EGS 390K: Writing with AI & Digital Tools (Dich): How to Use Gen AI Tools

How you describe what you are searching for impacts your results, whether searching Google, a library database, or an AI tool.

Here are six strategies provided by OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. Briefly, they include these tactics:

1. Provide details to get more relevant answers ("Tell me how to start looking for information on legal cases. I need to use recent legal cases that involve class-action lawsuits against corporations. Provide me with at least three options.")
2. Ask the tool to adopt a persona ("Writing as a librarian . . ." or "writing for people unfamiliar with X . . . ")
3. Provide a reference text to guide your answers ("Using the information in the three provided PDFs, write three short paragraphs that explain . . . ")
4. Specify the steps required to complete a task ("First, create a list of possible search terms for this topic. Next, summarize the Wikipedia entry on the topic, listing words or phrases that seem important. Then . . . "). Be sure to break up lengthy queries (with many steps) into smaller ones.
5. Let the AI think for a while about your question. Ask it to figure out an answer, and then have it compare that answer to one given in a source you provide, or have it answer the same question again and then compare the responses. 
6. Specify the desired length of the output. ("Make a list of ten ways that . . . ")

You can also try a similar model for prompt engineering in the CLEAR method. The linked article outlines five core principles of prompt engineering:

1. Concise - make clear what you are asking the AI tool ("Suggest four strategies . . . ")
2. Logical - explain what you are looking for in a structured request (Describe X, first investigating Y, then looking at Z, and finally . . . ")
3. Explicit - clearly provide the output you expect ("Create an analysis of X that includes its cause, the main events, and the outcomes in no more than 1500 words.")
4. Adaptive - be ready to try alternative prompts if your first one does not work well (for instance, making your question more specific or clearly stating that it should involve a particular location or group of people).
5. Reflective - carefully examine the response to see if it look accurate and ask the AI to provide more information or more information specific to what you asked.