Introduction

Since November 2022 Large Language Models (LLMs) or with the name you know AIs started to play a crucial role in our lives. From generating names to doing marketing and much more, LLMs such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek or Gemini, they accomplish our most boring and time consuming tasks for us with ease. What you can accomplish with LLMs or AIs are almost infinite. Especially while the LLMs and AIs getting better and better everyday. Of course, these “magical” things has their own limitations, since they don’t have the human business experiences or true creativity, neither human brain.(at least not for now).  They are simply responding to patterns in the data they trained with and giving us the most possible answers.

While keeping it’s capabilities and limitations in mind, you can use such LLMs or AIs to get things done in minutes. But in order to do that you have to be giving/providing the right prompts. That’s why we have created this little guide for you to learn how to create/craft prompts. Let’s get started.

Importance of Creating/Crafting Effective Prompts

Just like we’ve talked before, these LLMs or AIs are not human neither they are magical. that’s why we as users (more like abusers but nevermind), have to be providing the right prompts to them, as given prompts impacts the quality of the output we receive directly. When provided prompts are well-crafted, we can get the output we needed faster, better, and more accurately from them.

Effective prompts help in several ways:

• Clear communication: By providing well-done prompts, you ensure that the AI or LLM understands your request accurately.
• Saving time and effort: A well-thought prompt can reduce the number of attempts to get the output we needed significantly.
• Unlocking the creativity:  Well-done prompts can inspire the AI to generate unique and creative solutions, tapping into its vast knowledge base and ability to process information.
• Minimizing errors: By offering the necessary context, guidelines and needs, you can minimize the chances of the LLMs or AIs generating irrelevant, factually incorrect or unhelpful responses.

In summary, the importance of crafting effective prompts cannot be overstated, as they play a crucial role in determining the success of your interaction with LLMs or AIs such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini etc. By mastering the art of prompt crafting/creating you can easily unluck the full potential of this powerful, “magical” inventions and use them effectively for wide range of applications.

Understanding Prompts

Before diving into the tips and tricks to craft effective prompts, It’s essential and crucial to understand prompts and why they play a significant role in working with LLMs or AIs.

A. What is a prompt ?

A prompt is a text input provided by the user to the LLM or AI which acts almost as a blueprint to the response that we want from the AI. It can be a question, a statement, an instruction, or any combination of these elements. The purpose of a prompt is to guide the AI or LLM in understanding the context and the our expectations, enabling it to generate a relevant and useful output.

In essence, a prompt acts as a conversation starter or a request for information, giving LLM or AI the necessary guidance to formulate its response. The more specific and clear the prompt, the better the AI can comprehend the user’s intent and produce the desired output.

B. Why are prompts crucial for effective communication with LLMs or AIs ?

Prompts are backbones of effective communication with LLMs or AIs for several reasons:

• Context setting: Prompts set the context for the AI’s response, providing it with the information it needs to generate relevant and accurate output. Without a proper context, the AI may produce responses that are off-topic or fail to address the user’s requirements.
• Defining expectations: Prompts help define our expectations, ensuring that LLM or AI understands the purpose of the task, the level of detail required, and any specific constraints that may apply.
• Channeling creativity: Well-crafted prompts can inspire AI to explore creative solutions and unique perspectives, allowing users to tap into the full potential of LLM’s or AI’s knowledge and language capabilities.
• Reducing ambiguity: Effective prompts minimize ambiguity and prevent miscommunication by clearly stating our intent and desired outcome, reducing the likelihood of receiving unhelpful or irrelevant responses.

Prompts are crucial for effective communication with LLMs and AIs because they act as a guiding force which shapes the AI’s or LLM’s responses, ensuring that the generated output aligns with our needs and expectations.

Tips for crafting Effective Prompts

To get the most out of our interaction with LLMs or AIs, it’s crucial to create prompts that are easy to understand and informative. Also we have to make sure that we’ve stated every little detail that we want from the output in the prompt. Otherwise the output might be lacking crucial details that we need. Let’s examine our little prompt example and then continue with the tips:

Let’s say that we are planning to build a news website and looking for a domain name. Obviously,
we want to use the AI for this boring and time consuming job. After all we’re so lazy and busy to find a good domain name. Before writing the prompt straight away, we have to determine our needs to state them clearly in the prompt. Our needs for this example: Huge amounts of domain names since it’s really hard to find an available domain, the name must be brand-like, the name must be somehow related to news because we are going to build a news website, and lastly we need the generated names to be in a .csv file (excel file) so we can look-up for the available ones in the domain services as bulk.

• In the blue rectangle, we’ve provided the overall task which is to generate something. If we wanted to generate a picture for example we would have used the word “draw” instead of  the word “generate”. Which would’ve been more convenient for the job.
• Inside the red rectangle, we’ve stated the amount “things” that we want it to generate. We could’ve asked for 10, 100 etc.
• In the green rectangle, we’ve given the detail that we want the domain name to be a brand-like name. Did you see the number “1” ? The reason that we used that is to determine the needs of the brand-like name. If we didn’t provided that in the prompt, it could’ve generated something like “ExampleNews”, but since we’ve stated that, the LLM or AI will generate names that are 1 word like; “Example” instead of “ExampleNews”.
• Inside the light blue rectangle, we’ve provided the detail that we gonna be using the generated names for a news website, in order to generated names to be related to news.
• And lastly, in the yellow rectangle we asked the AI or LLM to write those into a .csv file. If we didn’t written that AI or LLM would’ve generated them straight into the chat. Which is something that we don’t want for our example.

In summary here is the overall tips:

1. Be as specific as possible with your request: One of the most important things in creating/crafting an effective prompt is to be as specific as possible with your request.  Clearly outline the information you’re seeking or the task you want the AI to perform. Specificity reduces uncertainty and helps the LLM or AI to understand your requirements, increasing the likelihood of receiving a relevant and useful output.
   For example, if you’re looking for the primary reasons of the climate change, instead of asking, “Tell me about climate change”, you could ask, “What are the primary reasons of climate change”.
2. Provide context and background information: Context is key when communicating with LLMs or AI. Including the relevant background information and context in your prompt allows the AI to better understand the scope and purpose of your request. This can be particularly helpful when dealing with complex subjects or when you want the AI to build upon previously provided information.For instance, if you want to discuss a specific book, providing the title, author, and a brief synopsis can help the AI generate more meaningful and targeted responses.
3. Use explicit constraints and guidelines: When crafting your prompt, it can be helpful to include explicit constraints and guidelines to ensure the AI stays on track and produces the desired output. These constraints can take the form of specifying the response format, word count, or any other requirements relevant to your task.For example, if you need a summary of an article, you could say, “Please provide a summary of the following article in 100-150 words, focusing on the main points and conclusions.”
4. Experiment with various phrasings and approaches: If you’re not receiving the desired output from the LLM or AI, don’t be afraid to experiment with different phrasings and approaches. Sometimes, rephrasing your prompt or adjusting its structure can lead to better results. Additionally, trying multiple approaches can help you understand the nuances of how LLM or AI interprets and responds to different types of prompts.
   For example, if asking a question doesn’t yield the desired response, you could try framing it as a statement or instruction, like “Explain the process of photosynthesis in simple terms” instead of “What is photosynthesis?” By incorporating these tips into your prompt crafting/creating process, you can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your communication with the LLM or AI, resulting in more accurate, relevant, and insightful responses.
5. Avoid the unnecessary: Avoid using unnecessary words when creating/crafting prompts. This will allow you to avoid misunderstandings and misdirections greatly. Keep your prompts direct and to the point, ensuring the clarity for both the LLM or AI and you.
   Overcomplicating a prompt with unnecessary words and details, will greatly decrease the chance of getting an accurate output from the AI or LLM.

Advanced Tricks and Techniques

Once you’ve mastered the basics of prompt crafting, you can enhance your interaction with LLMs or AIs by implementing advanced tricks and techniques. These strategies can help you in certain situations and extract even more value from the AI or LLM, unlocking it’s full potential.

• System message for context setting: Using a system message at the beginning of your conversation can help set the context for the rest of the interaction. This approach is useful when working with multi-turn conversations, as it allows you to establish the foundation for the discussion without having to repeat yourself and the context over and over again. Let’s examine our next example like we did in the previous one. In the yellow rectangle, we’ve told ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini or whatever you providing the prompt to what it has to “act” like. Inside the green rectangle we’ve explained the LLM or AI what it’s going to be facing with, which is Linux operating system questions in this example. And lastly in the blue rectangle we’ve explained what and how should LLM or AI do when the question is asked. Simple right?

• Step-by-step instructions for complex tasks: When dealing with complicated tasks or processes, it can be beneficial to break them down into smaller, step-by-step instructions. This approach enables ChatGPT, Gemini, DeepSeek etc. to focus on each individual step, making it easier for the AI to provide accurate and detailed information.

  For instance, instead of asking, “How do I build a website?”, you could ask, “What are the first three steps in building a website from scratch?”

• Role-playing for creative scenarios: Leverage the power of role-playing to explore creative scenarios or brainstorm ideas with LLM or AI. By assigning roles to yourself and the AI, you can create engaging and imaginative interactions that stimulate the AI’s creativity and generate unique insights. For example:
  Prompt: “You are a renowned chef, and I am your apprentice. Teach me how to prepare a gourmet pasta dish with a unique twist.”

• The power of iterations and refining responses: If the initial response from LLM or AI doesn’t quite meet your expectations, don’t hesitate to iterate and refine the response. You can ask the LLM  or AI to provide more information, rephrase its answer, or explore a different perspective. This iterative process can help you fine-tune the output until it aligns with your requirements.

Avoiding Common Mistakes and Pitfalls

 

• Being too vague or open-ended: One common pitfall when crafting prompts is being too vague or open-ended. Vague prompts can lead to responses that are generic or don’t address the specific information you’re seeking. To avoid this issue, try to be as specific as possible with your request and include any necessary context or guidelines.

  For example, instead of asking, “What is a good business idea?”, you could ask, “What is a sustainable and innovative business idea in the field of renewable energy for a small startup?”

• Overloading the prompt with information: While providing context is crucial, overloading your prompt with excessive information can also be counterproductive. When there’s too much information, LLMs or AIs might struggle to determine the primary focus of your request, resulting in less relevant or less focused responses. To avoid this pitfall, keep your prompts concise and focused on the essential information needed for the AI to understand your request.

  For instance, instead of providing a lengthy description of a character, focus on the key traits and motivations that are relevant to the specific scene or situation you want the AI to create.

•  Misinterpreting output as factual information: Another common mistake is treating the AI’s or LLM’s output as factual information without verifying its accuracy. While ChatGPT,DeepSeek,Gemini etc. are impressive language models, it’s essential to remember that it’s not infallible. It can sometimes generate plausible-sounding but inaccurate information.

  To avoid this issue, always verify critical information provided by the AI using reliable sources. Don’t rely solely on LLMs or AIs for fact-checking or for providing the most up-to-date information, as its knowledge is limited to the training data it has been exposed to.

  By avoiding these common pitfalls, you can further enhance your interactions with LLMs and AIs, ensuring that you receive the most accurate, relevant, and helpful responses possible.

Conclusion

As we reach the end of this guide for mastering prompting for LLMs and AIs such as ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Gemini etc. it’s essential to keep in mind that the best teacher is practice and experimenting. You can get better and better at every prompt simply by understanding the way that those “magical” things work. Which means talking to them. However sometimes we don’t have the time for it or we’re too lazy to do so. That’s why we created jetprompts.com for you ! Don’t forget to take look at the ready-to-use, efficient prompts on our website. Until we meet again, in brighter days and gentler moments ! See you!