1. Prompt formatting
Welcome back!
2. Introduction to prompt formatting
In the realm of interacting with ChatGPT, the way you present your prompt is just as important as the content within it. Think of it as the difference between reading a well-formatted book
3. Introduction to prompt formatting
and a jumbled manuscript. We'll focus on how to effectively format prompts to ensure clarity, precision, and optimal responses from ChatGPT.
4. The power of markdown
Markdown offers an elegant and straightforward way to structure text. To create headers in markdown, you can use the hash symbol. The number of hashes indicates the level of the header. This enhances the clarity of your prompts, potentially leading to better responses.
5. The power of markdown
We can also use bold for highlighting. This is done by using double asterisks or double underscores before and after the text you want to bold. This signals ChatGPT to focus on that specific aspect of the prompt. With these simple Markdown tricks, you can make the key points more noticeable and easier to follow, driving ChatGPT towards a more targeted response.
6. Quotation marks and their magic
Quotation marks are another powerful instrument in our prompting toolkit. They serve to highlight specific phrases or content. This allows ChatGPT to distinguish between general and specific references.
Let’s look at an example. Tell me about the Great Expectations for this course. The prompt is ambiguous. Is the user asking about the expectations for the course, or are they referencing Charles Dickens' novel "Great Expectations"?
7. Quotation marks and their magic
What about when using quotation marks? Tell me about the "Great Expectations" for this course.
By placing "Great Expectations" within quotation marks, it becomes clear to ChatGPT that the user is referring to the novel by Charles Dickens and is curious about its relevance to the course.
Quotation marks act as clarifiers. They eliminate confusion and direct focus to where it's intended. This clarity can lead to a more contextually appropriate response.
8. Delimiting for distinct input
Delimiters act as a clear separator within your prompt. An example of this is using triple dashes (---) to indicate distinct parts of the input. By separating your instructions, context, or examples, you guide ChatGPT to process each section independently, leading to a more tailored output. Let's see how this works in practice:
You're preparing for a debate on the impact of social media on society. You want both pros and cons, followed by a brief conclusion.
Let’s use delimiters in our prompt.
9. Delimiting for distinct input
ChatGPT understands the use of delimiters to separate the output into distinct sections that we can define in the prompt.
10. Delimiting for distinct input
As we can see, the use of delimiters helps in guiding the response structure, making both the prompt and output clearer to view and understand.
11. Let's practice!
In our journey with ChatGPT, we've learned that how we present our prompts is just as crucial as what we ask. By mastering prompt formatting, we not only ensure clearer communication with the model but also enhance the quality of our interactions. Now it’s time for some exercises to test the difference a well-structured prompt makes to help inform ChatGPT’s response.