ChatGPT prompts you can adapt to your own work

How to use a prompt template

Define the outcome, audience, source material and constraints before you ask. For ambiguous tasks, tell the model to ask up to five clarifying questions. Never include confidential information simply to make a prompt more detailed.

Four adaptable prompt patterns

Explain a complex topic

“Explain [topic] to a [knowledge level] reader. Start with a five-sentence model, add an example from [field], then give three self-check questions. Separate established knowledge from uncertain interpretation.”

Edit without losing your voice

“Edit the text for [audience and channel]. Preserve meaning and a calm tone. Remove repetition, do not add facts, and keep it under [length]. Show the revision, then explain the five most important changes.”

Generate testable ideas

“Suggest twelve ideas for [goal] given [audience, resources and limits]. Group them into safe, experimental and unexpected. For each, state the benefit, risk and cheapest validation step.”

Debug code

“Find the likely cause of this [language/environment] error. Expected: [result]. Actual: [result]. Provide a minimal diff and a test that reproduces the bug. Do not change unrelated code.”

Use a separate verification pass

Ask the model to list unsupported claims, contradictions and hidden assumptions before rewriting. Then confirm important facts with current primary sources. OpenAI also recommends clear, specific instructions and iterative refinement in its official prompt guidance.