception of an all new option #4. As in the past, with the inclusion of the popular "Topic of Your Choice" option, you have the opportunity to write about anything you want to share with the folks in the admissions office.

The current prompts are the result of much discussion and debate from the member institutions who use the Common Application. The essay length limit stands at 650 words (the minimum is 250 words), and students will need to choose from the seven options below. The essay prompts are designed to encourage reflection and introspection. The best essays focus on self-analysis, rather than spending a disproportionate amount of time merely describing a place or event. Analysis, not description, will reveal the critical thinking skills that are the hallmark of a promising college student. If your essay doesn't include some self-analysis, you haven't fully succeeded in responding to the prompt.

According to the folks at the Common Application , in the 2018-19 admissions cycle, Option #7 (topic of your choice) was the most popular and was used by 24.1% of applicants. The second most popular was Option #5 (discuss an accomplishment) with 23.7% of applicants. In third place was Option #2 on a setback or failure. 21.1% of applicants chose that option.

From the Admissions Desk

"While the transcript and grades will always be the most important piece in the review of an application, essays can help a student stand out. The stories and information shared in an essay are what the Admissions Officer will use to advocate for the student in the admissions committee."

–Valerie Marchand Welsh Director of College Counseling, The Baldwin School Former Associate Dean of Admissions, University of Pennsylvania

Always keep in mind why colleges are asking for an essay: they want to get to know you better. Nearly all selective colleges and universities (as well as many that aren't overly selective) have holistic admissions, and they consider many factors in addition to numerical measures such as grades and standardized test scores. Your essay is an important tool for presenting something you find important that may not come across elsewhere in your application. Make sure your essay presents you as the type of person a college will want to invite to join their community.

Below are the seven options with some general tips for each:

Option #1  

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

"Identity" is at the heart of this prompt. What is it that makes you you? The prompt gives you a lot of latitude for answering the question since you can write a story about your "background, identity, interest, or talent." Your "background" can be a broad environmental factor that contributed to your development such as growing up in a military family, living in an interesting place, or dealing with an unusual family situation. You could write about an event or series of events that had a profound impact on your identity. Your "interest" or "talent" could be a passion that has driven you to become the person you are today. However you approach the prompt, make sure you are inward looking and explain how and why  the story you tell is so meaningful. 

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #1
• Sample essay for option #1: "Handiwork" by Vanessa
• Sample essay for option #1: "My Dads" by Charlie
• Sample essay for option #1: "Give Goth a Chance"
• Sample essay for option #1: "Wallflower"

Option #2  

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

This prompt may seem to go against everything that you've learned on your path to college. It's far more comfortable in an application to celebrate successes and accomplishments than it is to discuss setbacks and failure. At the same time, you'll impress the college admissions folks greatly if you can show your ability to learn from your failures and mistakes. Be sure to devote significant space to the second half of the question—how did you learn and grow from the experience? Introspection and honesty are key with this prompt.

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #2
• Sample essay for option #2: "Striking Out" by Richard
• Sample essay for option #2: "Student Teacher" by Max

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Keep in mind how open-ended this prompt truly is. The "belief or idea" you explore could be your own, someone else's, or that of a group. The best essays will be honest as they explore the difficulty of working against the status quo or a firmly held belief. The answer to the final question about the "outcome" of your challenge need not be a success story. Sometimes in retrospection, we discover that the cost of an action was perhaps too great. However you approach this prompt, your essay needs to reveal one of your core personal values. If the belief you challenged doesn't give the admissions folks a window into your personality, then you haven't succeeded with this prompt.

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #3
• Sample essay for option #3: "Gym Class Hero" by Jennifer

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

Here, again, the Common Application gives you a lot of options for approaching the question since it is entirely up to you to decide what the "something" and "someone" will be. This prompt was added to the Common Application in the 2021-22 admissions cycle in part because it gives students the opportunity to write something heartfelt and uplifting after all the challenges of the previous year. The best essays for this prompt show that you are a generous person who recognizes the contributions others have made to your personal journey. Unlike many essays that are all about "me, me, me," this essay shows your ability to appreciate others. This type of generosity is an important character trait that schools look for when inviting people to join their campus communities.

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #4

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

This question was reworded in 2017-18 admissions cycle, and the current language is a huge improvement. The prompt use to talk about transitioning from childhood to adulthood, but the new language about a "period of personal growth" is a much better articulation of how we actually learn and mature (no single event makes us adults). Maturity comes as the result of a long train of events and accomplishments (and failures). This prompt is an excellent choice if you want to explore a single event or achievement that marked a clear milestone in your personal development. Be careful to avoid the "hero" essay—admissions offices are often overrun with essays about the season-winning touchdown or brilliant performance in the school play (see the list of bad essay topics for more about this issue). These can certainly be fine topics for an essay, but make sure your essay is analyzing your personal growth process, not bragging about an accomplishment.

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #5
• Sample essay for option #5: "Buck Up" by Jill

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

This option was entirely new in 2017, and it's a wonderfully broad prompt. In essence, it's asking you to identify and discuss something that enthralls you. The question gives you an opportunity to identify something that kicks your brain into high gear, reflect on why it is so stimulating, and reveal your process for digging deeper into something that you are passionate about. Note that the central words here—"topic, idea, or concept"—all have rather academic connotations. While you may lose track of time when running or playing football, sports are probably not the best choice for this particular question.

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #6

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

The popular "topic of your choice" option had been removed from the Common Application between 2013 and 2016, but it returned again with the 2017-18 admissions cycle. Use this option if you have a story to share that doesn't quite fit into any of the options above. However, the first six topics are extremely broad with a lot of flexibility, so make sure your topic really can't be identified with one of them. Also, don't equate "topic of your choice" with a license to write a comedy routine or poem (you can submit such things via the "Additional Info" option). Essays written for this prompt still need to have substance and tell your reader something about you. Cleverness is fine, but don't be clever at the expense of meaningful content.

• See more Tips and Strategies for Essay Option #7
• Sample essay for option #7: "My Hero Harpo" by Alexis
• Sample essay for option #7: "Grandpa's Rubik's Cube"

Final Thoughts

Whichever prompt you chose, make sure you are looking inward. What do you value? What has made you grow as a person? What makes you the unique individual the admissions folks will want to invite to join their campus community? The best essays spend significant time with self-analysis rather than merely describing a place or event.

The folks at The Common Application have cast a wide net with these questions, and nearly anything you want to write about could fit under at least one of the options. If your essay could fit under more than one option, it really doesn't matter which one you choose. Many admissions officers, in fact, don't even look at which prompt you chose—they just want to see that you have written a good essay.

• Tips for Writing an Essay on an Event That Led to Personal Growth
• Tips for the Pre-2013 Personal Essay Options on the Common Application
• Common Application Essay Option 2 Tips: Learning from Failure
• Topic of Your Choice: Common Application Essay Tips
• Common Application Essay Option 4—Gratitude
• Common Application Essay Option 3 Tips: Challenging a Belief
• Common Application Essay on a Meaningful Place
• A Sample Essay for Common Application Option #7: Topic of Your Choice
• 2020-21 Common Application Essay Option 4—Solving a Problem
• Common Application Essay, Option 1: Share Your Story
• "Grandpa's Rubik's Cube"—Sample Common Application Essay, Option #4
• "Gym Class Hero" - a Common Application Essay Sample for Option #3
• 5 Tips for a College Admissions Essay on an Important Issue
• Common Application Essay Option 6: Losing Track of Time
• Tips for an Application Essay on a Significant Experience
• "My Dads" - Sample Common Application Essay for Option #1

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, which common app essay prompt should you choose.

College Essays

On one hand, the Common Application has seven essay prompts to choose from, which is great news: No matter what your story, you're sure to find a good fit! On the other hand, having seven prompts means you can write seven different kinds of essays, each with its own potential pitfalls and clichés to steer around.

In this article, I'll outline two totally different approaches to figuring out which Common App essay prompt is right for you and help you brainstorm possible ideas for each. I'll also talk about what makes great college essays great and give examples of what you want to avoid when crafting your essay.

What Are Application Essays for, Anyway?

Before you can choose an essay prompt, before you figure out what you're going to write about, it helps to know what the goal of your writing is. Think about it: if your goal were to give someone instructions, you'd write really differently than if your goal were to describe a landscape.

So What Is the College Essay Supposed to Do?

Admissions officers want to know the things they can't find in the numbers that make up the rest of your application. They want to know about your background, where you come from, and what has shaped you into the person you are today. They want to see your personality, your character, and your traits as a person. They want to learn your thinking style and perspective on the world. They want to make sure you have the ability to creatively problem-solve. And finally, they want to double-check your maturity level, assess your judgment, and get a general sense of whether you would be a good college student—whether you would thrive in an environment where you have to be independent and self-reliant.

So think about the college essay as a way of letting the admissions office get to know you the way a close acquaintance would. You have to let them in and share real thoughts, feelings, and some vulnerabilities. You definitely don't need to reveal your deepest, darkest secrets, but you should avoid showing only superficial details or, even worse, a façade.

Disclosing your closest-held secrets is not the goal of a college essay; however, you  do want to share enough information to give the admissions staff a sense of your personality, motivations, and values.

How to Brainstorm Ideas for Each Common App Prompt

There are two big-picture ways of coming up with essay ideas.

First, maybe you already know the story you want to tell. Perhaps you experienced something so momentous, so exciting, or so dramatic that you have no doubt it needs to be in your college application.

Or maybe you need to approach finding a topic with some more directed brainstorming. There's nothing wrong with not having a go-to adventure! Instead, you can use the prompts themselves to jog your memory about your interesting accomplishments.

Approach #1: Narrating Your Exciting Life

Does something from your life immediately jump into your head as the thing you would have to tell anyone who wanted to know the real you? If you already know exactly which of your life experiences you are going to write about, you can develop this idea before even looking at the prompts themselves.

You can ask yourself a few questions to see whether this is your best brainstorming option:

Is there something that makes you very different from the people around you?

This could be something like being LGBT in a conservative community, having a disability, being biracial, or belonging to a minority group that is underrepresented in your community.

Has your life had a watershed moment? Do you think of yourself as before X and after X ?

For example, did you meet a childhood hero who has had an outsized impact on your life? Did you suddenly find your academic passion? Did you win an award or get recognized in a way you were not expecting to? Did you find yourself in a position of leadership in an unusual time or place?

Did you live through something dramatic, such as a crisis, a danger you overcame, or the complete upheaval of your circumstances?

Maybe you lived through a natural disaster, made your way home after being lost in the woods, or moved from one country to another?

Was your childhood or young adulthood out of the ordinary? Were you particularly underprivileged or overprivileged in some unusual way?

For instance, did you grow up very poor or as the child of a celebrity? Did you live on a boat rather than in a house or as part of a family that never stayed long in one place because of your parents' work or other circumstances?

If you've experienced a dramatic event that changed your life or face unusual obstacles on a daily basis, approach #1 may work well for you.

Approach #2: Brainstorming for Each Prompt

If you don't have an unusual life experience or a story that you absolutely know needs to be told, don't worry! Some of the very best personal essays are about much more mundane situations that people face. In fact, it's better to err on the side of small and insightful if you don't have a really dramatic and unusual experience to write about.

Let's go through the prompts one by one and think of some ways to use more ordinary life events to answer them.

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

This is the broadest of the seven prompts. Almost any life experience that you write about could fit in this category, but you need to be careful to avoid writing the same essay as every other applicant.

Brainstorming Ideas

Background. Did a family member or friend have a significant influence on your life? Did you grow up in a particularly supportive and tolerant—or narrow-minded and intolerant—community? Were your parents not able to provide for you in the expected way? Did you have an unusual home life?

For example, my family came to the U.S. as refugees from Russia. By the time I went to college, I had lived in five different countries and had gone to nine different schools. This wasn't a traumatic experience, but it certainly did shape me as a person, and I wrote about it for my graduate school application essay.

Identity. Are you a member of an interesting subculture (keep in mind that violent or illegal subcultures are probably best left off your college application)? Do you strongly identify with your ethnic or national heritage? Are you a committed fan of something that someone like you would be expected to dislike?

Interest. In this category, esoteric interests are probably better than more generic ones because you don't want your essay to be the hundredth essay an admissions officer sees about how much you like English class. Do you like working with your hands to fix up old cars? Do you cook elaborate food? Are you a history buff and know everything there is to know about the War of 1812?

Talent. This doesn't have to be some epic ability or skill. Are you really good at negotiating peace between your many siblings? Do you have the uncanny ability to explain math to the math challenged? Are you a dog or horse whisperer? Are you an unparalleled mushroom forager?

Pitfalls to Avoid

Insignificance. The thing you describe has to be "so meaningful" the application "would be incomplete without it."

Redundancy. If the interest you write about is a pretty common one, like playing a musical instrument or reading books, make sure you have an original angle on how this interest has affected you. Otherwise, your essay runs the risk of being a cliché, and you might want to think about skipping this idea.

Bragging. If you decide to write about your talent, be aware that by focusing on how very good you are at playing the cello, you run the risk of bragging and coming off as unlikable. It's much better if you describe a talent a little more off the beaten path. Or if you do end up writing about your excellent pitching arm, you may want to focus on a time when your athleticism failed you in some way or was unsuccessful.

The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount an incident or time when you experienced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

In essence, you're being asked to demonstrate resilience. Can you get back on the horse after falling off? Can you pick yourself up and dust yourself off? This quality is really important to colleges, so it's great if you have a story that shows off your ability to do this.

The key to this essay is the "later success" part. If all you went through was failure and you learned no lesson and changed no approach in the future, then don't use that experience here.

Did you lose a game because of a new and poorly rehearsed strategy, but later tweak that strategy to create success? Did you not get the lead in the play, but then have a great experience playing a smaller part? Did you try a new medium only to completely ruin your artwork, but later find a great use for that medium or a way to reconceptualize your art? Did you try your best to convince an authority figure of something only to have your idea rejected but then use a different approach to get your idea implemented?

Too much failure. Don't focus so much time on the "failure" half of the equation that you end up not giving enough space to the "later success" and "learn from the experience" parts.

Too little failure. Don't diminish the negative emotions of failure because of a fear of seeming vulnerable.

Playing the victim. Avoid whining, blaming others for your failure, or relying on others to create your success. You should be the story's hero here.

Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

The key to this prompt is the reflection or insight that comes from the question, "What was the outcome?" Challenging deeply held views is not always a good idea. Writing about a negative outcome and how you reacted could demonstrate your maturity level and ability to tolerate views different from your own.

Remember, the belief or idea could be anyone's: yours, a peer group's, or an authority figure's. Did you stand up to your parents' conservative or traditional values, for instance, about gender norms? Did you get your friends to stop bullying someone?

Also, the belief or idea doesn't have to be extremely serious or big in scope. Did you make dressing up for Halloween cool for teenagers in your town? Did you transform your own prejudice or bias (e.g., about athletes having interesting thoughts about philosophy)?

Causing offense. If you have a story that deals with super hot-button issues, such as abortion or gun control, you need to be careful to keep your essay's tone respectful and unaggressive. This is a good thing to check by letting other people read your drafts and respond.

Avoiding negative feelings. Challenging beliefs means pointing out that what a person thinks now is wrong. It can also be quite lonely and isolating to be on an unpopular side of an issue. It's important to include these negatives into the story if they fit.

Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

“Reflect” and “surprising” are the keywords in this prompt. You need to write about a specific thing that another person (or persons!) has done for you that made you feel grateful—but your response shouldn’t stop there. To make your response really shine, you also need to reflect on the experience or, in other words, explain what it meant to you, why your feelings about it surprised you, and why. From there, you’ll need to round out your essay by connecting what that person did for you to the person you are today. Did that surprising act change you in some way? Did it make you a better person? This is your chance to show colleges what your values are when it comes to connecting with other people.

Remember how the prompt specifies that you should write about something someone did for you that made you happy or thankful in a surprising way? That wording is nudging you to think outside the box. For instance, most people are thankful for birthday presents or a friend who picks up the check at lunch. You need to think of something more out-of-the-box—something you didn’t necessarily expect to make you feel gratitude.

It’s entirely possible, for instance, that someone helped you out of an ethical dilemma or really difficult situation. Has someone ever helped you when you didn’t necessarily want help? Have you ever been in a situation where, if someone else hadn’t stepped in, something bad could have happened? Did that event motivate you to change your behavior in the future? Were you persuaded to own up to your mistake and do better next time?

An event in which the act of kindness or the person who performed it was unexpected is a great option here as well. Did someone you dislike do something kind for you? Did a stranger help your family out financially? Did your best friend come in from out of town when you had a bad injury to throw you a surprise party? Did a student who’s more popular than you invite you into their group at school?

Being disingenuous. Don’t exaggerate the effects of the surprising act of kindness you choose to write about. Similarly, you don’t want to write about an event that didn’t truly mean something to you and affect your life in a tangible way. Stick to writing about the truth of what happened in the situation and how you felt about it, and your response will be gold.

Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Going from childhood to adulthood doesn't usually happen after one accomplishment or event but is more of a process. This question is asking you to find one step along the process and explain how it fits into the long thread of your growing up.

You don't necessarily need to tell the story of some big, official ceremony. Instead, you can focus on a small moment that showed you that you were older, more mature, and more responsible than you had been before.

Did your family make up its own adulthood initiation ceremony? Were you finally able to beat your mom in chess or shooting hoops, and did that change how she treated you? Did your dad cry in front of you for the first time, making you realize that you were old enough to handle it? Were you suddenly left in charge of younger siblings, and did you rise to the task instead of panicking? Were you allowed to make a big financial decision for the first time and found yourself taking it very seriously?

For example, during my junior and senior year, my mom traveled extensively for work, and my dad lived several states away, so I lived by myself for weeks at a time. It was exhilarating and made me feel independent and mature. But it was also lonely and burdensome because I had to take care of everything in the house by myself. Living alone was a huge part of my life, shaped me into the person I was, and made me see myself in a new light as a grown-up.

Sameness. Avoid the milestones that happen to everyone: driver's license, bar/bat mitzvah, etc., unless they happened to you in some extraordinary way.

Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

The idea of this prompt is to discuss something you're passionate about. It's a great opportunity to showcase a skill and show off your writing skills because your passion should come across on the page. Pay special attention to the "What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?" aspect of this prompt; how you learn and from who can say a lot about you.

Hopefully, you should know the things that captivate you right off the bat. Try to think of the things that you turn to not just for fun but that de-stress you or give you the ability to learn.

More importantly, understand why this topic, idea, or concept is important to you. It should have a deeper meaning in your life and say something about who you are as a person.

Some other questions you can ask yourself to find a topic include the following: What unique hobbies or interests do you have? What challenges have you overcome in pursuing this topic, idea, or concept? What have you discovered about yourself in relation to this topic, idea, or concept?

Don't miss the overall meaning. Even if something is captivating to you, it's not necessarily captivating to others. Make sure you focus on what the topic, idea, or concept means to you and why that matters rather than getting lost in explaining it and how you feel about it.

Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you've already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

This is one of the most popular prompts from the Common App. Remember that even though this prompt is open-ended, you should discuss something meaningful that shows growth, reflection, or something unique about you.

A lot of students have unique experiences that have influenced them throughout their lives. Try to think of people or events that have changed your perspective in a big way.

However, the topic itself doesn't have to be about a big moment. Lots of things can be life-changing, and it's perfectly OK to write about something that happened in your daily life as long as it moved you and has affected you in a way that you can put on paper.

In this prompt, insight is key to a great essay. Reflect on the moments that defined your perspective or events from which you learned something. This prompt should be about something personal to you and can be about family, friends, or an experience.

Ask yourself if there's a time, event, or person that has stuck with you and what it or they meant to you. Once you have some ideas, ask yourself why. What does it say about you to have changed as a result of that experience, and how might others relate?

Being too general. Insight can be found in moments both big and small. But for this prompt, try to avoid going too big and going too small. You don't want to write about something mundane and have to stretch it to make it mean something. That said, it can be tough to boil down an experience that's really significant, like being an Olympic athlete, into a short essay. Personal and insightful are the key.

How to Turn Your Idea into an Essay

Now that you've come up with some possible ideas, how do you go about actually writing the essay? Before you write, you need to have a plan. I like to think about planning out personal essays that I've written by first imagining them as enjoyable movies. You want your reader to walk away entertained, to remember the characters and story, and to want to see more from the same creator. So how do good movies do those things?

Character arc. Good movies have main characters that undergo some kind of change or transformation. Who is the main character of your essay? It's you! The you of your essay has to start one way and end up another: more mature, with a different mindset, or having learned a lesson.

Conflict or transformation. Good movies also have challenges. The main character doesn't simply succeed and then keep on succeeding; that's boring. Instead, the main character either overcomes an external obstacle or changes in some way from beginning to end. Your essay also needs this kind of story drive. This can come from an obstacle you overcame, an outside force that stood in your way, a disability or weakness you experience, or a seemingly unsolvable problem you face. Or it could come from a before–after scenario: you used to be, think, or act in one way, but now you've changed into a different or better person.

Dramatic set piece. In good movies, the conflict or transformation isn't just told to the audience. They are acted out in scenes set in specific locations, with dialogue, character close-ups, and different camera angles. In your essay, your story also needs to show you dealing with the conflict or transformation you face in a small, zoomed-in, and descriptive scene. Think spoken dialogue, sensory description (i.e., what did you see, smell, hear, taste, or touch?), action verbs, and feelings. This scene should function as one illuminating example of what you overcame or how you changed.

Happy ending. Movies that are fun to watch tend to have happy endings. The hero resolves the conflict, emerges a better person, and looks forward to future accomplishments. Your essay also needs to have this kind of closure. This is really not the time to trot out your nihilism or cynicism. Instead, your essay should end on a moment of self-understanding and awareness. You lived through something or you did something, and it affected you in a way that you can verbalize and be insightful about.

Coming up: the story of you, starring you, written and directed by you.

Which Prompt Should You Choose?

So now that you've brainstormed some topic ideas and a game plan for turning those ideas into an essay, how do you narrow it down to the one ?

Reverse-Engineer the Perfect Prompt

If you used the first brainstorming approach, try to formulate a big-picture idea about the story you're telling.  

Is the character arc primarily you learning something about yourself or making peace with your background? Sounds like a good fit for prompt #1.

Is the conflict about you struggling to do something but eventually succeeding? That goes well with prompt #2.

Does the story focus on a mind being changed about an idea? You want to go with prompt #3.

Does your happy ending involve you changing something for the better, fixing something, or solving a problem? Then your essay is ready for prompt #4.

Is your character arc about growing up, gaining wisdom, or becoming more mature? Then you're probably answering prompt #5.

Look in Your Heart

If you used the second brainstorming approach, get ready to get a little cheesy. Really listen to what your gut feelings are telling you about which of your ideas is most compelling and which will get your emotions flowing on the page. Readers can tell when you're writing about something you care deeply about, so it's worth it to find the topic that has the most meaning to you.

Not sure how to tell? Then this is the time to ask your parents, teachers you are close to, or some good friends for their input. Which of your ideas grabs their attention the most? Which do they want to hear more about? Chances are that's the one that an admissions officer will also find the most memorable.

What's Next?

Want a detailed explanation of why colleges ask you to write essays? Check out our explanation of what application essays are for .

If you're in the middle of your essay writing process, you'll want to see our suggestions on what essay pitfalls to avoid .

When you start working on the rest of your application, don't miss what admissions officers wish applicants knew before applying .

Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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8 Ways to Create AI-Proof Writing Prompts

C reating 100 percent AI-proof writing prompts can often be impossible but that doesn’t mean there aren’t strategies that can limit the efficacy of AI work. These techniques can also help ensure more of the writing submitted in your classroom is human-generated. 

I started seeing a big uptick in AI-generated work submitted in my classes over the last year and that has continued. As a result, I’ve gotten much better at recognizing AI work , but I’ve also gotten better at creating writing prompts that are less AI-friendly. 

Essentially, I like to use the public health Swiss cheese analogy when thinking about AI prevention: All these strategies on their own have holes but when you layer the cheese together, you create a barrier that’s hard to get through. 

The eight strategies here may not prevent students from submitting AI work, but I find these can incentivize human writing and make sure that any work submitted via AI will not really meet the requirements of the assignment. 

1. Writing AI-Proof Prompts: Put Your Prompt Into Popular AI tools such as ChatGPT, Copilot, and Bard 

Putting your writing prompt into an AI tools will give you an immediate idea of how most AI tools will handle your prompt. If the various AI chatbots do a good, or at least adequate, job immediately, it might be wise to tweak the prompt. 

One of my classes asks students to write about a prized possession. When you put this prompt into an AI chatbot, it frequently returns an essay about a family member's finely crafted watch. Obviously, I now watch out for any essays about watches. 

2. Forbid Cliché Use

Probably the quickest and easiest way to cut back on some AI use is to come down hard on cliché use in writing assignments. AI tools are essentially cliché machines, so banning these can prevent a lot of AI use. 

Equally as important, this practice will help your students become better writers. As any good writer knows, clichés should be avoided like the plague. 

3. Incorporate Recent Events

The free version of ChatGPT only has access to events up to 2022. While there are plugins to allow it to search the internet and other internet-capable AI tools, some students won’t get further than ChatGPT. 

More importantly, in my experience, all AI tools struggle to incorporate recent events as effectively as historic ones. So connecting class material and assignments to events such as a recent State of Union speech or the Academy Awards will make any AI writing use less effective. 

4. Require Quotes

AI tools can incorporate direct quotations but most are not very good at doing so. The quotes used tend to be very short and not as well-placed within essays. 

Asking an AI tool for recent quotes also can be particularly problematic for today’s robot writers. For instance, I asked Microsoft's Copilot to summarize the recent Academy Awards using quotes, and specifically asked it to quote from Oppenheimer's director Christopher Nolan’s acceptance speech. It quoted something Nolan had previously said instead. Copilot also quoted from Wes Anderson’s acceptance speech, an obvious error since Anderson wasn’t at the awards .  

5. Make Assignments Personal

Having students reflect on material in their own lives can be a good way to prevent AI writing. In-person teachers can get to know their students well enough to know when these types of personal details are fabricated. 

I teach online but still find it easier to tell when a more personalized prompt was written by AI. For example, one student submitted a paper about how much she loved skateboarding that was so non-specific it screamed AI written. Another submitted a post about a pair of sneakers that was also clearly written by a "sole-less" AI (I could tell because of the clichés and other reasons). 

6. Make Primary or Scholarly Sources Mandatory

Requiring sources that are not easily accessible on the internet can stop AI writing in its tracks. I like to have students find historic newspapers for certain assignments. The AI tools I am familiar with can’t incorporate these. 

For instance, I asked Copilot to compare coverage of the first Academy Awards in the media to the most recent awards show and to include quotes from historic newspaper coverage. The comparison was not well done and there were no quotes from historical newspaper coverage. 

AI tools also struggle to incorporate journal articles. Encouraging your students to include these types of sources ensures the work they produce is deeper than something that can be revealed by a quick Google search, which not only makes it harder for AI to write but also can raise the overall quality.  

7. Require Interviews, Field Trips, Etc. 

Building on primary and scholarly sources, you can have your students conduct interviews or go on field trips to historic sites, museums, etc. 

AI is still, thankfully, incapable of engaging in these types of behavior. This requires too much work for every assignment but it is the most effective way to truly ensure your work is human- not computer-written. 

If you’re still worried about AI use, you can even go a step further by asking your students to include photos of them with their interview subjects or from the field trips. Yes, AI art generators are getting better as well, but remember the Swiss cheese analogy? Every layer of prevention can help. 

8. Have Students Write During Class

As I said to start, none of the methods discussed are foolproof. Many ways around these safeguards already exist and there will be more ways to bypass these in the future. So if you’re really, really worried about AI use you may want to choose what I call the “nuclear option.” If you teach in person you can require students to write essays in person. 

This approach definitely works for preventing AI and is okay for short pieces, but for longer pieces, it has a lot of downsides. I would have trouble writing a long piece in this setting and imagine many students will as well. Additionally, this requirement could create an accusatory class atmosphere that is more focused on preventing AI use than actually teaching. It’s also not practical for online teaching. 

That all being said, given how common AI writing has become in education, I understand why some teachers will turn to this method. Hopefully, suggestions 1-7 will work but if AI-generated papers are still out of hand in your classroom, this is a blunt-force method that can work temporarily. 

Good luck and may your assignments be free of AI writing! 

• 7 Ways To Detect AI Writing Without Technology
• Best Free AI Detection Sites
• My Student Was Submitting AI Papers. Here's What I Did

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Meaning of freedom: County students win American Legion Essay Contest

Warren Area Elementary Center American Legion essay contest winners include, from left, Grayson Zale (third grade, third place), Elizabeth Rockwell (third grade, second place), Lennox Wagner (third grade, first place), Lilly Flick (fourth grade, first place), Alex Lent (fourth grade, second place) and Sidney Arnold (fourth trade, third place). Also in the photo are, at left, Pam Colvin, American Legion Contest Coordinator for Warren, and, right, Rebecca Downey, enrichment instructor.

That was the prompt for this year’s American Legion Americanism Essay Contest.

Students across Warren County did the rest.

“Winners were selected from essay submissions from the various classes or age bands from each region in the county,” Rebecca Downey, enrichment instructor, explained.

The top three winners in each school received a monetary prize and have their essay now to go to the state competition.

Photos provided to the Times Observer Cailee Williams, a student at Eisenhower Elementary School, was first place at her school in the American Legion essay contest.

“Freedom means you can do what you want, when you want, and how you want to do it,” Cailee Williams, an Eisenhower Elementary student wrote. “Abusing these freedoms can lead to consequences. Even though there are consequences for every choice you make, having the ability to choose is what makes freedom so important to me.”

“Freedom is the basic source of happiness as every other thing will reach us only if we have the liberty to do things,” Lilly Flick, a fourth-grader at Warren Area Elementary Center explained. “Freedom gives you the opportunity to take risks, make mistakes, learn from them, and improve your skills.

“Freedom to protect people who protect us is also important,” Lennox Wagner, a WAEC third-grader wrote. “No one should be a slave to anyone. It is OK to work hard and have a boss, as long as you are being paid.”

“I was born and raised almost my whole life in Ukraine, but almost two years ago war started once again,” Sasha Komina, who took first at Beaty-Warren Middle School, wrote. “In some cities people were harmfully forced to leave our country, and go to Russian territory. If they didn’t leave, they would harm and kill those innocent people.

“At the moment, our country is fighting for our freedom. If we don’t fight, Russia would have taken over our country and they would control us. Russia has different opinions and rules than us that we don’t agree with, and if they would take over our country we would have no freedom (of) speech, no freedom of doing something or anything.”

“I want people to know what’s happening,” she added, “because not any of the innocent people that just wanted to live a peaceful life deserve any of this.”

According to the American Legion Auxiliary, the American Essay Contest was created to “teach students the value of patriotism and what it means to be Americans. Thousands of students participate in the program each year and help promote a lifelong respect of our flag and country.”

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How to write better ChatGPT prompts in 5 steps

ChatGPT is the generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool that's taken the world by storm. While there's always the possibility it will simply make stuff up , there's a lot you can do when crafting prompts to ensure the best possible outcome. That's what we'll be exploring in this how-to.

In this article, we'll show you how to write prompts that encourage the large language model (LLM) that powers  ChatGPT to provide the best possible answers. 

Also: Have 10 hours? IBM will train you in AI fundamentals - for free

Writing effective prompts, known as prompt engineering, has even become its own highly-paid discipline . Who knows? These tips could help you build the skills to become one of those highly paid prompt engineers. Apparently, these gigs can pay from $175,000 to $335,000 per year.  

How to write effective ChatGPT prompts

1. talk to the ai like you would a person.

One of the more interesting things I had to get used to when working with ChatGPT is that you don't program it, you talk to it. As a formally trained programmer, I've had to leave a lot of habits by the wayside when engaging with AI. Talking to it (and with it) requires a mindset shift.

When I say talk to it like a person, I mean talk to it like you would a co-worker or team member. If that's hard to do, give it a name. Alexa is taken, so maybe think of it as "Bob". This naming helps because when you talk to Bob, you might include conversational details, little anecdotes that give your story texture.

Also:   How to use ChatGPT to write code

When talking to a person, it would be natural for them to miss your point initially and require clarification, or veer away from the topic at hand and need to be wrangled back. You might need to fill in the backstory for them, or restate complex questions based on the answers they give you. 

This is called interactive prompting. Don't be afraid to ask multi-step questions: ask, get a response, and based on that response, ask another question. I've done this myself, sometimes 10 or 20 times in a row, and gotten very powerful results. Think of this as having a conversation with ChatGPT.

2. Set the stage and provide context

Writing a ChatGPT prompt is more than just asking a one-sentence question. It often involves providing relevant background information to set the context of the query.

Let's say that you want to prepare for a marathon (for the record, I do not run, dance, or jump -- this is merely an example). You could ask ChatGPT:

How can I prepare for a marathon?

However, you'll get a far more nuanced answer if you add that you're training for your first marathon. Try this instead: 

I am a beginner runner and have never run a marathon before, but I want to complete one in six months. How can I prepare for a marathon?

By giving the AI more information, you're helping it return a more focused answer. Even with ChatGPT's help, there's no way I'm going to run a marathon (unless I'm doing it with a V-Twin motor under my seat). Here are two more examples of questions that provide context:

I am planning to travel to Spain in a few months and would like to learn some basic Spanish to help me communicate with local residents. I am looking for online resources that are suitable for beginners and provide a structured and comprehensive approach to learning the language. Can you recommend some online resources for learning Spanish as a beginner?

In this case, rather than just asking about learning resources, the context helps focus the AI on learning how to communicate on the ground with local residents. Here's another example: 

I am a business owner interested in exploring how blockchain technology can be used to improve supply chain efficiency and transparency. I am looking for a clear and concise explanation of the technology and examples of how it has been used in the context of supply chain management. Can you explain the concept of blockchain technology and its potential applications in supply chain management?

In this example, rather than just asking for information on blockchain and how it works, the focus is specifically on blockchain for supply chain efficiency and how it might be used in a real-world scenario. 

Also:  How to use Image Creator from Microsoft Designer (formerly Bing Image Creator) Lastly, let's get into how to construct a detailed prompt. 

One note: I limit the answer to 500 words because ChatGPT seems to break when asked to produce somewhere between 500 and 700 words, leaving stories mid-sentence and not resuming properly when asked to continue. I hope future versions provide longer answers, because premises like this can generate fun story beginnings: 

Write a short story for me, no more than 500 words. The story takes place in 2339, in Boston. The entire story takes place inside a Victorian-style bookstore that wouldn't be out of place in Diagon Alley. Inside the store are the following characters, all human: The proprietor: make this person interesting and a bit unusual, give them a name and at least one skill or characteristic that influences their backstory and possibly influences the entire short story. The helper: this is a clerk in the store. His name is Todd. The customer and his friend: Two customers came into the store together, Jackson and Ophelia. Jackson is dressed as if he's going to a Steampunk convention, while Ophelia is clearly coming home from her day working in a professional office. Another customer is Evangeline, a regular customer in the store, in her mid-40s. Yet another customer is Archibald, a man who could be anywhere from 40 to 70 years old. He has a mysterious air about himself and seems both somewhat grandiose and secretive. There is something about Archibald that makes the others uncomfortable. A typical concept in retail sales is that there's always more inventory "in the back," where there's a storeroom for additional goods that might not be shown on the shelves where customers browse. The premise of this story is that there is something very unusual about this store's "in the back." Put it all together and tell something compelling and fun.

You can see how the detail provides more for the AI to work with. First, feed "Write me a story about a bookstore" into ChatGPT and see what it gives you. Then feed in the above prompt and you'll see the difference.

3. Tell the AI to assume an identity or profession

One of ChatGPT's coolest features is that it can write from the point of view of a specific person or profession. In a previous article, I showed how you can make ChatGPT write like a pirate or Shakespeare , but you can also have it write like a teacher, a marketing executive, a fiction writer -- anyone you want. 

Also: How ChatGPT can rewrite and improve your existing code  

For example, I can ask ChatGPT to describe the Amazon Echo smart home device, but to do so from the point of view of a product manager, a caregiver, and a journalist in three separate prompts: 

From the point of view of its product manager, describe the Amazon Echo Alexa device. From the point of view of an adult child caring for an elderly parent, describe the Amazon Echo Alexa device. From the point of view of a journalist, describe the Amazon Echo Alexa device.

Try dropping these three prompts into ChatGPT to see its complete response. 

I've pulled a few lines from ChatGPT's responses, so you can see how it interprets different perspectives.  From the product manager identity:  I can confidently say that this is one of the most innovative and revolutionary products in the smart home industry.

From the caregiver identity:  The device's ability to set reminders and alarms can be particularly helpful for elderly individuals who may have trouble remembering to take their medication or attend appointments.

Also:   5 ways to explore the use of generative AI at work

And from the journalist identity:  From a journalistic perspective, the Echo has made headlines due to privacy concerns surrounding the collection and storage of user data.

You can see how different identities allow the AI to provide different perspectives as part of its response. To expand this, you can let the AI do a thought experiment. Let's look at some of the issues that went into the creation of something like Alexa:

The year is 2012. Siri has been out for the iPhone for about a year, but nothing like an Alexa smart home device has been released. The scene is an Amazon board meeting where the Echo smart assistant based on Alexa has just been proposed.  Provide the arguments, pro and con, that board members at that meeting would have been likely to discuss as part of their process of deciding whether or not to approve spending to invest in developing the device.  Feel free to also include participation by engineering design experts and product champions, if that provides more comprehensive perspective.

It's also good to know that making minor changes to your prompts can significantly change ChatGPT's response. For example, when I changed the phrase, "Provide the arguments, pro and con, that..." to "Provide the pro and con arguments as dialogue, that...," ChatGPT rewrote its answer, switching from a list of enumerated pros and cons to an actual dialogue between participants.

4. Keep ChatGPT on track

As mentioned above, ChatGPT has a tendency to go off the rails, lose track of the discussion, or completely fabricate answers. 

There are a few techniques you can use to help keep it on track and honest.

One of my favorite things to do is ask ChatGPT to justify its responses. I'll use phrases like "Why do you think that?" or "What evidence supports your answer?" Often, the AI will simply apologize for making stuff up and come back with a new answer. Other times, it might give you some useful information about its reasoning path. In any case, don't forget to apply the tips I provide for having ChatGPT cite sources .

Also:  My two favorite ChatGPT Plus features and the remarkable things I can do with them

If you have a fairly long conversation with ChatGPT, you'll start to notice that the AI loses the thread. Not that that's unique to AIs -- even in extended conversations with humans, someone is bound to get lost. That said, you can gently guide the AI back on track by reminding it what the topic is, as well as what you're trying to explore.

5. Don't be afraid to play and experiment

One of the best ways to up your skill at this craft is to play around with what the chatbot can do.

Try feeding ChatGPT a variety of interesting prompts to see what it will do with them. Then change them up and see what happens. Here are five to get you started:

• Imagine you are a raindrop falling from the sky during a thunderstorm. Describe your journey from the moment you form in the cloud to the moment you hit the ground. What do you see, feel, and experience?
• You are a toy that has been left behind in an attic for decades. Narrate your feelings, memories of playtimes past, and your hopes of being rediscovered.
• Write the final diary entry of a time traveler who has decided to settle down in a specific era, explaining why they chose that time and what they've learned from their travels.
• Imagine a dialogue between two unlikely objects, like a teacup and a wristwatch, discussing the daily routines and challenges they face.
• Describe a day in an ant colony from the perspective of an ant. Dive deep into the politics, challenges, and social structures of the ant world.

Pay attention not only to what the AI generates, but how it generates what it does, what mistakes it makes, and where it seems to run into limits. All of that detail will help you expand your prompting horizons.

More prompt-writing tips 

• Feel free to re-ask the question. ChatGPT will often change its answer with each ask.
• Make small changes to your prompts to guide it into giving you a better answer.
• ChatGPT will retain its awareness of previous conversations as long as the current page is open. If you leave that page, it will lose awareness. To be clear, ChatGPT will also sometimes lose the thread of the conversation without reason, so be aware you may need to start over from time to time.
• Similarly, opening a new page will start the discussion with fresh responses.
• Be sure to specify the length of the response you want. Answers over about 500 words sometimes break down. 
• You can correct and clarify prompts based on how the AI answered previously. If it's misinterpreting you, you may be able to just tell it what it missed and continue.
• Rephrase questions if ChatGPT doesn't want to answer what you're asking. Use personas to elicit answers that it might not otherwise want to give.
• If you want sources cited , tell it to support or justify its answers.
• ChatGPT custom instructions are now available to free users. You can  give ChatGPT a set of prompts that are always available , so you don't have to retype them.
• Keep experimenting.
• Consider getting the ChatGPT Plus subscription . You can then use your own data for powerful analytics . You can also pull data from the Web . 
• Try asking the same question of Gemini  (formerly Bard) or Copilot (formerly Bing Chat). Both will interpret your prompts differently and answer differently. This is effectively getting a second opinion on your prompt, and can give you alternate perspectives.
• Ask for examples. If you want to see how well ChatGPT understands what you're asking for, ask it "Can you give me three examples of how that works?" or similar questions.
• Ask it to repeat parts of your original requests back to you. For example, if you feed it an article to analyze, you can tell it something like, "Just to be sure you understand, please echo back the first three headlines," or "I want to be sure you understand what I mean, so summarize the main conflict discussed in this article." 
• Sometimes ChatGPT just fails. Keep trying, but also be willing to give up and move on to other tools. It's not perfect...yet.

What type of prompts work best with ChatGPT? 

Part of what makes ChatGPT so compelling is you can ask it almost anything. That said, keep in mind that it's designed to provide written answers. If you want a list of websites, you're better off talking to Google. 

Also:  How to use DALL-E 3 in ChatGPT

If you want some form of computation, talk to Wolfram Alpha . Give ChatGPT open-ended prompts, encourage creativity, and don't be afraid to share personal experiences or emotions. Plus, keep in mind that the AI's knowledge ends in 2021  for ChatGPT 3.5 and December 2023 for ChatGPT 4 in ChatGPT Plus.

How can I adjust the complexity of ChatGPT responses?

You can directly specify the complexity level by including it in your prompt. Add "... at a high school level" or "... at a level intended for a Ph.D. to understand" to the end of your question. You can also increase complexity of output by increasing the richness of your input. The more you provide in your prompt, the more detailed and nuanced ChatGPT's response will be. You can also include other specific instructions, like "Give me a summary," "Explain in detail," or "Provide a technical description."

Also:  How does ChatGPT actually work?

You can also pre-define profiles. For example, you could say "When evaluating something for a manager, assume an individual with a four-year business college education, a lack of detailed technical understanding, and a fairly limited attention span, who likes to get answers that are clear and concise. When evaluating something for a programmer, assume considerable technical knowledge, an enjoyment of geek and science fiction references, and a desire for a complete answer. Accuracy is deeply important to programmers, so double-check your work."

If you ask ChatGPT to "explain C++ to a manager" and "explain C++ to a programmer," you'll see how the responses differ.

What do I do if ChatGPT refuses to answer or I don't like its answer? 

There are some guardrails built into ChatGPT. It tends to shut down if you ask it political questions, for example. That's what's built into the system. While you might be able to tease out an answer, it's probably not going to provide great value. That said, feel free to keep trying with different phrasing or perspectives. 

You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to subscribe to my weekly update newsletter on Substack , and follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz , on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz , on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz , and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV .

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What Is a Prompt Pattern?

Learn about prompt patterns as a tool within prompt engineering to create reusable prompts when interacting with LLMs.

Prompt patterns are an aspect of prompt engineering designed to elicit your desired response from a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT. Prompt patterns allow for the advent of prompt engineering, a growing field in interacting with and getting results from LLMs. Any text input to an LLM is a prompt, and the LLM produces a response based on how the LLM is trained. However, a prompt pattern is a strategic positioning of language and intent in the prompt to guide the LLM to more accurate results. 

Discover more about prompt patterns, including the different types, prompt pattern examples, their uses, who uses them, their pros and cons, and how you can get started in prompting. 

Types of prompt patterns

Prompt patterns take any shape needed by the user of an LLM. Some patterns to solve typical LLM problems include:

Input semantics

Output customization

Error identification

Prompt improvement

Context control

Let’s look at each type with a prompt pattern example using ChatGPT. 

1. Input semantics

The input semantics is a type of prompt pattern that involves how the LLM understands and translates natural language. This pattern defines natural language terms into language the LLM better understands. An example of this prompt pattern uses variables for certain terms to help the LLM understand the logic of the argument and help you express your questions in specific terms. 

Below is an example of an input semantics prompt pattern called the meta language creation pattern:

Prompt: Whenever I use p → q, I am referring to a logical statement that if p happens then q happens. For example, if the logic is p → q, and p = It is thundering and q = It is lightning, what does that statement mean?

Prompt pattern: Whenever I use “blank variable” I am referring to “the definition of this variable.” Answer this question using “blank variable.”

2. Output customization

With output customization, you use your prompt pattern to have the LLM focus its output response in a specific way you desire. This allows you to specify the kind of voice, template, graph, or any other desired output for the LLM to give. This involves using clear instructions on how you would like the LLM to answer your question.

Below is an example of an output customization prompt pattern called the persona pattern: 

Prompt: You are a Python programmer. Only answer my question using Python code. Can you write a Python script that organizes all files into one folder labeled "Everything" on the desktop of a computer using a MacOS with detailed instructions on what each line of code is doing?

Prompt pattern: You are “role.” Only answer my questions using/doing “what role uses or how they perform their role.” (Input question or task). 

3. Error identification

LLMs sometimes produce hallucinations which are factual errors, mathematical errors, or repetitive undesired outcomes. A prompt pattern can help the LLM review its steps and fact-check itself. 

Below is an example of an error identification prompt pattern called the fact checklist pattern:

Prompt: Whenever you output an answer, generate a set of facts the answer depends on that need to be fact-checked. List this set of facts with citations after the output. How do neural networks work? Only include facts about the working of neural networks. 

Prompt pattern: Whenever you output an answer, generate a set of facts the answer depends on that need to be fact-checked. List this set of facts with citations after the output. “User question”. Only include facts about “user subject.”

4. Prompt improvement

A prompt improvement pattern builds in ways for the LLM to recommend improvements to the prompt to produce more specific answers. This can include the production of further questions, a more detailed and specific question, and the rewording of the original question to a form that produces an answer. 

Below is an example of a prompt improvement pattern called the alternative approaches pattern:

Prompt: I want to start a business. Every time I ask about the business's logistics suggest an alternative question for me to ask about the logistics of the business. Then, show me the advantages and disadvantages of the logistics with a list of cost, efficiency, and time of both my original question and your alternative question. After, ask me which approach I want to continue using. 

Prompt pattern: Whenever I ask about “this subject” do this. Also, ask alternative questions to this “this subject.” Then, show me the advantages and disadvantages of “each result” about my original question and your alternative question. After, ask me which approach I want to continue using. 

5. Context control

Context control uses a prompt pattern that defines the context within which the LLM outputs a response. This pattern tells it what to consider, within certain bounds, and what to ignore to generate a specific answer. These can include any kind of information within the context of your question. 

Below is an example of a context control prompt pattern called the context manager pattern:

Prompt: Please recommend ideas for a social media post about a software business, but only about machine learning. Consider neural networks, deep learning, and natural language processing. Ignore ideas that are too technical and just focus on selling these processes to customers. 

Prompt pattern: Please include “blank.” Consider “these aspects of blank.” Ignore “this aspect of blank.”

What are prompt patterns used for?

Prompt patterns leverage LLMs' capabilities to produce the results you want from them. They create a form and structure that impacts the accuracy of LLM results, saving you time and achieving better outcomes. Prompt patterns work in one aspect of prompt engineering , which functions as programming for interacting with LLMs.  

Who uses prompt patterns?

Anyone interacting with LLMs and generative AI benefits from using prompt patterns to obtain accurate results. This also includes those working in digital media, social media, and business who interact with LLMs for research, brainstorming, and content creation. Health care workers can also use prompt patterns to help make decisions, automate administrative tasks, communicate with patients, research and diagnose, and train. 

Prompt engineers work specifically with prompting patterns to help businesses and organizations interact with LLMs and AI most effectively and efficiently. According to Glassdoor, prompt engineers in the US earn an average annual salary of $105,282 [ 1 ]. Prompt engineers create ways to maximize usage with LLMs and have critical skills in natural language processing, how AIs work, and how to craft human language for translation by the LLM.

Read more: How to Become a Prompt Engineer: Skills You Need + Steps to Take

Pros and cons of using prompt patterns

Prompt engineering is a growing field that is rapidly changing. Because of this, it has a set of pros and cons. Let’s take a look at both its benefits and limitations. 

One of prompt engineering's biggest pros is its ability to produce accurate information from an LLM efficiently. Here are some additional advantages of prompt engineering:

It's a fast way to test whether an LLM responds well to a specific prompt. You can try many kinds of prompt patterns and find which ones best suit your work.

Prompt engineering improves user experience with LLMs by having you get to solutions quicker.

Effective prompt patterns scale easily within an organization to save time and resources over and over.

One of the biggest drawbacks of prompt engineering is that it requires a basic understanding of how LLMs work in order to create your own prompt patterns. However, you can use ready-made prompt patterns to start. Additionally, if you pay for an LLM like GPT-4 or another program, the cost of tokens increases based on the amount used in each input and output. Most free-to-use chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Copilot have a cap on how many tokens you can input, which decreases the number of examples, questions, and patterns you can put into one input, limiting lengthy experiments and prompt patterns.

How to get started in prompting

Prompt patterns are an effective tool for reusing prompt engineering techniques repeatedly to save time and create efficient, accurate responses. To start using prompt patterns, try some of the examples in this article or start developing your own based on your specific needs. Here are some steps you can take to develop a prompt pattern:

Create a goal or problem you want to answer using an LLM of your choice. 

Learn how that specific LLM works and what its strengths and weaknesses are to best craft your prompts. 

Use prompt engineering techniques or existing prompt patterns to give the LLM initial input questions. 

Interpret its responses and incorporate what you learned to improve the prompt pattern. Ask it further questions or use other prompt pattern techniques like examples, correcting its mistakes, or how you can improve the prompt.

After the prompt pattern reaches your desired effectiveness, store it as a template to reuse for similar problems in the future. 

Getting started with Coursera

To further improve your prompting skills or to develop in-demand skills as a prompt engineer, consider taking online courses. Explore the Generative AI for Everyone course from DeepLearning.AI to learn basic prompt engineering skills. Or try the Prompt Engineering Specialization from Vanderbilt University for an in-depth look at prompt engineering, both found on Coursera.  Upon completion of either courses, gain a shareable Professional Certificate to include in your resume, CV, or LinkedIn profile.

Article sources

Glassdoor. “ How much does a Prompt Engineer make? https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/us-prompt-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,2_IN1_KO3,18.htm.” Accessed April 14, 2024. 

Keep reading

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Editorial Team

Coursera’s editorial team is comprised of highly experienced professional editors, writers, and fact...

This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.

What Is Prompt Engineering? Definition, Elements, Techniques, Applications, and Benefits

Prompt engineering is the process of giving instructions to a generative AI to produce requested results. From content generation to code generation, prompt engineering offers endless possibilities. Explore the latest innovations in prompt engineering and discover how it is shaping the future of AI.

• Prompt engineering is the process of giving instructions to a generative AI to produce requested results.
• From content generation to code generation, prompt engineering offers endless possibilities.
• This article discusses the latest innovations in prompt engineering and how it is shaping the future of AI. Further, it discusses the key elements, techniques, and applications of prompt engineering.

Table of Contents

What is prompt engineering, elements of prompt engineering, prompt engineering techniques.

• Applications of Prompt Engineering

Benefits and Limitations of Prompt Engineering

In today’s digital era, technology has reached another milestone, and how we engage with it keeps evolving. One of the most recent innovations has occurred in artificial intelligence (AI), whereby machines are taught to think, learn, and even communicate like humans.

Among several developments, such as generative AI, lies a quiet trend that is emerging called prompt engineering.

Consider an instance: If you talk to a machine and ask it to create a cue or a “prompt,” it will respond with appropriate information or actions; that’s called prompt engineering.

It is about asking the right questions or giving instructions to large language models (LLMs) and other AI models, resulting in specific outputs. Prompt engineering knowledge is vital whether one is an enthusiast excited about AI trends or an expert seeking to leverage language models.

This article explains some technical details of prompt engineering and provides insights into why it matters within the broader field of AI.

Prompt engineering is the process of giving instructions to a generative AI to help produce requested results. Although generative AI tries to copy humans, it needs precise directions to produce high-quality and relevant output. In prompt engineering, you select the correct formats, phrases, words, and signs that help AI interact more meaningfully with users. Prompt engineers apply their imagination through trial and error by creating a pool of input texts to operate an application’s generative AI effectively.

What is a prompt?

A prompt is a text in the natural language used to train the generative AI on the specific task at hand to be executed. Generative AI , which utilizes large machine learning models, creates various content, including stories, conversations, videos, images, and music.

The AI models are exceedingly multi-functional, and they serve functions such as summarizing documents, completing sentences, answering questions, and translating from one language to another based on what they have been exposed to during training. However, the models require context and better and more information to make sound and meaningful output and minimize inaccuracies.

Correspondingly, prompt engineering describes creating and refining prompts to ensure the AI generates usable and meaningful content. Upon reinterpretation, the cycle ensures that the AI models respond appropriately to a wide range of user input. Ultimately, it may help strengthen the customer experience .

Why is prompt engineering important?

Prompt engineering jobs have recently increased significantly due to AI advancements. Prompt engineers link the gap between your end users and the LLM. They identify scripts and templates your users can customize and complete to receive the best results from the language models. These engineers conduct experiments using diverse inputs to construct a prompt library that application developers can utilize in different situations.

Prompt engineering helps make AI applications more efficient and effective. Application developers typically include open-ended user input within a prompt before sending it to the AI model.

For instance, think about AI chatbots. Users might type an incomplete issue like, “Where to buy a shirt?” Internally, the application’s code incorporates an engineered prompt saying, “You function as a sales assistant for a clothing company. A user from Alabama is asking you where they can purchase a shirt. Provide the three closest store locations with a shirt in stock.” The chatbot then generates more relevant and accurate information.

See more: Top Three LLMs Compared: GPT-4 Turbo vs. Claude 3 Opus vs. Gemini 1.5 Pro

Prompt engineering is a generative method of instructing AI systems to provide coherent and contextually relevant responses in diverse applications. Fundamentally, prompt engineering dictates the process of crafting prompts that efficiently convey the task or query to be executed by the AI model. The following are the main components of prompt engineering that work together to improve AI interactions.

A role denotes the position where the prompt assumes an individual, which helps the AI create a response relevant to that persona.

An example could be, “Technical support specialist: A customer has inquired about how to troubleshoot software issues.”

Using the term “technical support specialist” allows the AI to create a response in a technical tone appropriate for customer support.

2. Instruction/Task

This refers to a clear outline of what specific action or response the AI is expected to generate.

For example, “Compose a product description for a new smartphone model that captures both key features and benefits”  is a prompt asking the AI to generate a product description that mainly emphasizes the features and benefits, leading the response in a marketing-oriented direction.

3. Questions

A question is a way of asking the AI to offer more information or provide answers in a particular area, keeping in mind its focus and restricting its feedback.

An example is “What are the risks of a high-sodium diet?”

In this case, the question implies that the AI is supposed to inform the user about the health dangers caused by consuming too much salt.

Adding further contextual information helps adapt the AI-generated response to the relevant scenario, enhancing the material’s relevance and accuracy.

By way of illustration, when given a prompt such as “With the patient’s medical history provided below, outline potential treatment approaches for this condition,” the AI can respond with suggestions specific to the actual patient’s health based on the medical history as context.

An effective learning strategy can be adding examples to the prompts, which further attracts the AI’s attention and sets clear expectations for the type of information required.

For instance, the prompt the author offers is, “Given the beginning and ending of a story, fill in the narrative with plot details and character development.”

The AI is provided with a readymade story structure that needs to be filled out and is likely to offer the sequence that aligns the most with the writing pattern offered.

Integrating these elements into prompts enables prompt engineers to accurately convey the intended task or query to AI models. Eventually, this results in more accurate, relevant, and contextually fitting responses, thus improving the usability and effectiveness of AI text generation systems in different applications and domains.

See more: New Aberdeen Research: AI & The Future Workplace

The field of prompt engineering is at the intersection of linguistic skills and creativity in refining prompts intended for use with generative AI tools. However, prompt engineers also use certain techniques to “manage” the natural-language processing capability of AI models. Here are a few of them.

1. Chain-of-thought-prompting

Chain-of-thought prompting is an AI technique that allows complex questions or problems to be broken down into smaller parts. This technique is based on how humans approach a problem—they analyze it, with each part investigated one at a time. When the question is broken into smaller segments, the artificial intelligence model can analyze the problem more thoroughly and give a more accurate answer.

For example, given a question: “How does climate change affect biodiversity?” Instead of directly providing an answer, an AI model that uses chain-of-thought prompting would break the question into three components or subproblems. The subproblems might include:

• Effect of climate change on temperature
• Effect of temperature on habitat and
• Destruction of habitat

Then, the model starts analyzing and investigating how the changed climate affects temperature, how temperature change affects habitat, and how the destruction of a habitat affects biodiversity.

This approach allows the model to address each part of the issue and give a more detailed answer to the initial question of the influence of climate change on biodiversity.

2. Tree-of-thought prompting

Tree-of-thought prompting builds upon chain-of-thought prompting. It expands on it by asking the model to generate possible next steps and elaborate on each using a tree search method. For instance, if asked, “What are the effects of climate change?” the model would generate possible next steps like listing environmental and social effects and further elaborating on each.

3. Maieutic prompting

Maieutic prompting is a technique used to make models explain how they came to give a particular response, reason, or answer. In this case, one first prompts the model, asking why they gave a particular answer before subsequently asking them to talk more about the first answer. The essence of repetitive questioning is to ensure that the model provides better responses to complex reasoning questions through enhanced understanding.

For instance, consider the question, “Why is renewable energy important?” With maieutic prompting, the AI model would simply say renewable energy is important because it reduces greenhouse gases. The subsequent prompt would then promote the model to talk more about given aspects of the response. For instance, the prompt might direct the model to talk more about how wind and solar power will replace fossil fuels and rid the world of climate change. As a result, the AI model develops a better understanding and provides better future findings and responses on the importance of renewable energy.

4. Complexity-based prompting

This method involves performing chain-of-thought rollouts and selecting the rollouts with the most extended chains of thought. For instance, in solving a complex math problem, the model would consider rollouts with the most calculation steps to reach a common conclusion.

5. Generated knowledge prompting

This method advises the model to source the explicit information required before creating the content. This implies the content developed is knowledgeable and of higher quality. For example, if a user would like to create a presentation covering the topic of renewable sources, they could prompt the model by implying, “Make a presentation about renewable sources.” The following two explicit facts should be noted: “Solar power frees us from throwaway fossil fuels” and “Solar power lowers the demand for mostly coal-fired power plants that produce our electricity.” Finally, the model could make up an argument for how beneficial it would be for humanity to switch to renewable sources.

See more: Prioritizing Profitability and Sustainability in Manufacturing with AI

6. Least-to-most prompting

Using the least-to-most prompting technique, the model will list the subproblems involved in solving a given task. Then, the model solves the subproblems in a sequence to ensure that every subsequent step uses the solutions to the previous ones. For example, a user may prompt the model using the following cooking-themed least-to-most example: a user says to the model, “Bake a cake for me.” Hence, the model’s first output would include the subproblems “preheat the oven” and “mix the ingredients.” The model would need to ensure that the cake is baked.

7. Self-refine prompting

Self-refine or self-consistent prompting involves listing subproblems of a problem and solving them in sequence related to the top-up. It consists of solving a problem, criticizing it, and solving the criticized solution by considering the problem and the critique. When asked to write an essay, it writes before criticizing that it has no prevalence of explicit examples and thus writes.

8. Directional-stimulus prompting

Directional-stimulus prompting includes directing what the models should write. For example, if I ask the model to write a poem about love, I will suggest including “heart,” “passion,” and “eternal.” These provisions help the model produce favorable outputs from various tasks and domains.

9. Zero-shot prompting

Zero-shot prompting represents a game-changer for natural language processing (NLP) as it allows AI models to create answers without training based on the data or a set of examples. At that, zero-shot prompting does stand out from the traditional ways to address this issue, as the system can draw from existing knowledge and relationships based on data it already has, being encoded in its parameters.

A classic example includes a large language model trained on various uploaded texts to the internet but with no specific preparation on medical topics. When the model is prompted with the phrase “What are the symptoms of COVID-19?” through zero-shot prompting, it recognizes the structure and context of the issue. It retrieves a question based on its understanding of related subjects it has seen while training.

While the system was never explicitly told about the disease, it accurately lists its symptoms, such as fever, cough, and loss of taste and smell, due to the method showcasing the model’s generalizing and adaptable nature. Zero-shot prompting is a cutting-edge breakthrough in NLP that can drive machine capabilities to efficiently and effectively solve language tasks regardless of task or data.

10. Active prompt

Active prompt represents a novel prompt engineering approach that allows dynamically modulating prompts based on responsive feedback or user interaction. Unlike previous prompt styles, which were static, the active prompt allows AI models to adjust and modify their responses throughout the interaction procedure. Active prompt, for example, could power a chatbot to help customers troubleshoot sophisticated technical problems.

For example, the chatbot will check in real time if a particular prompt generated a valuable answer based on the consumer’s following reply. If this prompt inexplicably confuses or aggravates the user, the chatbot can adapt the ask-it-this-way strategy in dynamic real time to add more explanation, for example, or propose another solution. As a result, the chatbot can learn to identify which kinds of prompts do not perform well solely on insights from individual users.

Active prompting illustrates the flexible character of prompt engineering, where prompts must change and improve on the fly to match consumers’ current experiences. As AI continues to improve, active prompting could also be a future principle.

See more: Why GenAI Image Tools Have Created A New Demand For Authenticity

Application of prompt Engineering

Prompt engineering serves as a pivotal tool in guiding AI systems to generate coherent and contextually relevant responses across a wide range of applications. Here are some diverse applications where prompt engineering plays a transformative role.

1. Content generation

Prompt engineering is extensively employed in content generation tasks, including writing articles, generating product descriptions, and composing social media posts. By crafting tailored prompts, content creators can guide AI models to produce engaging and informative content that resonates with the target audience.

2. Language translation

Prompt engineering is a valuable tool for accurate and contextually relevant language translation between different languages. Translators can direct AI models to produce translations that capture the finer points and intricacies of the original text, leading to excellent-quality translations by giving specific instructions.

3. Text summarization

Prompt engineering is instrumental in text summarization tasks, where lengthy documents or articles must be condensed into concise and informative summaries. By crafting prompts that specify the desired summary length and key points, prompt engineers can guide AI models to generate summaries that capture the essence of the original text.

4. Dialogue systems

Dialogue systems like chatbots and virtual assistants rely on prompt engineering to facilitate natural and engaging user interactions. By designing prompts that anticipate user queries and preferences, prompt engineers can guide AI models to generate relevant, coherent, and contextually appropriate responses, enhancing the overall user experience .

5. Information retrieval

In the information retrieval domain, prompt engineering enhances search engines’ capabilities to retrieve relevant and accurate information from vast data repositories. By crafting prompts that specify the desired information and criteria, prompt engineers can guide AI models to generate search results that effectively meet the user’s information needs.

6. Code generation

Prompt engineering is increasingly applied in code generation tasks, where AI models are prompted to generate code snippets, functions, or even entire programs. Prompt engineers can guide AI models to generate code that fulfills the desired functionality by providing clear and specific prompts, thus streamlining software development and automation processes.

7. Educational tools

Prompt engineering is employed in educational tools and platforms to provide personalized learning experiences for students. By designing prompts that cater to individual learning objectives and proficiency levels, prompt engineers can guide AI models to generate educational content, exercises, and assessments tailored to the needs of each student.

8. Creative writing assistance

In creative writing, prompt engineering aids writers in overcoming creative blocks and generating new ideas. By crafting prompts that stimulate imagination and creativity, prompt engineers can guide AI models to generate prompts, story starters, and plot ideas that inspire writers and fuel their creative process.

See more: Getting Real About Gen AI: What You Need to Know

While prompt engineering significantly contributes to improving responses from AI models, it also has a few drawbacks. Here are a few benefits and limitations of prompt engineering.

1. Enhanced control

Prompt engineering fosters user control over AI more than ever by allowing users to control the AI models themselves with prompts. This, in turn, ensures that the most generated content closely matches the user’s needs and expectations. As stated earlier, the same mechanism could be employed with different writing services, including, but not limited to, content generation summarization and translation.

2. Improved relevance

It ensures that churned-out outputs have context and are intended accordingly. This increases the level of practicality and excellence of implemented AI-based text products in different spheres.

3. Increased efficiency

Effective prompts help develop an AI targeted in its approach to text generation through proper direction on specific tasks or topics. This automation is beneficial as it increases efficiency and reduces the need for manual involvement. Hence, time and resources are saved by optimizing the process downstream.

4. Versatility

Prompt engineering approaches can be used across various text generation tasks and domains, making them essential for content generation, language translation, summary, and other broad range of applications.

5. Customization

Prompt engineering is all about creating a suitable basis for the design of AI-driven products, taking into account a customer’s needs, tastes, and targeted group. That is the good side of flexibility, as it facilitates modifying content to fit the person’s particular goals and targets.

Limitations

1. prompt quality reliance.

The output quality heavily depends on the prompts’ quality and precision. Poorly designed prompts may lead to inaccurate or irrelevant AI-generated outputs, thus diminishing the overall quality of results.

2. Domain specificity

Optimal results in prompt engineering may require domain-specific understanding and expertise. Due to insufficient domain know-how, a person may need help producing effective AI model guiding questions, limiting applicability in some domains.

3. Potential bias

Biased prompts or training data can introduce bias into AI-generated outputs, leading to inaccurate or unfair results. To ensure such outcomes are addressed, prompt engineering efforts should be made when designing prompts and choosing data sets.

4. Complexity and iteration

Developing effective prompts involves trial and error, with successive improvements toward the intended goals. This iterative process can take time and resources, especially for complex text generation tasks.

5. Limited scope of control

Prompt engineering allows more control over AI-generated outputs but still does not guarantee 100% avoidance of unwanted consequences.

See more: Separating Fact from Fiction: Generative AI Misconceptions

Prompt engineering presents a revolutionary approach to enhancing the quality of AI text generation. The structured method of prompt development offers a way to develop queries that help the models generate outputs that are more likely to be high-quality and contextually relevant.

Despite present limitations in prompt quality and domain-specificity, current and future research and development endeavors show promise for addressing these limitations and enhancing the effectiveness of prompt engineering methods. Semantic precision and context are predicted to play critical roles in the revolution of artificially intelligent text generation as prompt engineering continues to advance in various applications and fields.

Discoveries from researchers and developers are anticipated to advance AI to the next level. Bias-free and perfectly designed prompts are expected to enhance the nature and quality of the text produced, thus strengthening the researcher’s relationship with language. Prompt engineering, therefore, appears to pave the way for a new kind of communication between people and language.

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Opinion Here’s why Uri Berliner couldn’t stay at NPR

Uri Berliner is offended.

In an April 9 essay in the Free Press, Berliner, who worked at NPR for 25 years, raps his employer for allegedly running a newsroom fueled by progressive sensibilities that seep into a skewed on-air product. Stories on Trump-Russia, Hunter Biden and covid-19 have all suffered from acute NPRitis, he writes. And racial and identity considerations — as well as affinity groups — shape workplace culture.

The essay triggered a bona fide media drama that concluded on Wednesday with Berliner’s resignation. On his way out, he delivered a parting shot at CEO Katherine Maher. “I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new C.E.O. whose divisive views confirm the very problems at NPR I cite in my Free Press essay,” Berliner wrote on X .

Just what had Maher done to deserve such a diss? She had published a statement pushing back against Berliner’s essay : “Questioning whether our people are serving our mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful, and demeaning.” As NPR’s own David Folkenflik reported, Berliner took exception to that commentary.

Which is to say, Berliner is now an expert in disparagement and umbrage. In his Free Press essay, he deplores his colleagues’ “advocacy” and alleges that it had “veered toward efforts to damage or topple [Donald] Trump’s presidency.”

Now that is disparagement. Even in the rough-and-tumble world of journalism, slamming your colleagues for their published work — especially in another outlet — is a rare undertaking. As Berliner suggests in his essay, it was something of a last resort, considering that he had raised his concerns internally to little effect. He invited people to sample NPR’s coverage and “make their own judgment.”

Invitation accepted. Over the past several days, I have sifted through roughly three years’ worth of NPR’s coverage of Russiagate, the effort by federal investigators and the media to discover the truth about the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia. Since NPR’s alleged tilt on this story serves as Exhibit No. 1 in Berliner’s onslaught — and since it’s central to the claim that the network sought to topple Trump — I chose to limit my efforts to this portion of the essay.

And what a portion it is! The NPR Russia-Trump coverage plume under fire from Berliner consists of thousands of articles, podcasts, segments and so on. Berliner links to one . His serious allegations, accordingly, are backed by scant evidence, if any at all. It’s a lazy, summary approach to evaluating a large body of work — a feelings-based critique of the sort that passes for media reporting these days. Too often, essayists write their conclusory broadsides against this or that outlet, confident in the knowledge that their fellow ideological travelers will applaud no matter how threadbare the supporting material.

Berliner’s opus was published by the Free Press , an outlet dedicated to covering stories “ignored or misconstrued in the service of an ideological narrative” — and not by NPR, which requires infinitely greater substantiation for its media reporting, whether the crisis lies in its own newsroom or somewhere else.

The irony there: Berliner has edited many of the stories carrying the byline of Folkenflik, NPR’s media correspondent. He knows better.

Here’s how Berliner supports his conclusions on NPR’s Russia work: Rep. Adam “Schiff, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, became NPR’s guiding hand, its ever-present muse. By my count, NPR hosts interviewed Schiff 25 times about Trump and Russia. During many of those conversations, Schiff alluded to purported evidence of collusion. The Schiff talking points became the drumbeat of NPR news reports.”

Yes, Schiff is a recurring presence in the broadcasts. “Like many broadcast news organizations, NPR interviewed Rep. Schiff often during the Trump administration, as he was a principal figure in the Russian interference investigation — a story we covered with caution and perspective,” says an NPR spokesperson in a statement. “Rep. Schiff’s perspective was only one element of our coverage of the Russian interference story, in no way did he commandeer the reporting of NPR.” According to the spokesperson, NPR did 900 interviews with congressional lawmakers between January 2017 and December 2019 — including Paul Ryan , Jim Jordan , Eric Swalwell and others.

Numbers matter less than the content of those Schiff interviews, which tend toward procedural mishmash, recitation of previously reported revelations and the centrality of oversight. In this interview , Schiff says that if former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort cooperates with authorities, “we could learn a lot more.” In this one , the congressman speaks to his committee’s investigative imperatives: “I think we need to use subpoenas, and we need to stand up and say, we’re going to get the answers here.” In this one , Schiff is asked whether Trump gets “especially agitated” when the topic turns to Russia. “Well, absolutely,” he responds.

Is this the prejudicial poison of which Berliner writes? I asked him to supply instances in which Schiff’s talking points suffused NPR’s independent reporting. After several emails and a phone call, Berliner hasn’t responded with supporting material.

Had NPR wished to addle its lefty audience with suggestive reporting about Trump’s alleged criminality regarding Russia, it had a tool at its disposal. The so-called Steele dossier, published in early January 2017 by BuzzFeed News, contained explosive allegations presented by a former British intelligence officer. Various news outlets and commentators bathed the dossier in credibility it didn’t deserve, as noted in an extensive thread by Drew Holden and a series in this space . Top offenders include McClatchy, which ran stories bolstering the dossier’s claims that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen had traveled to Prague for collusive business; and dossier believer in chief Rachel Maddow of MSNBC, who cheered for the document throughout Russiagate.

NPR’s dossier work was by no means perfect. “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross, for example, occasionally failed to properly smack down dossier boosters during interviews. Yet the outlet was careful to avoid McClatchy’s “scoops” on Cohen and otherwise to cordon off its descriptions of the dossier with police tape. “NPR has never detailed the document because so much of it remains unproved,” reads a 2019 NPR story . The NPR spokesperson said in a statement: “We were not able to find any examples of NPR corroborating unconfirmed elements of the Trump dossier."

As further evidence of his employer’s errant ways, Berliner argues that after the Mueller report found “no credible evidence of collusion, NPR’s coverage was notably sparse. Russiagate quietly faded from our programming.” It’s an immutable law of media physics, of course, that coverage peters out when a story comes to an end. Who, after all, is doing continuing coverage of Abscam these days?

But there’s more flimsiness afoot here. Berliner’s dismissal of Robert S. Mueller III’s findings — technically misguided, because the special counsel’s investigation didn’t apply the “concept of 'collusion’” in its work — leaves the impression that the media’s pursuit of the various Russiagate strands was a fool’s errand. In fact, journalists as well as official investigations documented a spreadsheet’s worth of scandalous activity that didn’t amount to an international conspiracy, in Mueller’s view. Trump will have you believe that the absence of criminality signifies the absence of wrongdoing, a logical atrocity abetted by Berliner’s essay.

Ditching the nitty-gritty, Berliner’s claim of an NPR campaign to “topple” Trump grinds against the measured claims in NPR’s day-to-day coverage. Examples abound. In this segment , NPR correspondents struggle to wrap their heads around the just-released Mueller report. In this one , NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly interviews a former CIA official who presciently shoots down liberal fever dreams related to Russia and Trump. In this piece , published months before the Mueller report, an NPR editor argues that the Russia case is “weakening” and even attributes an “important kernel of truth” to the famous tweet by Trump citing “No Smocking Gun … No Collusion.” This piece highlights Trump’s point of view regarding the Mueller investigation. And this one bears the headline “Trumps Exult Following Reports Of No Phone Contact Ahead Of 2016 Russia Meeting.”

After the Russia experience, writes Berliner, NPR compounded its mistakes by moving on with “no mea culpas, no self-reflection.” By all means, self-reflect — it’s a good step for any news organization after a big story. Presumably, Berliner would have supplied various URLs for such a review, but he didn’t share any with me. After skulking around in the NPR search box, I’d nominate the Gross interviews on the dossier and other pieces that faced challenges or turned out to be inconsistent with other reporting.

With his tendentious claims, however, Berliner doesn’t merely overstep the paltry evidence in his piece. He positions his now-former workplace as a hive of ideologues driven by political outcomes instead of the facts — basically a left-wing analogue to Fox News. That salvo appeared to diminish his appeal as a newsroom collaborator.

NPR, as it turns out, is an analogue to nothing — a sui generis outlet driven by old-fashioned journo-principles, an aversion to offending anyone and a steady propensity to annoy listeners. Surely, it has many things to apologize for, though an on-air campaign to oust a president isn’t among them.

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