prompt in essay writing

Once you write a first draft, put it in a drawer for a week. Taking some time away from it will allow you to come back to it with fresh eyes. Then, try to read your essay from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about you. Would they be able to understand the story? Do you explain clearly what you learned? Does your intro grab the reader's attention?

It can also be helpful to ask someone you trust, such as a parent, teacher, or peer, to read your essay and give you feedback. Really listen to what they say and think about how you can improve your writing.

Finally, try reading your essay aloud. This will help you catch any weird or awkward phrasings.

What's Next?

If you're struggling with how to approach your personal statement, consider looking at some college essay examples .

The essay is just one part of the college application process. Check out our guide to applying to college for a step-by-step breakdown of what you'll need to do.

Finally, if you're planning to take the SAT or ACT , consider taking a look at our expert test-prep guides for some helpful advice on whatever you might be struggling with.

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Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT.

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25 Persuasive Essay Prompts and Topics

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Have you been assigned a persuasive essay and need a topic? We've got you! Take a look at these persuasive essay prompts and get your essay started today!

Persuasive essays can be challenging for several reasons, but the first problem is choosing the right topic.

You want a topic that is both engaging and controversial enough to elicit a strong response. A topic that's too broad may lead to a lack of focus, while one that's too narrow might not provide enough material to argue convincingly.

So choose a topic and then make sure you take a position that is debatable AND right-sized.

Is my topic debatable?

If I choose the topic violent video games, my first question might be is this debatable?

The truth is that it isn't debatable YET. I have to take a position on it. I have to pick a perspective to argue. So let's look at three position statements:

Violent video games are bad.

Violent video games exist.

Violent video games are controversial.

Out of these three, which one takes a debatable position?

“Violent video games are bad” is the only one that takes a position. The other two statements are facts.

Once you choose your topic, make sure you take a debatable stance on it.

Is my topic the right size?

Now that we know we've chosen a debatable statement, we have to make sure it's not too broad. First, look at the parts of the statement to see how each important word or phrase would be defined.

In our statement “Violent video games are bad,” we need to be more specific to narrow the scope of our paper. This position is too broad (and depending on research, may even be incorrect).

What are we categorizing as violent? Which games? And more importantly, what do we mean by “bad”? And because video games require.a player, who are the players impacted?

Once we do some research about specific types of games for specific player age groups, then we'll have a much better position statement that is right-sized: not too broad and not too narrow,.

So depending on my research, I might make my position more specific and stronger with something like:

Parents need to monitor their children's exposure to violent shooter games to minimize the negative effects of both screen time and violence.

Notice how this statement takes a position: parents need to limit exposure for two reasons: screen time and violence. Is it right-size? The paper will need to show evidence that children's exposure to screens and violence has long term effects, and argue why parents are the ones to address it.

Yes, this is narrow enough to tackle in an essay.

As you consider how to build a strong argument that includes a combination of solid reasoning, credible evidence, and emotional appeal, make sure your position statement on your topic is the right size to persuade your audience.

Need help writing your persuasive essay? Take a look at our guide on How to Write a Persuasive Essay here . 

Persuasive Essay Prompts

I'd like to throw out some topics and then give two or three prompts for each that would be debatable and right-sized for an essay. See which ones resonate with you.

College Education

• When does the cost of a college education necessary to
• How can college education be made more affordable, especially for lower income students?

Cell phones

• How dangerous are cell phones while driving and what can be done to help drivers be more responsible?
• What is the most positive benefit of cell phone use and how can users make sure the benefit outweighs any risks or harm?
• How might we reimagine the school day to better meet the needs of students?
• What one change needs to be made during the elementary school day to reduce bullying incidents?

College athletes

• Should college athletes be paid? Why or why not?
• What protections or education should college athletes have to protect their physical, mental, academic, and fiscal wellness?

Wild animals

• Should people be allowed to own wild animals? Why or why not?
• When should the government or other organizations be allowed to disrupt a wild animal's habitat?

Health care

• Is health care a right for all citizens?
• How could health care be reimagined to more fully embrace prevention and wellness?
• Should schools ban junk food sales in the cafeteria or campus?
• Should junk food be taxed at a higher rate to raise money to combat the health issues it can cause?

Standardized testing

• Should standardized testing be abolished in high schools?
• How should standardized tests be used to evaluate student and teacher progress?
• How heavily weighted should standardized test scores be in the college admissions process?

Some other popular persuasive topics

These topics are mainstays of persuasive essays, but they usually require more intensive research. As you read about the topic from a variety of sources, let your research help you choose a perspective or viewpoint.

These are just topics–remember that you will still have to choose a position and make it right-sized based on your research.

• exotic animals
• death penalty
• minimum wage and living wage
• school uniforms
• animal testing
• genetic engineering
• nuclear power

The Best Persuasive Essay Topics

You can use any one of the above twenty-five topics and write a terrific essay, but the best persuasive essay topic will be one you care deeply about.

Don't overlook the activities, ideas, and issues that are around you every day.

Do you love a specific genre of music? What do people within that community love to argue about? That might be a good persuasive essay topic.

Do you hate the latest updates to your favorite video game? You could write a persuasive essay about the reasons they aren't working and what developers should do instead.

Do you listen to certain podcasts or watch specific tv shows on repeat? What problems, controversies, or disagreements do people discuss about your favorites?

By far, the best persuasive essays I've read are on topics that students are passionate about. When you take the time to develop a topic and position using research and your own interests and passions, the essay will be stronger!

What other persuasive topics do you find most compelling? What tips do you have for choosing a good topic? Share in the comments .

Set the timer for 15 minutes . Choose one of these ideas and write as much of the essay as you can in one sitting. When you're finished, share your start in the Pro Practice Workshop for feedback from the community. And if you share, please be sure to comment on a few stories by other writers.

Sue Weems is a writer, teacher, and traveler with an advanced degree in (mostly fictional) revenge. When she’s not rationalizing her love for parentheses (and dramatic asides), she follows a sailor around the globe with their four children, two dogs, and an impossibly tall stack of books to read. You can read more of her writing tips on her website .

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Effective Writing Assignments

Six parts of an effective prompt.

One of the most common challenges in designing a prompt is determining how much information to include. We recommend that you  limit the information provided on the prompt to the unique requirements for this assignment  and that you provide students with writing guides distinct from the prompt that outline your expectations for different types of assignments and different disciplines.

Of course, the following is just one model for arranging a prompt. We encourage you to adapt it as you see fit to best provide your students with the guidance that will help them produce the kinds of papers you want to read.

1. Articulation of purpose

This section explains the significance of the assignment itself by explaining  what skills students will display in their writing and why they are important.

This section may also identify the  audience  of the assignment. If the assignment has real-world applications (for example, if students are asked to construct a business memo), this section may present students with a scenario that their writing will address.

De Paul Teaching Commons identifies nine of the most common purposes for writing, including encouraging students to engage course material, to develop scholarly skills, and to bridge academic and real world understanding. On their site, they include a helpful  chart  that breaks each of these purposes into smaller goals and suggests which types of writing assignments engage each.

Below is a sample articulation of purpose. You can find the full prompt from which this example is drawn  here .

2. Summary of assignment

Essentially, this is the “thesis statement” of the prompt. Assignment summaries tend to work best when limited to a few sentences in which you provide students with the  genre of the assignment, the most important components of the assignment, and the audience for their paper.

You can find the full prompt from which this example is drawn here .

3. Logistics

This section provides students with the basic information about your requirements,  including the specific length, the due date, the method of submission, formatting requirements, and citation style.

You can find the full prompt from which this example is drawn  here .

4. Key components of the paper or important sections

This is a where you might provide  a brief synopsis of the genre ,  or type of assignment,in which students are writing and  address the types and number of sources they should use . You might also use this space to refer students to a writing guide.

5. Framing questions

This section is designed to  provide students with further guidance . Depending on the type of assignment, you might include either an overview of important sections or framing questions or both. The length of this section will depend on the degree to which you expect students to develop their own framing questions.

6. Evaluation criteria

This section could refer back to your  rubric , but it’s also a good idea to include those general categories on your prompt as well. Precise language is particularly helpful in this section. For examples of alternatives to criteria like “assignment is well-written,” you may want to check out our examples of precise language .

Bonus: References to Resources, Tips for Approaching the Project, Common Missteps & Models

References to resources.

As its name suggests, this section directs students to resources that will help them with their assignment. You might include links to websites or information about library resources available to them, suggestions for visiting the DEWC or departmental tutors, or other useful information.

Tips for Approaching the Project

Perhaps you want students to write their papers in a particular order or take notes in a certain way. By separating that information from the rest of the prompt, you can offer them with an easy way to reference your suggestions.

Common Errors

This can be a particularly helpful section to include – if students in your Business Writing class often lapse into poetic language or students in your Art History class tend to want to make value judgments about the works they’re analyzing, you can warn them off here.

Reproductions

We recommend providing models for writing  in your class throughout the semester. Providing a model of an exemplary paper for students when you distribute the prompt can go a long way toward producing the kind of papers you want to be grading.

Better Assignments.  Writing Center. Yale College. 2014. Web. 1 June 2014. 

Boye, Allison.  How Do I Create Meaningful and Effective Assignments?  Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development Center. Texas Tech University. 2014. 1 June 2014.

Brewster, Glen et al.  Formal Biology Lab Reports.  Writer’s Guide. Westfield State College. Web. 1 June 2014. 

Creating Effective Assignments.  Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. University of New Hampshire. 2004. Web. 1 June 2014.

Gardner, Traci.  Ten Tips for Designing Writing Assignments.  Pedablogical. 2001. Web. 1 June 2014.

Gately, Maeve.  Writing an Art History Paper.  Writing Resources. Hamilton College Writing Center. 2014. Web. 1 June 2014.

Guidelines for Analysis of Art .  Department of Art. University of Arkansas at Little Rock. n.d. Web. 1 June 2014.

Jehn, Tom, and Jane Rosenweig.  Writing in the Disciplines: Advice and Models: Supplement to accompany Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference, Sixth Edition.  Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s. 2007.

Matching Learning Goals to Assignment Types.  De Paul Teaching Commons. DePaul University. n.d. Web. 1 June 2014.

Pop, Andrei.  How to Do Things with Pictures: A Guide for Writing in Art History. Disciplinary Writing Guides. Harvard Writing Project. 2008. Web. 1 June 2014.

Writing Assignments . Center for Teaching and Learning. Hobart and William Smith Colleges. 2014. Web. 1 June 2014.

Writing Prompt (Composition)

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

A writing prompt is a brief passage of text (or sometimes an image) that provides a potential topic idea or starting point for an original essay , report , journal entry , story, poem, or other forms of writing. Writing prompts are commonly used in the essay portions of standardized tests, but they may also be devised by the writers themselves.

A writing prompt, according to Garth Sundem and Kristi Pikiewicz, usually has "two basic components: the prompt itself and directions explaining what the students should do with it." ( Writing in the Content Areas , 2006)

Examples and Observations

"Today is Kiss and Make Up Day, a day to fix relationships that need mending. " Prompt . Have you ever been in an argument with a friend or a member of your family? What was the disagreement over? How did you resolve it?" (Jacqueline Sweeney, Prompt a Day!: 360 Thought-Provoking Writing Prompts Keyed to Every Day of the School Year . Scholastic, 1998)

Elicting Insightful Responses

"Responses to writing prompts are typically more insightful than if a teacher allows students to simply write for a certain amount of time without specifying a topic." (Jacalyn Lund and Deborah Tannehill,  Standards-Based Physical Education Curriculum Development , 2nd ed. Jones and Bartlett, 2010)

Touching on Experiences

"Two characteristics of engaging . . . writing prompts are that they touch on experiences accessible to the students, and they allow for multiple ways to write an answer." (Stephen P. Balfour, "Teaching Writing and Assessment Skills." Improving Writing and Thinking Through Assessment , ed. by Teresa L. Flateby. IAP. 2011)

Writing Prompt for 'An Initiation'

"For the first assignment in the course, I'd like you to write a personal narrative that tells us something about who you are or what your interests are. The audience for this paper is the instructor and the class and the purpose is to introduce yourself to us in a way that will help all of us get to know each other. Be sure to include specific details that show rather than tell. Consult your class notes about writing successful narratives. Your narrative should be two to four pages long." (Julie Neff-Lippman in Concepts in Composition: Theory and Practice in the Teaching of Writing , 2nd ed., by Irene L. Clark. Routledge, 2012)

Understanding Writing Prompts

"To help build students' skill in reading and understanding a prompt, you should spend a class period analyzing two prompts by discussing the kinds of questions students need to ask themselves as they plan a writing response. . . . 1. What form of writing is the prompt asking for? 2. What ideas or arguments will the reader expect you to suggest? Would these points be good paragraph topics? 3. What does the prompt expect you to do? 4. Who is the audience for this essay? 5. Write a quick one-sentence answer to each question asked in the prompt. Use these answers to develop your outline and thesis ." (Sydell Rabin, Helping Students Write to a Prompt . Scholastic, 2002)

Responding to Writing Prompts on the SAT

"Topics for writing prompts tend to be broad, open-ended, and adaptable enough for any test-taker to find something to write about. Remember that you will not need any specific subject matter knowledge to answer the question. The excerpt in this sample is a typical example: The role of advertising is to induce people to buy goods and services. Advertising is neither moral nor immoral. It is ethically neutral. The writing prompt will most likely be based on a statement or a quotation . In order to answer the question that follows, you must understand what the excerpt is about. However, if you can't figure out the meaning or aren't sure, don't worry. The test-writers tell you the issue in the assignment. "However, don't ignore the excerpt. You may find some phrases that you can use in your essay. Referring back to the excerpt by paraphrasing it or using some words from it can be an effective technique." (Margaret Moran, Master Writing for the SAT: What You Need for Test Success . Peterson's, 2008)

Expository and Persuasive Writing Prompts

"An expository prompt asks you to define, explain, or tell how to do something. The following is an example of an expository writing prompt. Most people have a favorite season or time of year. Write an essay describing your favorite season. Discuss what makes that season special to you. "A persuasive prompt asks you to convince the reader to accept your opinion or to take a specific action. The following is an example of a persuasive writing prompt. To cut back on expenses, your principal has asked the school board for permission to cancel all field trips for the remainder of the year. Some people think this is a good idea because they consider a field trip a 'vacation' from learning and therefore an unnecessary expense. Write to the school board explaining your position on the issue. Use facts and examples to develop your argument. " (J. Brice and Dana Passananti, OGT Ohio Graduation Test: Reading and Writing . Research & Education Association, 2007)

Photographs as Writing Prompts

"Keep in mind that students from diverse cultures may respond differently or not relate at all to some photos, especially when the photos are of unfamiliar objects, places, or people. As you select photographs to share as prompts for this activity, make sure you introduce them to your students and allow students to ask questions they might have about them. If you find that some students are so puzzled by a photograph that using it as a writing prompt would be counterproductive, then select an alternative photo for students to describe." (David Campos and Kathleen Fad, Tools for Teaching Writing: Strategies and Interventions for Diverse Learners in Grades 3-8 . ASCD, 2014)

Sources of Writing Prompts

"On occasions I invite participants in my [writing] group to open the dictionary to a word, any word, and offer it to the next person as her prompt, and so on, around the room with each writer receiving a different word to write from. And I never read anything without a notebook by my side or sticky notes within reach. You never know when the perfect prompt will appear. . . . "The real world can also be a source for writing prompts. I jot down phrases I hear during the day (a writer always eavesdrops), or something I've seen scrawled on a building ('This Is the Last Time'), or notes from a menu at lunch (juice from the ripest berries). . . . Even directions on a cereal box have served as a writing prompt for my drop-in group ('Slide finger under the flap and loosen gently'). Faulkner said there's a bit of the scavenger in every writer. This is what we do when we're collecting inspiration." (Judy Reeves, Writing Alone, Writing Together: A Guide for Writers and Writing Groups . New World Library, 2002)

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• Pronoun Exercise: Recasting a Paragraph With Pronouns
• Definition and Examples of Evaluation Essays

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Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Developing writing prompts.

A writing prompt introduces and focuses the writing topic. The purposes of a writing prompt are to encourage the student’s interest in a topic and encourage them to write about it in a thoughtful and creative way. While an effective prompt introduces and limits the writing topic, it should also provide clear instructions about the writing task.

An effective writing prompt includes two basic components;

• A situation: The situation presents the general topic students are to write about. It is intended to spark the students interest and be consistent with their experience; and
• Directions: The directions, describing the task students must complete, should be stated in a way that encourages students to share their knowledge and experience or inspires their thought and creativity.

When developing a writing prompt, the instructor should consider:

• Essay type : The type of essay can influence the type and content of the prompt. When writing a prompt, first determine which type of essay the students will be writing. Common essay types include: argument, descriptive, expository (also known as evaluative, reflective, or analytic), narrative, opinion, and persuasive.
• Prompt construction: One useful approach to prompt writing is to break it into three parts. The first part introduces the topic to the students; the second part encourages students to think about the topic, possibly with a pre-writing activity in which students brainstorm for ideas; the final part describes the writing task
• Brevity: Writing prompt should be short and focused to avoid confusing students, but the instructor must ensure they provide sufficient information in order for students to clearly understand the assigned writing task.
• Repetition: The parts of the prompt may be repetitive. Using parallel wording helps students remain focused on the specific writing task.
• Bias and sensitivity: Topics should be inclusive of and equitable to all of your students. Prompts should be written in a manner that all students will have knowledge and experience to understand them regardless of cultural and other factors. Prompts should avoid cultural, ethnic, gender, or other stereotyping.

Writing prompt construction:

• Part 1. Introduce the topic or writing situation with a statement or generalization to orient the student to the topic.
• Part 2. Encourage students to brainstorm and to make a personal connection with the topic. The instructor might include specific ideas promote ideas.
• Part 3. Describe the writing task, purpose, and audience. The instructor should provide sufficient information for the students to fully understand their task.

Before writing your prompt, be sure to determine the purpose of the assignment, how the assignment aligns with the learning objectives, and the criteria evaluate the writing, and, finally, which type of prompt will achieve those goals best. Writing prompts can be:

• Descriptive: Asks students to create or describe an image or experience;
• Narrative: Describes a real or fictitious scenario and invites students to tell a story about it;
• Expository: Asks students to provide information about a topic. or
• Persuasive:. Presents an opinion or viewpoint, requiring students to take a stance and defend it.

Descriptive Prompts

Descriptive prompts often contain cue terms, such as “describe in detail”, “describe how something looked/felt/smelled/tasted”, to help the reader to experience the same thing. This is in contrast to an expository prompt which would ask the student explain or tell “why”. Example descriptive prompt

Many people have a favorite childhood toy. Sometimes these favorite childhood toys are not even expensive but were giving to you by someone special or as a reward.. Think about your favorite toy. It could be a stuffed animal or doll. It could even be the toy you made out of an everyday object, such as a blanket. Think about this favorite childhood toy, memories created with this toy, what it looked like, how it felt to have it with you. Write an essay that will be posted in your e-portfolio in which you describe your favorite childhood toy. Make sure you provide enough details so your readers can see it and feel what it is like to be there.

Narrative Prompts

Narrative writing recounts a personal or fictional experience or tells a story based on real or imagined events. Narrative writing is often characterized by insight, creativity, drama, suspense, humor, and/or fantasy. Narrative prompts use cue terms such as “tell about…”, “tell what happened”, or “write a story.” Similar to descriptive prompts, narrative prompts should avoid asking the students to explain “why.”

Example Narrative Prompt

Vacations can create some wonderful and not-so-wonderful memories. Sometimes vacations turn out to be funny, strange, scary, or weird. Think about a vacation with your family or friends that either became a favorite memory because it was the best, strangest, funniest, or worst vacation. Think about what you did, what else was happening at the time, where you were, who was involved, and the time of day or year it happened.

Write a story about the best, strangest, funniest, or worst vacation. Make sure you include enough details so the instructor can understand and follow your story.

Expository Prompts

Expository writing informs, clarifies, explains, defines, and/or instructs. Problem and solution, cause and effect, and how-to essays are subtypes of expository writing. Expository writing is guided by a purpose and with a specific audience in mind, therefore the voice and essay organization must align with the subject and audience. Expository prompts use the cue words: why, how, what, and explain.

Example Expository Prompt

Some animals have evolved to live and thrive under extreme climate conditions or to eat a very specific diet. Think about an animal that has evolved to live under extreme climate conditions or to eat a very specific diet. Think about where this animal lives, what the climate conditions are like, the types of food it eats, and how it gets its food. Think about the possible advantage and disadvantages for the animal of living in this habitat or eating this diet. Write an essay for your e-portfolio that identifies the animal and its unique habitat or diet and explains (with specific details to support your explanation) why it is an advantage for the animal to have evolved this way.

Persuasive Prompts

Persuasive writing is intended to convince the reader that a point of view is valid or to take a specific action. Persuasive writing should address the strengths and weakness of both sides of an issue but ultimately support one perspective. Persuasive prompts use the cue words “convince”, “persuade”, and “why,” rather than using terms like “how.”

Example Persuasive Prompt

Some parents are concerned about administering vaccines to their infants and children because they believe vaccines can lead to autism. Your sister who is currently pregnant is considering not vaccinating her child. Think about whether you agree or disagree with her plan to not vaccinate her child. Think about the advantages and disadvantages of vaccinating a child and what the scientific literature says. Write a letter to your pregnant sister in which you state your opinion on the decision to not vaccinate. Include enough specific details to support your opinion and to convince your sister that your position on the issue is correct.

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Whether you are given a selection of prompts to choose from or just one, knowing something about the various sorts of writing prompts can help you understand what your teacher expects and how you should approach the project.

“Compare and Contrast”

This classic writing prompt can be quite challenging because it sounds almost as if you are being asked to compile a list of similarities and differences. While a list might be of use in the planning stage, this prompt asks you to use what you discover to arrive at a conclusion about the two works under discussion.

Example: “Compare and contrast the two endings for Dickens’ Great Expectations paying special attention to the situation of Stella at the close of the novel.”

• Find three or four elements from the texts upon which to base your comparison.
• Examine possible connections and determine a thesis.
• Base your outline around the elements you’ve chosen, remembering to give equal coverage to each side.

“Discuss the theme of x as it appears in works a, b, and c.”

This is an extended or re-named compare and contrast prompt. In this situation, you are given a general theme, such as “loss of innocence” or “self-revelation.” Your job is to use the instances of that theme to arrive at some general conclusions regarding how the theme works in the text you are analyzing.

Example: “Discuss the ways in which Shakespeare talks about the passing of time in three of the sonnets we read for class.”

• Re-read carefully the selected works looking specifically for the theme or motif in question. Then research the ways in which other critics have examined this theme.
• Determine your argument. Will you make a claim for similarity (“A, b, and c use x in much the same way.”), difference (“A, b, and c, when dealing with x, take highly individual approaches.”), or superiority (“While a and b deal with x, c clearly demonstrates a richer, more nuanced treatment.”)?
• Organize your paper around the works, making each point deal thoroughly with a discrete work. Remember that connections are of the utmost importance for this paper, so pay close attention to your transitions.

“What is the role of women/the role of class/the role of the Other as presented in this work?”

All three examples above serve as first steps to the larger world of literary theory and criticism. Writing prompts like this ask you to examine a work from a particular perspective. You may not be comfortable with this new perspective. Chances are that since your instructor has given you such an assignment, the issues in question will be at least partially covered in class.

Example: “Discuss the ways in which the outsider or Other is dealt with in James Joyce’s story “The Dead.”

• Categorize the persons or characters in the piece. What are they in the most general, stereotypical way? Male or female? Lower or upper class? Natives or foreigners? Strangers or friends?
• Examine the ways in which the characters you’ve categorized fit or don’t fit into the boxes you’ve assigned them. Do they support or undermine the categories, and what do others (including the author) say about them and their place in the world?
• Write your paper as if you were giving a new definition (or an amended definition)of the category in question using the text as your guide. Your main points should highlight the ways in which the text uses or discards the accepted categories.

“Critic A has famously said “B” about this work. In light of our study of the piece in question, would you agree or disagree, why or why not?”

This sort of question is often asked as an in-class essay, but can appear as a prompt for larger papers. The goal of a question like this is to give you the opportunity to deal with the critical voices of others in your own writings.

Example: “C.S. Lewis has said that Chaucer is “our foremost poet of joy” in the English language, and in this field he “has few equals and no masters.” Discuss how this applies to the ending of “The Knight’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales.”

• Read and re-read the quote from the prompt several times. Ask yourself what seems to be the quote’s central claim.
• Apply that claim to the relevant passage or work. In a way, you are being asked not to examine the literature so much as the claim about the literature. Does it hold up to scrutiny in light of the actual text?
• Your instructor would be equally pleased whether you agree or disagree with the critic’s views as long as you do so in a scholarly fashion. Structure your paper around the claims made by the quote and use lines from the text to support your own reaction.

• Essay Editor

How to Write a Prompt for Essays: A Complete Guide

Writing essays isn’t easy. Even if you decide to use the help of generative AI, you need to think of a good writing prompt. Today, you will learn how to create a prompt as well as why we need prompts for writing with generative models.

What is a prompt?

A prompt is a command you give to an AI generator. It includes instructions on the topic of a text, its style, tone, and other important features. The generative model analyzes your command and prepares an answer based on preexisting rules and patterns that it learned while training. 

Prompts for writing are the key to getting high-quality responses from artificial intelligence generators. By learning how to create a prompt for AI, you can guarantee better results of your collaboration with the advanced technology.

How to create a prompt for AI: secret techniques

It might seem like creating prompts for writing is simple. However, if you use text generators often, you know that getting a non-generic response can be a hassle. So it’s imperative to read the following tutorial on how to create a prompt and learn secret rules that make artificial intelligence obey all commands.

Step 1. Conduct a research

This might seem redundant to you, but the lack of research into a topic makes your prompt too generic. It is important to understand all the angles for covering in your essay in order to develop a comprehensive command.

Luckily, you can use artificial intelligence here, too. Ask a generator to make a plan for your essay, and you will be able to see a rough list of the subjects for studying. This is not exhaustive, of course, but it will direct you to topics that will help to better outline the essay.

Step 2. Make an essay plan 

When you need a brief answer to a general question, you might feed the generator a simple writing prompt. However, when working with essays, articles, or other longer texts, you need to take a considerate approach to receive extensive responses.

Use your research to plan each paragraph of a paper. You will need this to organize the sequence and contents of your requests.

Step 3. Determine the type of a writing prompt

Depending on the type of your assignment, you will have to follow a particular argumentation style. This will also impact the way your commands are worded. Here are the main types of prompts to use in essays.

• Informational . This type focuses on collecting data on a certain topic. In response to these prompts, the generative model will present information in an unbiased, factual way. It can be used when gathering facts for informative essays. Example: “explain how snowflakes are formed.”
• Comparative . Comparative questions make your generator contrast several items. This type is particularly useful for compare and contrast essays, but can also be applied in argumentative essays. Example: “compare wind turbines and thermal plants.”
• Analytical . These requests are used to make the artificial intelligence analyze certain data. They are useful for creating analytical papers and problem solution essays. Example: “analyze the effects of overconsumption on the environment.”
• Persuasive . Persuasive writing prompts make AI give you responses that are more biased in nature. They are useful for argumentative and persuasive papers when your task is to convince the audience to accept a certain point of view. Example: “describe why ocean exploration is more important than space exploration”
• Instructional . These commands are used when you need to give direct and more technical requests. They are often applied when you want to check your texts for grammar mistakes or reword a certain phrase. Example: “organize the references in MLA format.”

Most of the time, you will have to combine several types into one prompt for a clear and original response, so selecting your requests in advance will help you to form a good request.

Step 4. Write your prompt

This final stage deals with creating prompts for writing. However, first, you need to learn about compulsory elements all prompts must include:

• instruction , or a command that tells the generator what it needs to perform;
• context , or additional information that the generator should base its response on;
• purpose , or the goal of the request and specifications, like target audience, essay type, stylistic requirements, etc.;
• example (optional), or sample text that artificial intelligence will emulate in style, narration, etc.

Example: “In the context of renewable energy development, describe the advantages and disadvantages of solar versus wind power. Write a persuasive text meant to convince the general audience that solar power is more sustainable. The text must comply with Chicago style and include three arguments and one counter argument.”

These are the main elements that comprise prompts for writing essays. Use them in your works and compare the results with what you used to get before.

Try your prompt writing skills on Aithor

With this guide, you have now mastered the art of how to create a prompt for AI. Go ahead and try your new knowledge with Aithor, an artificial intelligence generator designed specifically to assist students with academic writing. Whether you want to build a new prompt from scratch or generate free write prompts as an example, Aithor is here to help you get started.

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How To Tackle The Weirdest Supplemental Essay Prompts For This Application Cycle

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Writing the college essay

How do you write a letter to a friend that shows you’re a good candidate for the University of Pennsylvania? What reading list will help the Columbia University admissions committee understand your interdisciplinary interests? How can you convey your desire to attend Yale by inventing a course description for a topic you’re interested in studying?

These are the challenges students must overcome when writing their supplemental essays . Supplemental essays are a critical component of college applications—like the personal statement, they provide students with the opportunity to showcase their authentic voice and perspective beyond the quantitative elements of their applications. However, unlike the personal essay, supplemental essays allow colleges to read students’ responses to targeted prompts and evaluate their candidacy for their specific institution. For this reason, supplemental essay prompts are often abstract, requiring students to get creative, read between the lines, and ditch the traditional essay-writing format when crafting their responses.

While many schools simply want to know “why do you want to attend our school?” others break the mold, inviting students to think outside of the box and answer prompts that are original, head-scratching, or downright weird. This year, the following five colleges pushed students to get creative—if you’re struggling to rise to the challenge, here are some tips for tackling their unique prompts:

University of Chicago

Prompt: We’re all familiar with green-eyed envy or feeling blue, but what about being “caught purple-handed”? Or “tickled orange”? Give an old color-infused expression a new hue and tell us what it represents. – Inspired by Ramsey Bottorff, Class of 2026

What Makes it Unique: No discussion of unique supplemental essay prompts would be complete without mentioning the University of Chicago, a school notorious for its puzzling and original prompts (perhaps the most well-known of these has been the recurring prompt “Find x”). This prompt challenges you to invent a new color-based expression, encouraging both linguistic creativity and a deep dive into the emotional or cultural connotations of color. It’s a prompt that allows you to play with language, think abstractly, and show off your ability to forge connections between concepts that aren’t typically linked—all qualities that likewise demonstrate your preparedness for UChicago’s unique academic environment.

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How to Answer it: While it may be easy to get distracted by the open-ended nature of the prompt, remember that both the substance and structure of your response should give some insight into your personality, perspective, and characteristics. With this in mind, begin by considering the emotions, experiences, or ideas that most resonate with you. Then, use your imagination to consider how a specific color could represent that feeling or concept. Remember that the prompt is ultimately an opportunity to showcase your creativity and original way of looking at the world, so your explanation does not need to be unnecessarily deep or complex—if you have a playful personality, convey your playfulness in your response; if you are known for your sarcasm, consider how you can weave in your biting wit; if you are an amateur poet, consider how you might take inspiration from poetry as you write, or offer a response in the form of a poem.

The goal is to take a familiar concept and turn it into something new and meaningful through a creative lens. Use this essay to showcase your ability to think inventively and to draw surprising connections between language and life.

Harvard University

Prompt: Top 3 things your roommates might like to know about you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in both form and substance—first, you only have 150 words to write about all 3 things. Consider using a form other than a traditional essay or short answer response, such as a bullet list or short letter. Additionally, note that the things your roommate might like to learn about you do not necessarily overlap with the things you would traditionally share with an admissions committee. The aim of the prompt is to get to know your quirks and foibles—who are you as a person and a friend? What distinguishes you outside of academics and accolades?

How to Answer it: First and foremost, feel free to get creative with your response to this prompt. While you are producing a supplemental essay and thus a professional piece of writing, the prompt invites you to share more personal qualities, and you should aim to demonstrate your unique characteristics in your own voice. Consider things such as: How would your friends describe you? What funny stories do your parents and siblings share that encapsulate your personality? Or, consider what someone might want to know about living with you: do you snore? Do you have a collection of vintage posters? Are you particularly fastidious? While these may seem like trivial things to mention, the true creativity is in how you connect these qualities to deeper truths about yourself—perhaps your sleepwalking is consistent with your reputation for being the first to raise your hand in class or speak up about a cause you’re passionate about. Perhaps your living conditions are a metaphor for how your brain works—though it looks like a mess to everyone else, you have a place for everything and know exactly where to find it. Whatever qualities you choose, embrace the opportunity to think outside of the box and showcase something that admissions officers won’t learn about anywhere else on your application.

University of Pennsylvania

Prompt: Write a short thank-you note to someone you have not yet thanked and would like to acknowledge.

What Makes it Unique: Breaking from the traditional essay format, this supplement invites you to write directly to a third party in the form of a 150-200 word long letter. The challenge in answering this distinct prompt is to remember that your letter should say as much about you, your unique qualities and what you value as it does about the recipient—all while not seeming overly boastful or contrived.

How to Answer it: As you select a recipient, consider the relationships that have been most formative in your high school experience—writing to someone who has played a large part in your story will allow the admissions committee some insight into your development and the meaningful relationships that guided you on your journey. Once you’ve identified the person, craft a thank-you note that is specific and heartfelt—unlike other essays, this prompt invites you to be sentimental and emotional, as long as doing so would authentically convey your feelings of gratitude. Describe the impact they’ve had on you, what you’ve learned from them, and how their influence has shaped your path. For example, if you’re thanking a teacher, don’t just say they helped you become a better student—explain how their encouragement gave you the confidence to pursue your passions. Keep the tone sincere and personal, avoid clichés and focus on the unique role this person has played in your life.

University of Notre Dame

Prompt: What compliment are you most proud of receiving, and why does it mean so much to you?

What Makes it Unique: This prompt is unique in that it invites students to share something about themselves by reflecting on someone else’s words in 50-100 words.

How to Answer it: The key to answering this prompt is to avoid focusing too much on the complement itself and instead focus on your response to receiving it and why it was so important to you. Note that this prompt is not an opportunity to brag about your achievements, but instead to showcase what truly matters to you. Select a compliment that truly speaks to who you are and what you value. It could be related to your character, work ethic, kindness, creativity, or any other quality that you hold in high regard. The compliment doesn’t have to be grand or come from someone with authority—it could be something small but significant that left a lasting impression on you, or it could have particular meaning for you because it came from someone you didn’t expect it to come from. Be brief in setting the stage and explaining the context of the compliment—what is most important is your reflection on its significance and how it shaped your understanding of yourself.

Stanford University

Prompt: List five things that are important to you.

What Makes it Unique: This prompt’s simplicity is what makes it so challenging. Stanford asks for a list, not an essay, which means you have very limited space (50 words) to convey something meaningful about yourself. Additionally, the prompt does not specify what these “things” must be—they could be a physical item, an idea, a concept, or even a pastime. Whatever you choose, these five items should add depth to your identity, values, and priorities.

How to Answer it: Start by brainstorming what matters most to you—these could be values, activities, people, places, or even abstract concepts. The key is to choose items or concepts that, when considered together, provide a comprehensive snapshot of who you are. For example, you might select something tangible and specific such as “an antique telescope gifted by my grandfather” alongside something conceptual such as “the willingness to admit when you’re wrong.” The beauty of this prompt is that it doesn’t require complex sentences or elaborate explanations—just a clear and honest reflection of what you hold dear. Be thoughtful in your selections, and use this prompt to showcase your creativity and core values.

While the supplemental essays should convey something meaningful about you, your values, and your unique qualifications for the university to which you are applying, the best essays are those that are playful, original, and unexpected. By starting early and taking the time to draft and revise their ideas, students can showcase their authentic personalities and distinguish themselves from other applicants through their supplemental essays.

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16+ Best ChatGPT Prompts for Writing All of My Best AI Writing Prompts + The Perfect Prompt Formula (Explained)

Here’s all of my best ChatGPT prompts for writing great content, free for you to copy & paste straight into ChatGPT and get better content outputs immediately. AI tools like ChatGPT are powerful, but only if you understand how to use them. These writing prompts (and my breakdown of how to structure great AI writing prompts) will save you tons of time.

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I’ve been using AI (and ChatGPT) since it first rolled out and blew all of our collective minds. As a result, I’ve spent literally hours fine-tuning these ChatGPT prompts for writing great content that get me results—ranging from generating entire SEO-optimized blog post drafts, to social copy, content calendars, meta details, and everything in-between.

So without dilly-dallying here, please enjoy my breakdown of all my favorite ChatGPT writing prompts, and what makes for the perfect prompt formula when you go to craft your own prompts:

Let’s dive into each of my ChatGPT writing prompts, one at a time. Real quick though, if you’re anything like me, you like to work smart , not hard . So, I wanna introduce you to my suite of 75+ AI-powered tools for creators, inside RightBlogger (you can create a 100% free account to take all our tools for a spin). These are the tools I wished I had when I first started creating content, built by me.

RightBlogger takes the complex AI prompting out of the equation for you. We handle all that behind-the-scenes, and we’re damn good at it. Thousands of creators, bloggers, marketers, writers, and SEO pros are using our tools instead of ChatGPT—because it simplifies the AI-assisted creation process & allows you to focus on getting results from your content. Come take our tools for a spin with a free account today.

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Here are all my top ChatGPT prompts for writing, broken down by category, so you can hop around to your heart’s content:

16+ ChatGPT Prompts for Writing (and My AI Prompt Formula)

• Core Writing Components (The Greatest Hits)
• Ideation & Planning
• Research & Opportunity Identification
• SEO-Optimizing, Improving, Repurposing & Promoting
• My AI Prompt Writing Formula

Now, let’s dive right in with my greatest hits—the ChatGPT writing prompts I use (and share) most often.

Core Writing Components: My Fundamental ChatGPT Writing Prompts

One of the best ways to think of ChatGPT, is as a powerful writing assistant. It’s not a replacement for you , and it never will be (because it can’t).

However, AI blogging tools like ChatGPT do a fantastic job of laying a foundation, crafting first draft components, and allowing you to dodge blank page mania for one more day… or steering clear from throwing your typewriter across the room…

Here’s how to use ChatGPT to quickly generate useful first drafts for the core components of your writing—introductions, conclusions, outlines, sections within your articles, full articles, and FAQ content that’ll help you help your audience, faster.

1. Introductions

First up, writing introductions with the help of AI. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I’m just not feeling inspired when I sit down to write. Even if I have the kernel of a good idea, it helps me to get some inspiration on ways I could start my blog post. ChatGPT is great for that.

Here’s my ChatGPT prompt for writing introductions that don’t suck, and give you a great starting point to begin your writing process. I also have a free AI blog introduction writer you can use, too.

Here’s what this ChatGPT writing prompt looks like in action, generating an introduction for a blog post (I need) about meditation tips:

Write first draft introductions in just a few clicks using my free blog introduction writer .

2. Conclusions

All great blog conclusions share one thing in common: they effectively call your reader to action. Someone who makes it to the end of your article, is highly engaged with what you’re sharing. This ChatGPT prompt for writing action-oriented conclusions, will steer you in the right direction, to building deeper relationships with your readers.

And here’s a preview of what you can expect ChatGPT to do, using this conclusion prompt:

Craft compelling conclusions in just a few clicks with my free blog conclusion generator .

3. Outlines

Let’s say you have the right blog post idea already loaded up and ready to go… but you’re not so sure about all the details the article should cover. I recommend outlining as much of an article from your own base of knowledge & experience when you can—but in those times when you could use a little inspiration, this ChatGPT prompt for writing an outline, will give you some fantastic starting points to consider.

Here’s a preview of what you can expect with this ChatGPT prompt for writing article outlines:

Create full outlines for your articles using my free blog outline generator tool.

4. Sections of Articles

Another great use case for AI tools like ChatGPT, is in creating smaller chunks of content (think paragraphs and header sections), that take your stance on a particular topic, then expand a bit—giving you more to work with and weave into your articles.

Using this ChatGPT prompt to write sections of your content, here’s an example of what you can expect:

Take my free Paragraph Generator tool for a spin, to speed up this process.

5. Full SEO-Optimized Articles (First Drafts)

Ah yes, writing full SEO-optimized articles using ChatGPT. I knew why you were really here.

I have an entire guide to my personal AI blogging process that goes deeper on my thoughts around how to best utilize tools like ChatGPT and RightBlogger to write blog posts with the help of AI—but the key takeaways are two things:

• Treat AI-generated blog posts as first drafts : We’ve all seen the imperfection of AI on full display more times than we can count, and nothing is more true than if you give AI very little direction to work with, it’s going to be wildly unpredictable in its output . The more guidance you give it (in the form of a detailed prompt), the better your first draft will be, but it’ll always be a first draft, because…
• Weave as much of yourself & your take into the creation process as possible : AI doesn’t have a lived body of human experience, it can’t draw on the real examples inside your head, and it won’t be able to tap into your human emotion. It’s an imitation of all these things, and in that sense it’ll always be non-human. Full articles from sources like ChatGPT and RightBlogger can be pretty impressive, but they still need your editing, your style, real-life examples, stories, and personal experiences.

The first step to writing an SEO-optimized first draft article that uses real-time Google search data, is crafting a great outline.

Step 1: Generating a detailed, SEO-forward outline for ChatGPT to use as a foundation.

Here’s step one of writing a full article draft using ChatGPT, focusing in on creating a great outline first :

Step 2: Make edits to refine your outline.

Interact with ChatGPT to make any necessary edits and revisions to the outline you’ve created.

Please don’t skip this step, it’s crucial to making sure you’re injecting your take, beliefs, style, personality, and experience into the AI writing process. Without you , I can promise your ChatGPT outputs will sound more like AI and be a total pain to level up during your editing process.

Step 3: Write the full first draft of your article using the dialed in outline you’ve created.

And here we go—a preview of what ChatGPT’s doing with this prompt. Not bad, but could use a whole lot of love in the formatting department:

This is kind of a lot, I know. Simplify your AI writing experience by using my free AI article writer . For a super-powered version of this tool, you’ll wanna use RightBlogger’s Article Writer , where we’ve really dialed things up about a hundred notches.

If you dig these ChatGPT writing prompts, you’ll find even more in my roundup of all my top ChatGPT prompts for bloggers , too.

6. FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Researching the most frequently asked questions on a topic you’re considering writing about, is one of the best ways to create genuinely helpful content that real people are already searching for answers about. Use this ChatGPT writing prompt to get the best FAQs (and their answers) in seconds:

Here’s what you can expect from this ChatGPT prompt for writing relevant FAQ content:

We built an FAQ Generator Tool inside RightBlogger that’ll quickly source the most relevant key questions related to your topic, and provide helpful answers, too. Just be sure to double check everything is lookin correct—we know AI sometimes has a mind of its own.

Ideation and Planning ChatGPT Writing Prompts

For me, when great ideas are flowing, they usually come in huge waves and I do my best to capture all of them—even if it’s in the form of a quick audio note or jotting them down in my creative journal if I’m away from my studio.

Yet other times, I can feel totally uninspired. It’s a crazy hot & cold thing sometimes, being a creator.

In times of need, I’m a big fan of turning to tools like ChatGPT to stock me back up with potential ideas and plans for shaking myself out of a creative funk. Here are my favorite prompts for just such occasions.

7. Article Ideas

When your content calendar is running low, and you’re not feeling particularly creative, try using ChatGPT as a tool to spark your fire again. Here’s my ChatGPT prompt for getting a crop of new article ideas within my niche :

Here’s what a slightly tweaked version of ChatGPT ideation prompt looks like in action (you’ll get very similar results):

Try my free blog post idea generator to get a jumpstart on your brainstorming process in just a few clicks.

8. Content Plan + Publishing Schedule

Knowing what you’re going to publish, and when, is a great practice to keep once you’re running a content-fueled business that shows a clear ROI for your time spent creating great content. Here’s my ChatGPT prompt for creating a content plan (aka publishing schedule):

Here’s one example of what this ChatGPT content planning prompt looks like in practice:

Now, let’s dive into using ChatGPT for research and identifying opportunities where you could create content that’ll attract an audience.

Research and Opportunity Identification ChatGPT Writing Prompts

If you think you can do more research than AI models that are trained on virtually the entire Internet, then I’d like to be your friend. For the rest of us, we now have ChatGPT to help with more targeted research.

Perhaps one of the top areas where AI writing tools like ChatGPT and RightBlogger really stand out, is in conducting research to figure out the absolute best, audience-informed topics for you to create content about.

Not knowing how to properly research is a common challenge in your early writing days. The right ChatGPT prompts can help activate this powerful assistant and help you maximize your researching time investment.

9. Keyword Research

There’s an entire art and science to doing keyword research , but in the world of AI, you can get some really fantastic, actionable insights from the right ChatGPT prompt. Here’s mine:

Here’s what this ChatGPT prompt for keyword research looks like, in action:

My free keyword research tool has quickly become one of the most popular in my stable of free blogging tools. Take it for a spin to simplify your keyword research process today.

10. Keyword Clusters

Keyword clusters are a group of related keywords that all have some topical overlap and often, similar search intent. Creating a keyword cluster is a brilliant way to approach mapping out a content strategy that has the potential to rank your writing for tons of terms in your niche. Here’s my ChatGPT prompt for keyword clustering:

Here’s what this keyword clustering prompt looks like inside ChatGPT:

Dig this one? I made a free keyword cluster tool , because I love cluster mapping so much. I think you’ll love it, too.

11. Long-Tail Keywords (People Also Ask)

Now for one of my favorite content research secret weapons—the People Also Ask section of Google search results:

Literally all 4 of these topics would make FANTASTIC articles & videos for a creator in the running or hiking space that wants to earn from affiliate programs . Sheesh, I wish I had more free time…

Anyway, AI tools like ChatGPT and RightBlogger have access to real-time Google search data, so they can quickly perform a search and list out all the most relevant long-tail keyword topics that real people are searching for online—giving you some of the richest, least competitive content ideas to get working on.

Here’s what you can expect with this People Also Ask ChatGPT prompt:

Try RightBlogger’s People Also Ask Tool to instantly source long-tail keyword opportunities and get fantastic starter copy to answer those questions in content for your site.

SEO-Optimizing, Improving, Repurposing, and Promoting Your Content

Once you’ve created your content, there’s still a whole lot more that goes into growing a successful business around your writing .

These are my favorite ChatGPT prompts for everything from SEO-optimization, to promoting my writing, and repurposing it for different formats & platforms.

12. SEO-Optimize Your Writing

SEO (search engine optimization) is the process of thoughtfully finding the balance of writing for humans & search algorithms at the same time. It’s a far more in-depth process than we can cover here, but it essentially helps you tune up an article you’ve written—in a way that gives it the best possible shot at ranking high in Google search results .

This is the ChatGPT prompt I use for optimizing an article that’s already published. Alternatively, if you have the copy from your working draft, you can paste that into ChatGPT and get the same analysis.

Here’s that AI prompt, in action over inside ChatGPT:

You’ll still need to take action on the SEO-optimization suggestions, but you can sleep real good at night knowing these insights come from a deep well of ‘knowledge’ about what Google will rank high in their search results.

13. LinkedIn Posts

I try and post to my LinkedIn at least a few times each week, but sometimes I go literally months without sharing updates or weighing in with my take on something that’s going down in the content creation space. This ChatGPT prompt for writing LinkedIn posts is super helpful in those moments when I’m not feeling inspired.

Here’s an example of what you can expect with this ChatGPT prompt for writing LinkedIn posts:

Take RightBlogger’s LinkedIn Post Generator for a spin with a free account, today.

14. Tweets (X) Posts

Same story, different platform for me. I used to spend a lot of time on Twitter, but these days, I don’t get as much personal joy out of social media—so when I need some ideas for what to share with my community, here’s the AI prompt I keep handy:

Here’s this ChatGPT prompt for writing tweets, in action:

Take RightBlogger’s Tweet (X Post) Idea Generator for a spin with a free account, today.

15. Grammar and Spellcheck

There’s nothing wurse than hitting publish and having a few unnoticed typos or grammar mistakes sprinkled throughout your writing. Use this ChatGPT prompt for checking your grammar and spelling, in a snap:

This one’s pretty self-explanatory, so no example image necessary—get your content edited & cleaned up by a powerful AI assistant.

Take my free grammar fixer tool for a ride today, and make your blog editing process even quicker.

16. Content Gap Analysis

Ever wonder why some articles outrank yours in Google search results and drive more traffic as a result? Well, it turns out AI tools like ChatGPT and RightBlogger (our Content Gap Analysis tool is sick), are absolutely fantastic at conducting this kind of analysis & reporting back with actionable takeaways to improve your writing in the eyes of search engines. Here’s my content gap analysis prompt:

Here’s a preview of what this content gap analysis prompt will generate for you:

We have an even more powerful Content Gap Analysis tool inside RightBlogger that utilizes multiple different data sources and complex prompting. I know you’ll dig it if you give it a try.

My AI Writing Prompt Formula (to Get Better AI Outputs)

If snagging some good prompts is like being handed a fish, then learning the skill of prompt engineering and how to use ChatGPT like a pro, is like teaching yourself to fish. Oh, and you can even use DALL-E inside ChatGPT to generate unique stock images. Not bad…

Learning to prompt is a skill, and a great investment in your future as a writer, to learn how to weave in powerful AI tools to your process where it makes sense for you .

Here’s my ChatGPT prompt formula that’ll significantly level up the outputs of any prompt you give it:

• Task : This one is straightforward. Tell the AI what you need. It could be writing an intro, drafting a blog post, or generating ideas.
• Context : Give as much background and detail as possible at this stage. The more specific you are, the better. Let the AI know details that are important to the task (like what your take is on a subject you’re writing about).
• Exemplar : Just a fancy way of saying “example.” Explain to ChatGPT exactly what kind of output you’re looking for. Including real examples will help it get closer to what you envision.
• Persona : Who should the AI “be” while writing this content for you? Imagine that AI can wear different hats for different tasks. Explain who it is within your prompts, and it’ll have a much better understanding of how to go about creating your output.
• Format : Share which format you want the final product to come in. What exactly should the AI output look like? Do you want a list, a paragraph, a blog post with multiple sections, maybe just some bullet points? Be specific here.
• Voice : Always define the style and tone when you’re writing a ChatGPT prompt. Do you want your output to be casual, formal, playful, something much more nuanced? Let these tools know, so your writing outputs will match your vibe.

If you can nail these elements at a high level within your ChatGPT prompts, then I can promise this AI prompt formula will serve you well.

Drop any questions or share your experiences with AI in the comments. Let’s help each other grow and write amazing content!

Hi I'm Ryan Robinson

I'm a blogger, but I'm not my blog. I am not my business either. Occasional podcaster and very-much-recovering side project addict. Co-Founder at RightBlogger . Join me here, on ryrob.com to learn how to start a blog and build a purpose-connected business. Be sure to take my free blogging tools for a spin... especially my wildly popular free keyword research tool & AI article writer . They rule. Somehow, I also find time to write for publications like Fast Company , Forbes , Entrepreneur , The Next Web , Business Insider , and more. Let’s chat on Twitter (X?) and YouTube about our feelings (and business, of course).

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6 replies to “16+ Best ChatGPT Prompts for Writing (My AI Prompt Formula)”

Thanks for the helpful blog Ryan.

Thanks for the 16+Best ChatGPT Prompts for Writing . More Grace to you. l am a newbie, attempting to write blog on Christian topics, and other topics as l May consider relevant. kindly, guide and advice me on how to get started.

Great! Information.

Thank you for this helpful post, as this is really help me who running a small publishing and always need to speed up content production.

thank you so much for providing these helpful prompts. really this is an amazing post

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525 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing

Questions that invite students to write about themselves, their lives and their beliefs.

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Updated with 80 new prompts from the 2022-23 school year!

We’ve been posting fresh writing prompts every school day for over a decade now, and every so often we create a themed collection like this one to help you find what you need all in one place.

Below, we’ve rounded up 525 evergreen questions to encourage you to write about your life. They cover everything from family, friendships and growing up to gender, spirituality, money, school and more. (They’re also all available here as a clickable PDF .)

We hope they’ll inspire you, whether you’re entering our related 100-Word Personal Narrative Contest this fall, or just want to improve your writing skills. Like all our Student Opinion questions , each links to a related Times article, which is free to read if you access it from our site.

So dive in and pick the questions that motivate you to tell an interesting story, describe a memorable event, observe the details in your world, imagine a possibility, or reflect on who you are and what you believe.

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What is ChatGPT? Here's everything you need to know about OpenAI's chatbot

• ChatGPT is getting a futuristic human update. 
• ChatGPT has attracted users at a feverish pace and spurred Big Tech to release other AI chatbots.
• Here's how ChatGPT works — and what's coming next.

OpenAI has started rolling out an advanced voice mode for its blockbuster chatbot ChatGPT.

Sam Altman's company began rolling out the chatbot's new voice mode to a small group of ChatGPT Plus users in July. OpenAI said the new voice feature "offers more natural, real-time conversations, allows you to interrupt anytime, and senses and responds to your emotions."

The feature is part of OpenAI's wider GPT-4o launch, a new version of the bot that can hold conversations with users and has vision abilities. The chatbot's vision features are expected as a later release. 

The move is a big step for the future of AI-powered virtual assistants, which tech companies have been racing to develop.

Since its release in late 2022, hundreds of millions of people have experimented with the tool, which is already changing how the internet looks and feels to users.

Users have flocked to ChatGPT to improve their personal lives and boost productivity . Some workers have used the AI chatbot to develop code , write real estate listings , and create lesson plans, while others have made teaching the best ways to use ChatGPT a career all to itself.

ChatGPT offers dozens of plug-ins to ChatGPT Plus subscribers. An Expedia plug-in can help you book a trip, while one from OpenTable will nab you a dinner reservation. OpenAI has also launched Code Interpreter, a version of ChatGPT that can code and analyze data .

While the personal tone of conversations with an AI bot like ChatGPT can evoke the experience of chatting with a human, the technology that runs on large language model tools doesn't speak with sentience and doesn't "think" the way humans do. 

That means that even though ChatGPT can explain quantum physics or write a poem on command, a full AI takeover isn't exactly imminent , according to experts.

"There's a saying that an infinite number of monkeys will eventually give you Shakespeare," said Matthew Sag, a law professor at Emory University who studies copyright implications for training and using large language models like ChatGPT.

"There's a large number of monkeys here, giving you things that are impressive — but there is intrinsically a difference between the way that humans produce language, and the way that large language models do it," he said. 

Chatbots like ChatGPT are powered by large amounts of data and computing techniques to make predictions to string words together in a meaningful way. They not only tap into a vast amount of vocabulary and information, but also understand words in context. This helps them mimic speech patterns while dispatching an encyclopedic knowledge. 

Other tech companies like Google and Meta have developed their own large language model tools, which use programs that take in human prompts and devise sophisticated responses.

Despite the AI's impressive capabilities, some have called out OpenAI's chatbot for spewing misinformation , stealing personal data for training purposes , and even encouraging students to cheat and plagiarize on their assignments. 

Some efforts to use chatbots for real-world services have proved troubling. In 2023, the mental health company Koko came under fire after its founder wrote about how the company used GPT-3 in an experiment to reply to users. 

Koko cofounder Rob Morris hastened to clarify on Twitter that users weren't speaking directly to a chatbot, but that AI was used to "help craft" responses. 

Read Insider's coverage on ChatGPT and some of the strange new ways that both people and companies are using chat bots: 

The tech world's reception to ChatGPT:

Microsoft is chill with employees using ChatGPT — just don't share 'sensitive data' with it.

Microsoft's investment into ChatGPT's creator may be the smartest $1 billion ever spent

ChatGPT and generative AI look like tech's next boom. They could be the next bubble.

The ChatGPT and generative-AI 'gold rush' has founders flocking to San Francisco's 'Cerebral Valley'

Insider's experiments: 

I asked ChatGPT to do my work and write an Insider article for me. It quickly generated an alarmingly convincing article filled with misinformation.

I asked ChatGPT and a human matchmaker to redo my Hinge and Bumble profiles. They helped show me what works.

I asked ChatGPT to reply to my Hinge matches. No one responded.

I used ChatGPT to write a resignation letter. A lawyer said it made one crucial error that could have invalidated the whole thing .

Read ChatGPT's 'insulting' and 'garbage' 'Succession' finale script

An Iowa school district asked ChatGPT if a list of books contains sex scenes, and banned them if it said yes. We put the system to the test and found a bunch of problems.

Developments in detecting ChatGPT: 

Teachers rejoice! ChatGPT creators have released a tool to help detect AI-generated writing

A Princeton student built an app which can detect if ChatGPT wrote an essay to combat AI-based plagiarism

Professors want to 'ChatGPT-proof' assignments, and are returning to paper exams and requesting editing history to curb AI cheating

Related stories

ChatGPT in society: 

BuzzFeed writers react with a mix of disappointment and excitement at news that AI-generated content is coming to the website

ChatGPT is testing a paid version — here's what that means for free users

A top UK private school is changing its approach to homework amid the rise of ChatGPT, as educators around the world adapt to AI

Princeton computer science professor says don't panic over 'bullshit generator' ChatGPT

DoNotPay's CEO says threat of 'jail for 6 months' means plan to debut AI 'robot lawyer' in courtroom is on ice

It might be possible to fight a traffic ticket with an AI 'robot lawyer' secretly feeding you lines to your AirPods, but it could go off the rails

Online mental health company uses ChatGPT to help respond to users in experiment — raising ethical concerns around healthcare and AI technology

What public figures think about ChatGPT and other AI tools:

What Elon Musk, Bill Gates, and 12 other business leaders think about AI tools like ChatGPT

Elon Musk was reportedly 'furious' at ChatGPT's popularity after he left the company behind it, OpenAI, years ago

CEO of ChatGPT maker responds to schools' plagiarism concerns: 'We adapted to calculators and changed what we tested in math class'

A theoretical physicist says AI is just a 'glorified tape recorder' and people's fears about it are overblown

'The most stunning demo I've ever seen in my life': ChatGPT impressed Bill Gates

Ashton Kutcher says your company will probably be 'out of business' if you're 'sleeping' on AI

ChatGPT's impact on jobs: 

AI systems like ChatGPT could impact 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, with administrative and legal roles some of the most at risk, Goldman Sachs report says

Jobs are now requiring experience with ChatGPT — and they'll pay as much as $800,000 a year for the skill

ChatGPT may be coming for our jobs. Here are the 10 roles that AI is most likely to replace.

AI is going to eliminate way more jobs than anyone realizes

It's not AI that is going to take your job, but someone who knows how to use AI might, economist says

4 careers where workers will have to change jobs by 2030 due to AI and shifts in how we shop, a McKinsey study says

Companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Meta are paying salaries as high as $900,000 to attract generative AI talent

How AI tools like ChatGPT are changing the workforce:

10 ways artificial intelligence is changing the workplace, from writing performance reviews to making the 4-day workweek possible

Managers who use AI will replace managers who don't, says an IBM exec

How ChatGPT is shaping industries: 

ChatGPT is coming for classrooms, hospitals, marketing departments, and everything else as the next great startup boom emerges

Marketing teams are using AI to generate content, boost SEO, and develop branding to help save time and money, study finds

AI is coming for Hollywood. 'It's amazing to see the sophistication of the images,' one of Christopher Nolan's VFX guy says.

AI is going to offer every student a personalized tutor, founder of Khan Academy says

A law firm was fined $5,000 after one of its lawyers used ChatGPT to write a court brief riddled with fake case references

How workers are using ChatGPT to boost productivity:  

CheatGPT: The hidden wave of employees using AI on the sly

I used ChatGPT to talk to my boss for a week and she didn't notice. Here are the other ways I use it daily to get work done.

I'm a high school math and science teacher who uses ChatGPT, and it's made my job much easier

Amazon employees are already using ChatGPT for software coding. They also found the AI chatbot can answer tricky AWS customer questions and write cloud training materials.

How 6 workers are using ChatGPT to make their jobs easier

I'm a freelance editor who's embraced working with AI content. Here's how I do it and what I charge.

How people are using ChatGPT to make money:

How ChatGPT and other AI tools are helping workers make more money

Here are 5 ways ChatGPT helps me make money and complete time-consuming tasks for my business

ChatGPT course instruction is the newest side hustle on the market. Meet the teachers making thousands from the lucrative gig.

People are using ChatGPT and other AI bots to work side hustles and earn thousands of dollars — check out these 8 freelancing gigs

A guy tried using ChatGPT to turn $100 into a business making 'as much money as possible.' Here are the first 4 steps the AI chatbot gave him

We used ChatGPT to build a 7-figure newsletter. Here's how it makes our jobs easier.

I use ChatGPT and it's like having a 24/7 personal assistant for $20 a month. Here are 5 ways it's helping me make more money.

A worker who uses AI for a $670 monthly side hustle says ChatGPT has 'cut her research time in half'

How companies are navigating ChatGPT: 

From Salesforce to Air India, here are the companies that are using ChatGPT

Amazon, Apple, and 12 other major companies that have restricted employees from using ChatGPT

A consultant used ChatGPT to free up time so she could focus on pitching clients. She landed $128,000 worth of new contracts in just 3 months.

Luminary, an AI-generated pop-up restaurant, just opened in Australia. Here's what's on the menu, from bioluminescent calamari to chocolate mousse.

A CEO is spending more than $2,000 a month on ChatGPT Plus accounts for all of his employees, and he says it's saving 'hours' of time

How people are using ChatGPT in their personal lives:

ChatGPT planned a family vacation to Costa Rica. A travel adviser found 3 glaring reasons why AI won't replace experts anytime soon.

A man who hated cardio asked ChatGPT to get him into running. Now, he's hooked — and he's lost 26 pounds.

A computer engineering student is using ChatGPT to overcome learning challenges linked to her dyslexia

How a coder used ChatGPT to find an apartment in Berlin in 2 weeks after struggling for months

Food blogger Nisha Vora tried ChatGPT to create a curry recipe. She says it's clear the instructions lacked a human touch — here's how.

Men are using AI to land more dates with better profiles and personalized messages, study finds

Lawsuits against OpenAI:

OpenAI could face a plagiarism lawsuit from The New York Times as tense negotiations threaten to boil over, report says

This is why comedian Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT

2 authors say OpenAI 'ingested' their books to train ChatGPT. Now they're suing, and a 'wave' of similar court cases may follow.

A lawsuit claims OpenAI stole 'massive amounts of personal data,' including medical records and information about children, to train ChatGPT

A radio host is suing OpenAI for defamation, alleging that ChatGPT created a false legal document that accused him of 'defrauding and embezzling funds'

Tips on how to write better ChatGPT prompts:

7 ways to use ChatGPT at work to boost your productivity, make your job easier, and save a ton of time

I'm an AI prompt engineer. Here are 3 ways I use ChatGPT to get the best results.

12 ways to get better at using ChatGPT: Comprehensive prompt guide

Here's 9 ways to turn ChatGPT Plus into your personal data analyst with the new Code Interpreter plug-in

OpenAI's ChatGPT can write impressive code. Here are the prompts you should use for the best results, experts say.

Watch: What is ChatGPT, and should we be afraid of AI chatbots?

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