What is Prompt Engineering?

In today's digital world, artificial intelligence (AI) tools are becoming increasingly common. These tools can assist with tasks such as answering questions, generating stories, or creating images. However, to obtain the most effective responses from AI, it is essential to craft your queries carefully. This process is known as prompt engineering.

Prompt engineering involves designing clear, precise, and detailed instructions, referred to as prompts, when interacting with AI systems such as chatbots or image generators. The importance of this skill lies in its ability to guide the AI towards providing accurate and relevant outputs. A vague or poorly constructed prompt may result in unclear or incorrect responses, whereas a well-engineered prompt ensures the AI comprehends your intent fully, leading to more useful and reliable results.

This skill has practical applications in various areas, including school assignments, creative projects, and professional environments where AI technologies are employed. For instance, in education, a well-crafted prompt can help you research topics more efficiently or generate ideas for essays.

The Difference Between Weak and Strong Prompts

In this section, we will examine the distinctions between weak and strong prompts. A weak prompt is typically brief and lacks clarity, which may lead the artificial intelligence to provide an incorrect assumption or an overly simplistic response. In contrast, a strong prompt is comprehensive and precise, effectively directing the AI to deliver the exact information or output that is required.

Understanding this difference is essential, as it directly influences the quality and relevance of the AI's output. Weak prompts often result in vague or unhelpful answers because they do not provide sufficient guidance. Strong prompts, however, incorporate specific details that help the AI to interpret your request accurately and generate more valuable results.

To illustrate this concept, consider the following table of examples:

As demonstrated in these examples, strong prompts enhance the AI's ability to provide targeted and effective outputs by including clear instructions and details. This approach minimises misunderstandings and maximises the usefulness of the responses.

What Makes a Strong Prompt?

To create an effective prompt for an AI system, it is important to include four key components: the task, the topic, the format, and the tone. These elements work together to provide clear guidance to the AI, helping it return accurate and useful results. Let’s break each of them down with practical examples.

1. Task

The task tells the AI what you want it to do. This could be something like "write", "explain", "compare", or "design". Being specific helps guide the AI’s actions.

Weak Example: “Football”
Improved Example: “Summarise the basic rules of football for beginners.”

2. Topic

The topic focuses the AI on what the prompt is about. It should be clear and specific rather than too broad or vague.

Weak Example: “Music”
Improved Example: “Describe how hip hop music started in the 1970s in the Bronx.”

3. Format

The format tells the AI how to present its answer—like a list, a paragraph, a letter, or a set of instructions.

Weak Example: “Explain how to make a sandwich.”
Improved Example: “Explain how to make a sandwich in a step-by-step numbered list.”

4. Tone

The tone controls the style or emotion of the response. Do you want it to sound professional, funny, friendly, or dramatic?

Weak Example: “Tell a story about a dog.”
Improved Example: “Tell a story about a dog who saves a village, written in a dramatic and heroic tone.”

When you combine these four parts, you get a strong and clear prompt.

Example of a complete prompt: “Create (task) a funny comic strip script (format) about two robots trying to learn how to bake cookies (topic), written in a light and humorous tone (tone).”

Prompt Improvement Challenge

In this practical exercise, you will apply the principles of prompt engineering by improving weak prompts and developing your own strong ones.

Follow the structured steps below to build your skills in crafting effective prompts. Remember to include the four key components: task, topic, format, and tone.

1. Enhance the Following Weak Prompts:
   For each weak prompt provided, rewrite it as a strong prompt by clearly defining the task, topic, format, and tone. This helps guide the AI to produce a more accurate and helpful response.
   • Weak Prompt: "Tell me about history."
     Example Improvement: "Summarise the key events of the Industrial Revolution in a bullet-point list, focusing on inventions and social changes, in an informative and neutral tone."
   • Weak Prompt: "Make a recipe."
   • Weak Prompt: "Describe a planet."

   Write your improved versions in your notebook and briefly explain why each version is stronger.

2. Develop Your Own Strong Prompts:
   Create two new strong prompts of your own. Each should contain all four key components.
   • One prompt should help you learn something new (e.g., a science or maths concept).
   • The other prompt should be creative or fun (e.g., for a story or idea).

   Example: "Explain the water cycle in a step-by-step diagram description, including evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, in a clear and educational tone."

3. Test Your Prompts (If Possible):
   If your school provides access to an AI tool (like a safe chatbot), try entering your improved and original prompts. Note the differences in quality and detail. If testing isn't available, imagine how the responses might differ.

Enhance Creative Prompts

In this challenge, you will apply your prompt engineering skills to develop strong prompts based on creative scenarios. This exercise will help you practise combining the key components—task, topic, format, and tone—in a more imaginative way. By doing so, you can guide AI tools to produce engaging and detailed outputs.

Follow these steps to complete the challenge:

1. Review the Key Components: Ensure each prompt you create includes a clear task (e.g., 'create' or 'describe'), a specific topic, a defined format (e.g., 'a short story' or 'a list'), and an appropriate tone (e.g., 'exciting' or 'spooky').
2. Develop Strong Prompts for Each Idea: For the three creative ideas below, write a strong prompt in your notebook. Then, either imagine the AI's potential response or, if you have access to a school-approved AI tool, test the prompt and note the results. If the response is not as expected, refine your prompt and try again.
3. Reflect on Your Work: After creating each prompt, briefly explain in your notebook how the key components improve its effectiveness.

Here are the three creative ideas:

• Invent a new superhero: Create a prompt that asks the AI to develop a superhero, including their name, powers, and a short adventure story.
• Plan a dream birthday party: Create a prompt that asks the AI to outline a birthday party, including games, food, decorations, and a fun theme.
• Describe a magical forest: Create a prompt that asks the AI to describe a magical forest, but make it spooky to suit a Halloween story.