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Northwestern Health Sciences University

Generative AI at NWHSU

Gain a general understanding of generative AI, understand the risks, and learn how to use it wisely.

Prompt Engineering

What is a prompt? A prompt is the information you give to an AI large language model to elicit a response.  A prompt can be keywords, a question a formula or code, creative writing or even long, specific instructions.  

Why is a good prompt important?  Having a prompt that is detailed and specific will improve your chances of getting the AI-generated output that is more accurate and meets your needs.  

This page will offer tips on how to improve the prompts you use and provide sample prompts for generating various forms of output. 

 

Basic Prompt Tips

Refine your prompt within your prompt:

Ask a question as a prompt but at the end, ask your AI generator to ask you questions about the prompt/topic.  When you respond to those questions, you’ll likely get a better second or third answer.

Submit your prompt and ask ChatGPT (or your chosen LLM) to do the following

  • Analyse the prompt 
  • Find improvement opportunities
  • Refine the prompt
  • Define the refined prompt’s impact 
  • Run the refined prompt

Follow the CLEAR model:

Lo, L. S. (2023). The CLEAR path: A framework for enhancing information literacy through prompt engineering. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 49(4), 102720–. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2023.102720

The components of the CLEAR model of prompt creation is similar to how we'd recommend you develop a search strategy.  The CLEAR components are:

  • Concise:  Do not use unnecessary words when creating your strategy.  
    • Bad:  Can I see a chiropractor for back pain? 
    • Good:  What does the evidence say about the efficacy of chiropractic care for chronic back pain? 
  • Logical: Think about the order in which you include information and think about clarity. 
    • Bad: Is a double-blind study good for massage research? 
    • Good:  Please describe the steps in a double-blind research study format and include the pros and cons of the format on manual therapies.  
  • Explicit:  Be very precise in the information you provide and the questions you ask.  Are any of the words you are using vague or unclear?
    • Bad: Should I attend Northwestern Health Sciences University? 
    • Good:  Highlight the strengths of Northwestern Health Sciences University's radiation program and describe the level of crime around the school. 
  • Adaptive:  After you've entered your prompt, are there improvements you could make to it to get better output from the AI generator?
    • After receiving your answer from the AI model, restate your prompt by incorporating some of the language used in their answer.  
  • Reflective:  Does the answer seem grounded in reality?  Can you find any of the original sources listed?  Do you need to be more specific in your question?  
    • Do you need to include more specifics, like PICO elements?  

Prompt Generators

There are tools out there to help you improve your prompts.  Play around with these to see whether or not their recommendations give you better output than your unassisted prompts.