Master prompt engineering basics
Learn how to write effective prompts that get better results from AI—no experience needed.
All good writers know the old adage…
“Showing” your reader is always more effective than “telling.”
Whether you’re writing a novel, a blog post, or a copy for a new product or company website, the principle of “show, don’t tell” helps your words come alive.
In the age of AI-assisted creativity, writing isn’t just about putting words on a page—it’s about knowing how to guide your tools to show your intent and bring your vision to life with clarity and nuance.
The right prompt can turn a flat description into a vivid scene, a generic paragraph into a compelling narrative, and a simple idea into a memorable message.
Key takeaways
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Optimizing prompts that are clear and intentional will allow you to guide your AI model to produce content that aligns with your voice and purpose. -
Using vivid and specific language in your prompt helps generate more dynamic and engaging results. -
Treating prompt creation as part of your creative process transforms AI into a true storytelling partner.
Index
Whether you’re a novelist or a blogger, a computer science student or an experienced software engineer, learning how your user input helps you “talk” to a large language model (LLM) can elevate all forms of writing.
That’s where prompt engineering comes in.
If you’re ready to unlock the full creative potential of AI, it’s time to master the art of the prompt. Let’s dive into a few examples that will help you unlock smarter, sharper, and more creative AI responses.
Example 1: Use role-based prompts to shape tone in your writing
Role-based prompts are one of the most effective strategies for creating well crafted prompts. Fine tuning your chosen AI’s persona will help shape not only the content but also the tone, vocabulary, and perspective of the response.
By assigning your large language models (LLMs) a specific persona, you provide both direction and context.
That context sets the stage for more coherent, purposeful, and voice-consistent output.
Here are a few examples of how role-based prompt engineering can highly enhance your writing:
The expert explainer prompt: “You are a high school biology teacher. Explain how photosynthesis works to a group of 10th-grade students.” This prompt ensures the explanation is age-appropriate, clear, and educational—perfect for simplifying complex topics without losing accuracy.
The creative storyteller prompt: “You are a children’s book author. Write a short bedtime story about a brave squirrel who saves the forest.” Assigning the role of a children’s author helps the AI adopt a whimsical tone, use age-appropriate language, and structure the story with a gentle arc and moral.
The technical specialist prompt: “You are a junior software engineer. Write a clear, commented Python function that calculates Fibonacci numbers.” By assigning a technical role and asking for specific answers, you ensure the output is accurate, well-structured, and includes best practices relevant to developers.
Instead of getting a generic response, role-based prompts prime the AI to “think” like the assigned expert, resulting in the desired results you’re looking for.
Role-based prompting hw down vocabulary, focus tone, and guide the AI toward more context-aware responses, making it especially powerful for tasks where specific information extraction is needed.
Example 2: Use “show, don’t tell” language in your prompt
This technique isn’t just valuable advice for storytelling. It’s also a powerful strategy for creating powerful prompts.
When you use “show, don’t tell” in your prompt, you’re encouraging your generative AI model to create model outputs that use natural language processing to evoke emotion, build atmosphere, and reveal meaning in each specific task.
Example 1:
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“Telling” in your prompt: “Write a story about a man who is very sad.”
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“Showing” in your prompt: “Write a story about a man sitting alone in a dark room, turning a photograph over in his hands while rain taps against the window.”
Example 1:
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“Telling” in your prompt: “Describe a woman who is nervous about giving a speech.”
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“Showing” in your prompt: “Describe a woman backstage, pacing in small circles, palms slick with sweat as she rehearses her opening line under her breath.”
In the above examples, it’s clear that applying strong prompt engineering skills can guide the artificial intelligence model to craft more emotionally resonant and compelling responses.
These skills help unlock deeper nuance, transforming a simple request into a vivid, engaging outcome.
Prompt engineering,
simplified
Take your first step into the world of AI with this beginner-friendly learning path from CodeSignal.
Example 3: Master the art of mimicking
Effective prompt engineering is all about using well-crafted examples and detailed instructions to guide your AI toward replicating a specific tone, structure, or style.
In the above examples, it’s clear that applying strong prompt engineering skills can guide the artificial intelligence model to craft more emotionally resonant and compelling responses.
By demonstrating what you want—rather than just explaining it—you give the machine learning model a clear template to follow, resulting in more accurate and consistent outputs.
Instead of simply instructing your language models to “write professionally” or “sound poetic,” you show it what that looks like by providing a sample.
This technique of reinforcement learning is especially powerful when you’re aiming for consistency, creativity, or a brand voice within the proper context.
Here are a few ways this works well:
Style matching: If you want the AI to write like a particular author, brand, or publication, include a short excerpt that captures the desired tone. For example: “Write a product description in the style of this sentence: ‘Our hand-poured candles are a whisper of elegance, crafted to turn everyday moments into rituals of calm.’” This helps your model pick up on rhythm, vocabulary, and emotional tone.
Formatting guidance: Want a bulleted list, a tweet thread, or a press release? Show the AI a sample of the format you’re aiming for. It’s much more effective than just saying “make it concise” or “write a list.”
Voice consistency: If you’re working on a series of blog posts or social captions, paste in a previous example and say, “Continue in this voice.” This keeps your content cohesive and on-brand.
In short, mimicking through examples is like giving your AI virtual assistants a roadmap, with some basic prompt engineering basics from where they can start. It’s a compass that points the model in the right creative direction, instead of forcing it to wander through vague instructions.
Example 4: Use step-by-step prompts for complex writing tasks
Breaking down a challenging task into clear, manageable steps is one of the advanced techniques that can dramatically improve the quality, clarity, and accuracy of AI-generated content.
When step-by-step prompting is combined with question answer prompting, you create a powerful framework for guiding AI through complex reasoning tasks with clarity and precision.
By layering structured steps with targeted questions, you help the model build answers incrementally ensuring each part is thoughtful, accurate, and contextually grounded.
This method works especially well when:
- You’re writing long-form pieces that require logical progression
- You want to implement findings from data analysis, give clear and concise text summarization, or focus on other elements that enhance clarity and support logical flow for your reader
- You’re refining the tone or emphasizing certain elements throughout a piece
By breaking a complex task into smaller, focused instructions, you help the AI build momentum and stay aligned with your goals at every stage.
Write prompts that work
Master the art of crafting clear, effective AI prompts to boost your productivity and communication with advanced tools.
Want to prompt like a pro? Start with CodeSignal!
If you’re eager to produce stronger outputs, eliminate guesswork, and tap into the full creative power of AI tools, learning the art of prompt engineering is the next step forward.
Whether you’re a writer refining your voice, a marketer sharpening your messaging, or a professional exploring new tech-savvy career paths, CodeSignal offers AI-powered, practice-based courses that will give you prompting techniques for real-world impact.
With hands-on training and a focus on skill mastery, you’ll gain the confidence and clarity to craft prompts that work smarter, not harder.
Elevate your content, streamline your workflow, and discover just how powerful good prompting can be.
The future of creative work is here—and it starts with how you prompt.
Ready to begin?
Explore CodeSignal’s prompt engineering courses and start shaping better AI outputs today.
Tigran Sloyan
Author, Co-Founder, CEO @ CodeSignal, Contributor @ Forbes and Fast Company
CodeSignal is how the world discovers and develops the skills that will shape the future. Our skills platform empowers you to go beyond skills gaps with hiring and AI-powered learning tools that help you and your team cultivate the skills needed to level up.
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