As generative AI tools like ChatGPT become more accessible, writers have a new means of enhancing productivity, creativity, and precision. ChatGPT is a sophisticated AI model designed to assist with a range of writing tasks by generating text, rephrasing ideas, or even helping structure content. Yet, knowing what ChatGPT is—and what it is not—is essential to using it effectively. This article will guide you through best practices for collaborating with AI, from using clear prompts to leveraging existing material, so you can achieve more tailored, high-quality results. With these strategies, you will be able to harness ChatGPT’s potential to complement your unique writing style and enhance your creative process.
About the author: Jeff Hulett leads Personal Finance Reimagined, a decision-making and financial education platform. He teaches personal finance at James Madison University and provides personal finance seminars. Check out his book -- Making Choices, Making Money: Your Guide to Making Confident Financial Decisions.
Jeff is a career banker, data scientist, behavioral economist, and choice architect. Jeff has held banking and consulting leadership roles at Wells Fargo, Citibank, KPMG, and IBM.
Understanding ChatGPT: What It Is and What It Isn’t
ChatGPT operates as a language model, meaning it generates responses based on patterns in massive amounts of text data it has been trained on, such as internet-based sources, including forums like Reddit, Wikipedia, and other open-access materials. While this broad dataset gives ChatGPT a vast array of conversational and informational patterns, the language in many sources is often informal, reflecting everyday interactions and casual discussions. As a result, writers might find ChatGPT's responses lean toward an informal tone, which may not always align with the intended style or professionalism of certain projects. By guiding ChatGPT with precise prompts and stylistic instructions, writers can adapt their output to fit more formal or specific requirements effectively.
What ChatGPT Is Not: ChatGPT is not a standalone expert or a replacement for original thought. It is a common misconception that ChatGPT can independently produce verified, innovative ideas. Instead, ChatGPT functions as a responsive aid, designed to complement a writer’s creativity and knowledge with structure, language suggestions, and even inspiration from previous works or citations.
Key Practices for Effective Collaboration with ChatGPT
Partnering with ChatGPT requires a clear approach to getting the most relevant and accurate responses. Below, we will explore the two critical strategies: drawing on existing information and crafting highly specific prompts.
1. Leveraging Existing Information: Building on the Foundation of Your Writing
To create content aligning with your unique style, it is beneficial to feed ChatGPT examples of your existing work or carefully chosen references. This can include excerpts from your articles, previous writing projects, or influential sources you admire. By providing ChatGPT with examples, you help it align responses with your voice, tone, and desired depth.
Techniques for Utilizing Existing Information
Direct Citations: Upload or provide excerpts from past writings you would like to mirror. Directly referencing your works enables ChatGPT to respond in line with your previously established tone, depth, and structure.
Citing Authoritative Works: Providing ChatGPT with excerpts from authoritative sources (e.g., academic articles or professional guides) can help it produce accurate and well-rounded responses. Not only does this serve to enrich the content, but it also maintains a level of quality that readers will trust.
Style Mimicry: ChatGPT can be directed to mimic a specific style or format. If you typically use a concise, instructional format or prefer a storytelling approach, specifying this allows ChatGPT to frame responses accordingly.
Comparing and Contrasting Sources: ChatGPT can assist in analyzing and comparing authoritative works with each other or with your draft, helping to identify key differences, similarities, or insights. This comparative approach enables writers to refine their arguments and enhance the credibility of their work by highlighting unique perspectives or supporting data from trusted sources.
Training ChatGPT with the “Rules Inventory”
An ideal example is to establish your writing guidelines in a “Rules Inventory” (see Appendix), detailing specific preferences for style, tone, and word choice. A rules list, like the one you use, serves as a valuable reference point to direct ChatGPT. For example, based on the training data, the word "hard" is often used as a synonym for "challenge." The “No Use of ‘Hard’ Rule” ensures that ChatGPT provides a replacement term, promoting a more professional tone. Using a Rules Inventory like this creates consistency across your content and ensures that ChatGPT delivers output closely aligned with your writing identity.
2. Creating Clear and Specific Prompts: Precision Matters
ChatGPT’s responses depend heavily on the clarity and specificity of your prompts. The more detail you provide, the more targeted and useful the response. Effective prompts do not just tell ChatGPT what to write; they clarify how to approach the topic, what tone to use, and even what structure to follow.
Best Practices for Writing Prompts
Be Directive: Instead of vague instructions like “Write about AI,” specify details: “Explain how AI assists writers by automating brainstorming and improving clarity in their work.” Direct requests yield better-aligned responses.
State Purpose and Audience: If the content is for an educational blog, for example, include that context. A clear audience context helps ChatGPT adjust formality, depth, and vocabulary.
Use iterative prompting: Refine your prompts if the initial responses do not meet expectations. Simplifying long, multipurpose prompts to a series of "bite-sized" prompts will help steer GenAI closer to what you need, improving both accuracy and relevance over time.
Use Rules as a Guide: Referencing specific rules in prompts, like requesting minimal use of passive voice or clear action verbs, helps ChatGPT produce writing aligned with your stylistic expectations (see Appendix for additional rules).
Example Prompts for Effective Partnering
Here are four prompts demonstrating specificity for different types of writing needs:
Drafting: Prompt: “Draft a 500-word introduction on ‘The Importance of Data Literacy in Today’s Workplace,’ emphasizing practical skills that managers can develop. Use an engaging tone, with an example of a common workplace data challenge.”
Revision and Editing: Prompt: “Rewrite the following paragraph to make it more concise and engaging for a general audience. Follow the Active Clarity Rule to prioritize direct language, and apply the Minimize ‘That’ Rule (see Appendix): [insert text].”
Summarizing and Restructuring: Prompt: “Summarize the key points from this article in three clear, bulleted sections for a social media post. Maintain an informative tone but make it concise and engaging to drive reader interest.”
Emulating Style with Rules Inventory: Prompt: “Use the Rules Inventory to revise this content, applying the No Use of ‘Hard’ Rule, the Contraction Rule, and the Active Clarity Rule (see Appendix). Produce a summary in the author’s signature style.”
Each prompt builds specificity into the instructions, increasing the likelihood that ChatGPT delivers precisely what is needed.
Training ChatGPT to Match Your Style
ChatGPT can better replicate your voice by working with samples of your writing and specific instructions. For example, when working with a Rules Inventory, ChatGPT can integrate style elements unique to your work, such as preferred vocabulary, sentence structure, or formality level. This process helps ChatGPT adapt more closely to your “voice,” making its assistance valuable not only for content creation but also for producing writing that genuinely sounds like you.
Rule-Based Style Enhancement with Examples
Using rules like your “Minimize ‘That’ Rule” or “Active Clarity Rule,” ChatGPT can be guided to follow stylistic and linguistic preferences that maintain the integrity of your writing. This ensures consistency across your content, especially when working on extended projects, such as books or long-form articles. It is possible to teach Chat GPT your writing style.
Conclusion
When writers approach ChatGPT with structured, informed practices, it becomes a powerful partner in the creative process. By leveraging existing information—such as past writings, authoritative sources, and style preferences—you can guide ChatGPT to produce output that aligns closely with your unique voice and goals. Additionally, by clearly defining prompts and establishing rules that reflect your style, you’ll harness ChatGPT’s potential to improve efficiency, enhance clarity, and maintain a consistent voice across your work. Ultimately, this approach maximizes the value of generative AI, transforming ChatGPT from a simple tool into an integral writing assistant that complements and amplifies your creativity.
Appendix: Rules Inventory
The Rules Inventory is a list of stylistic and linguistic preferences to guide ChatGPT in producing output aligned with your unique writing style.
No Use of 'Hard' Rule: Avoid using the word "hard" unless referring to the physical density of a substance. Use a more precise term to maintain clarity.
Minimize 'That' Rule: Reduce the use of "that" unless necessary for clarity, especially in introducing clauses that clarify sentence structure. (e.g., "The assumption that data will always be accurate is flawed.")
Contraction Rule: Avoid using contractions to shorten words, maintaining a more formal tone.
Active Clarity Rule:
Use Action Verbs to communicate the core action directly.
Limit Prepositional Phrases to avoid complexity unless essential for meaning.
Condense Dependent Clauses to simplify sentences, focusing on the main point.
Rule Compliance Review Rule: Summarize rule adherence upon request, identifying deviations and suggesting improvements for consistency.
Clarification Rule: Seek clarification only when instructions are ambiguous, not for minor uncertainties.
Formatting Rule: Confirm the preferred format (bullet points, tables, numbered lists) before execution and proceed accordingly.
Citation Rule: Provide a numbered list of sources in the specified Jeff Hulett format without additional commentary unless requested.
Each of these rules helps ChatGPT deliver content that reflects your writing style, enhancing readability, professionalism, and consistency across projects. These are meant for illustration only. YOUR writing style and rules are unique to you.
Resources for the Curious
"Exploring Artificial Intelligence in Writing" OpenAI Blog. This resource provides insights into the evolution and capabilities of AI language models, including ChatGPT, and how they are transforming creative processes in writing. OpenAI Blog
"AI in Writing: A Guide for Content Creators" The Verge. A comprehensive article covering the impact of AI tools like ChatGPT on content creation, discussing practical applications and limitations in various industries. The Verge
"Prompt Engineering for Better AI Output" Towards Data Science. This guide explores techniques for creating effective prompts to improve the responses generated by AI, making it a valuable read for writers looking to partner with ChatGPT. Towards Data Science
"Ethics and Limitations of Generative AI in Writing" MIT Technology Review. This article discusses the ethical considerations and limitations of using AI in creative fields, which is essential for writers who want to use AI responsibly. MIT Technology Review
"Mastering AI-Assisted Writing: Tips and Techniques" Harvard Business Review. This piece provides practical advice for professionals on how to effectively collaborate with AI tools, offering insights that are highly applicable to writers. Harvard Business Review
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