Prompt Engineering Beyond the Basics

Beyond "Be Specific"

Every prompt engineering guide starts with "be specific." Great. Now what?

Chain-of-Thought Prompting

Instead of asking for an answer, ask the model to think step by step:

Solve this problem step by step, showing your reasoning at each stage.

This consistently improves accuracy on math, logic, and multi-step reasoning tasks.

Few-Shot Examples

Show the model what you want by example:

Convert these to formal language:

Casual: "hey can u help me out"
Formal: "Hello, would you be able to assist me?"

Casual: "thx for the info"
Formal: "Thank you for providing that information."

Casual: "gonna need that report asap"
Formal:

Structured Outputs

Ask for JSON, markdown tables, or specific formats. Models are much better when they have a clear output structure.

The Meta-Skill

The best prompt engineers iterate. Write a prompt, test it, identify failures, refine. It's not about writing the perfect prompt on the first try.