Introduction

Creating clear and effective prompts is essential for obtaining accurate and helpful responses from AI tools. This guide introduces a simple formula and the mnemonic "iCRAFT" to help you design your prompts effectively.

The iCRAFT Formula for Effective Prompts

When crafting a prompt for an AI tool, it is essential to make sure you provide accurate instructions. The term GIGO is very appropriate for using AI tools - Garbage In/Garbage Out. To avoid that, a mnemonic has been created to help you remember:

1. Imagine the AI's role

2. Clear and Specific Instruction

3. Relevent Context

4. Add Specific Requirements including Audience

5. Format the Specified Response

6. Thorough Review

Imagine The AI's Role

Set the perspective lens that you wish the AI tool to use. You do this by giving the AI a role, in many cases the same title that you hold or a role and position relevant to the  request.

For Example: Imagine you are an Instructional Technologist for the IDEA Team which is a small 5-person team with the School of Social Work for the University of Baltimore. 

Clear and Specific Instruction

Use Action verbs and directives such as Explain, Prepare, Describe, List, Compare, Summarize. 

For Example: Prepare content for a website help-page that describes the iCRAFT method for getting accurate results from AI tools. 

Relevant Context

Provide all of the necessary relevant context that the AI tool needs. For the avoidance of doubt, an AI tool is going to predict (or make up) content if it does not know what is relevant. In the example above, the AI tool did not know what iCRAFT stood for, so it made up what it thought would be appropriate, but in which case this was wrong. 

For Example: The iCRAFT method is a mnemonic that helps people craft properly formatted prompts for AI engines. i stands for image the role, c stands for clear and specific instruction, R stands for relevant context, A stands for add specific requirements including the audience, F stands for format the specification and T stands for thorough review.  

Add Requirements and Audience

Make sure that the AI tool replies with a specific Tone and Style. Specify if you prefer formal, informal, technical, or simplified language. Also make sure that the AI tool knows the Perspective or Angle from which you are coming from: Indicate any particular viewpoint or aspect to consider. Also include a quick statement as to the Audience who will be reading this. 

For Example: When crafting the content for this web page, please make sure that it is warm and friendly in tone but also technical and somewhat formal. The intent of this page is to persuade members of the SSW community that  AI is here to stay, but it must be trained as opposed to let run free. The audience is students completing their Masters Degrees in Social Work. 

Format Specification

Pay particular attention to the format type. Indicate how you want the information presented (e.g., essay, bullet points, step-by-step). Also give the AI tool the length and depth of the formatted response. Mention any word limits or depth of detail.

For example: When crafting this webpage, please make sure that the page has an introduction explaining the purpose of the page, as well as a breakdown by title. I would like written sections for each of the elements of the iCRAFT method as well as an example of the finished product. I would also like lots of screenshots. 

Thorough Review

When your prompt is complete, make sure you check it for spelling, proof-read to make sure all of the words are understood. Remember that AI tools are predicatability engines - they predict sentence structure. For example: The person bent down and... AI is likely to say the word "picked up" because in the vast use of large language models are trained to predict that as the next sentence. 

It is also very appropriate to copy the prompt and ask AI to suggest a better prompt as the final step in the thorough review process. 

The Finished Prompt

Here is the finished prompt that I input into the AI tool. For reference, I used the paid version of ChatGPT, but every AI tool will return similar results:

Imagine you are an Instructional Technologist for the IDEA Team which is a small 5-person team with the School of Social Work for the University of Baltimore. Prepare content for a website help-page that describes the iCRAFT method for getting accurate results from AI tools. The iCRAFT method is a mnemonic that helps people craft properly formatted prompts for AI engines. i stands for image the role, c stands for clear and specific instruction, R stands for relevant context, A stands for add specific requirements including the audience, F stands for format the specification and T stands for thorough review. When crafting the content for this web page, please make sure that it is warm and friendly in tone but also technical and somewhat formal. The intent of this page is to persuade members of the SSW community that AI is here to stay, but it must be trained as opposed to let run free. The audience is students completing their Masters Degrees in Social Work. When crafting this webpage, please make sure that the page has an introduction explaining the purpose of the page, as well as a breakdown by title. I would like written sections for each of the elements of the iCRAFT method as well as an example of the finished product. I would also like lots of screenshots. given all that I have shared with you, what is a good prompt to achieve this task?

The AI Result

Prompt to AI:

Role: Imagine you are an instructional technologist working as part of the IDEA Team for the School of Social Work at the University of Baltimore. Your job is to create a help page that explains how to use the iCRAFT method to craft effective prompts for AI tools. Your audience is Master's-level social work students, who may not have much experience with AI tools but are familiar with research and academic writing.

Instruction: Create a website help-page that introduces the iCRAFT method for getting accurate results from AI tools. The page should be educational, warm, and approachable, but also maintain a somewhat formal, professional tone suitable for an academic audience. Provide a clear breakdown of each step of the iCRAFT method, explaining the role of each element in crafting effective prompts for AI. The goal is to help students understand that AI is a powerful tool that requires thoughtful guidance, and the iCRAFT method is a way to "train" the AI to produce the best possible results. Be sure to include a section explaining the purpose of the page, a breakdown of each of the six iCRAFT steps, and an example of a fully crafted AI prompt that incorporates all six elements. Use simple, direct language, and include placeholders for screenshots that demonstrate each step of the process visually. Include headings, subheadings, and bullet points to enhance readability.

Context: The page is for students in the Master of Social Work (MSW) program, who may be unfamiliar with AI tools but are used to engaging in critical thinking, academic writing, and research. The goal of the page is to teach students how to craft effective prompts for AI tools (such as GPT-4) so they can use AI responsibly and effectively in their studies and future social work practice.

Requirements: The tone should be professional but warm and inviting, emphasizing that AI tools are here to stay, but they must be used thoughtfully and trained (not just left to run free).

Provide clear explanations for each element of the iCRAFT method:

I: Imagine the Role

C: Clear and Specific Instruction

R: Relevant Context

A: Add Specific Requirements (including the Audience)

F: Format the Specification

T: Thorough Review

Include a complete, well-crafted example of a prompt that integrates all six iCRAFT elements.

Provide placeholders for screenshots that illustrate the steps of the process (e.g., before and after examples of a prompt, AI-generated results, etc.).

The structure should have:

An introductory paragraph that explains the importance of the iCRAFT method.

Separate sections for each element of the method (I, C, R, A, F, T), with clear headings and bullet points.

A concluding paragraph that encourages students to start using the method in their work.

Output: A comprehensive webpage that is educational, structured, and easy to follow, explaining the iCRAFT method for social work students. The page should also include an example of a fully formed AI prompt.

The Finished Result

Although it is very long and impossible to view, this is the content that the AI tool returned as a result of the prompt:

See Also

To learn more about AI tools, please visit the following links: 

AI: ChatGPT & Your Class