Writing with ChatGPT, four levels of prompt words

In this article, the author shares his own rules on how to use ChatGPT to help us write and improve the quality of ChatGPT output content through the optimization of prompt words. The author summarizes it into four points, including giving templates, giving outlines, giving styles, and giving types. Let's take a look together.

Over the past few weekends, I have carefully studied how to improve the quality of ChatGPT output content by optimizing the prompt words.

Regarding how to use ChatGPT to help us write , I have summarized the following rules, hoping to give you some inspiration.

1. Steps of writing

When writing an article, your thinking must go step by step from the abstract to the concrete.

• First of all, we need to determine what type of content we want to write , product documentation or popular science reading?
• Then decide what your writing style is : should it be more case studies or more concepts?
• Then determine the outline and divide the article into several parts, and tell what each part should say.
• Finally, fill in the outline to generate a complete article.

As we go deeper into this writing process, we will have to expend more brainpower, and the final form of the article will be more specific and less uncertain.

If we complete one of the steps and then hand over the subsequent steps to ChatGPT, it also conforms to this rule.

The later the step, the more brainpower it consumes, but the more controllable the result is. The earlier the step, the simpler the operation is, but the more random the result is.

So if we divide the output content into four levels from fine to extensive, we can see that the output content can be controlled:

1. Give Template
2. Give outline
3. Give style
4. Give Type

2. Give template

The first level is to directly provide a template text to the template , and then let AI replace it with other knowledge points to output content.

The text output in this way has the highest match with the effect you want to achieve.

But there is a disadvantage in this case. You must first find such a template, which is strongly related to the content you want to modify and can be directly migrated. This is a lot of work. In fact, if you rewrite it yourself, it probably won't take too much time.

This type is more suitable for repetitive work, such as converting a similar text into output text in a unified format.

Some financial statements have the same format, which is more suitable for summarizing different years in batches. This is more laborious because you need to make a sample and make a finished product yourself first.

The other is rewriting in a specific format, such as changing lyrics, which is relatively convenient.

Me: Rewrite the following lyrics to complain about workplace problems in Internet companies. The lyrics are as follows:

I stopped and walked along the way, following the traces of the boy's drifting. The moment before stepping out of the station, I hesitated. I couldn't help but laugh at the homesickness, which was still inevitable. The sky in Nagano was still so warm, and the wind blew back to the past.

When I first met this world, I was fascinated by it. I looked at the horizon as if it was right in front of me, and I was willing to go through fire and water to walk through it. Now I am walking through this world, lingering by it, turning over different faces over the years, and I am caught off guard by your smile. I was once unable to extricate myself from the vastness of the world, and I was also addicted to my dreams. I could not tell the truth from the false, I did not struggle, and I was not afraid of being laughed at. I once turned my youth into her, and I once played the midsummer with my fingertips. Whatever my heart moves, I will just go with the flow.

ChatGPT: The pressure along the way was enormous. Following the traces of the Internet, I stepped out of the company's door, but I was a little hesitant. I couldn't help but sigh that workplace anxiety is still unavoidable, and the company's daily life is still so busy, and overtime has become commonplace.

When I first came across this industry, I was full of yearning. Seeing so many talented people in front of me, I was willing to fight hard to go through it. Now, I am in this workplace, and I am confused. Facing the Internet buzzwords and skills, I am caught off guard by the danger of being eliminated. I used to be unable to extricate myself from technology, and indulged in fantasy. I could not tell the truth from the false, did not struggle, and was not afraid of being laughed at. I once turned my youth into code, and created wealth for the company. Whatever your heart moves, just let it go. Walk against work and let pressure motivate you.

3. Give an outline

The second level is to give an outline.

Giving an outline is rougher than giving a template, and it saves more brainpower.

The template gives clear format requirements for GPT, and the outline is only the approximate structure of the article.

If chatGPT is not given an outline, the article output by chatGPT is generally in the form of a paper, with an introduction, main text, conclusion, and references.

If you want to produce a less serious article, you will need to specify the outline yourself.

You can write the outline yourself and send it to GPT, but we all have GPT, so we can be lazy if we can, so you can also tell GPT what the idea of ​​the outline is and let GPT organize the outline itself.

For example, tell him to organize the article in the form of why, what, and how.

Me: Write a short article using the following outline to introduce the outline structure of dual carbon (i.e. achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060):

1. Why
2. What is
3. what to do

ChatGPT: In recent years, global climate change has become increasingly severe, and countries have begun to take active actions to reduce carbon emissions. The "dual carbon" refers to the goal of achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The realization of this goal requires the joint efforts and contributions of the whole society.

First of all, why do we need to achieve the "dual carbon" goal? The rising global temperature has already caused huge economic and social impacts on mankind, including extreme weather and rising sea levels. Carbon emissions are one of the main causes of climate change, so reducing carbon emissions is imperative.

Secondly, what is "dual carbon"? Carbon peak refers to the gradual reduction of local carbon dioxide emissions after reaching a peak, while carbon neutrality means that local carbon dioxide emissions are equal to absorption, that is, achieving "zero emissions".

Finally, what should we do? To achieve the dual carbon goals, we need to start from energy, transportation, industry, construction and other aspects. In terms of energy structure transformation, we need to vigorously develop clean energy and reduce the use of traditional fossil energy. At the same time, in the fields of industry, transportation, construction, etc., we need to promote energy-saving technologies and advocate a low-carbon lifestyle. In terms of achieving carbon neutrality, we need to vigorously develop carbon capture, utilization and storage technologies, and at the same time strengthen forest vegetation protection to increase carbon dioxide absorption.

In short, the realization of the "dual carbon" goal requires the joint efforts and contributions of the whole society, and the realization of this goal is also a major opportunity for China to respond to climate change and promote economic development.

4. Give style

The third level is much simpler, just giving style.

Sometimes, you just happen to see an article that you want to imitate. Great, just follow the framework of this article and you're done.

In this case, you don't even need to give an outline . Just tell GPT that this article is well written and write an article in his style.

This way, AI can summarize the writing style of the author or work by itself, and then imitate his style to list the outline, saving you the time of summarizing the outline yourself.

However, ChatGPT does not have a particularly rich Chinese corpus, and the repetition rate of Chinese names is too high, so try to ask GPT first if he knows the author. After confirmation, ask him to write an article on a certain topic in the style of this author.

You can also describe the style yourself, such as humorous, rich in examples, strong sense of dialogue, etc., but these descriptions depend on how GPT understands them, and the effect is even more uncontrollable. It is more appropriate to limit it by author or work.

In the following example, I let gpt generate the outline first, and then generate the main text. Due to space constraints, I will paste the main text directly here.

Me: Please imitate Mi Meng's writing style and write an article about Internet layoffs. Please make sure to use Mi Meng's writing style.

ChatGPT: Today, I want to talk to you about a particularly sensitive topic in the Internet industry right now - layoffs.

Yes, layoffs, it sounds very sad, as if everyone working in the workplace may encounter this disaster.

You say, those glamorous Internet companies are often full of innovation, passion and dreams, so how could such a shameful thing happen?

However, in fact, layoffs are nothing new. Every year, many companies lay off employees for various reasons, and many employees lose their stable careers and lives as a result.

So, if this scenario happened to you, how would you respond?

Today, I will share with you the layoff story of an ordinary employee and see how he found a glimmer of hope in this unpredictable workplace.

This employee, let's call him Xiao Wang, was once an ordinary front-end engineer in an Internet company. When he joined the company, he was full of love and longing for the Internet industry, hoping to realize his career dream in this field.

However, in his third year of working at the company, he suddenly received a call from HR, informing him that the company needed to lay off employees due to poor performance, and he was unfortunately one of them.

At that time, Xiao Wang was deeply shocked. He felt that his career had come to an end and was full of confusion and anxiety. However, he did not give up, but started his job search. (Omitted below)

I won’t continue posting. Although the text details are very different from the real Mi Meng, you can really see that he is imitating it carefully. The structure is still very similar to Mi Meng’s articles.

In short, it has that flavor.

5. Give Type

The fourth level is to limit the type of article.

This requirement is more rough than giving a style. You don’t even need to give a style. Just tell GPT what kind of article you want to write.

The types of articles can be: new media articles, popular science articles, weekly and monthly reports, PRD documents, project documents, marketing copy, public relations copy, etc.

This method is more suitable for writing styles with specific application scenarios , such as weekly and monthly reports, PRD documents, project documents, marketing copywriting, public relations copywriting, etc. There is not much room for creativity in this type of copywriting, and the general framework and style are similar. You don't need to understand how to write a marketing soft copy, but you just need to tell GPT that you want to write a marketing soft copy (you should know this), GPT will do it very well, and will organize the outline according to the type of marketing soft copy and fill in the content according to the outline.

As for broader types such as new media articles and popular science articles, the generated results are highly random.

Because popular science articles can be hardcore popular science or fun popular science. If you only want popular science articles, the most likely result is that the final result is a standard article that is no different from a thesis.

Me: I’m an employee of an Internet company and need to write a weekly report. Please help me make an outline.

CHATGPT: Sure, here is an outline for a weekly report:

1. Summary of this week’s work: briefly introduce the work content and progress completed this week, including project progress, task completion status, problems encountered and solutions, etc.
2. Next week’s work plan: List the tasks and plans that need to be completed next week, including project progress, task allocation, work priorities, etc.
3. Problem feedback: Feedback on problems and difficulties encountered this week, as well as solutions and suggestions.
4. Work experience: Share your experience at work this week, including work methods, skills, experience, etc.
5. Other matters: List other matters that need attention this week, such as meeting arrangements, business trip plans, holiday arrangements, etc.
6. Opinions and suggestions: Put forward opinions and suggestions on the company's work, including work processes, team collaboration, work environment, etc.
7. Personal summary: Summarize your work performance and achievements this week, as well as your expectations and plans for next week's work. The above is a basic outline of a weekly report. You can make appropriate adjustments and additions based on your actual situation. I wish you good luck in writing!

To sum up, using ChatGPT to assist writing can be done in order of brainpower from more to less, and also from high to low controllability of output results, namely: give template, give outline, give style, and give type.

Choose the angle of entry that suits you based on your time and precise requirements for results.

The above are some of my tactical thoughts on how to accurately control the quality of text output.

Author: Jason

Source: WeChat public account "Sanyuan Variance (ID: sanyuanfangcha)"