Can ChatGPT really deliver compelling, insightful essays?
A huge part of the answer lies in your capability to prompt ChatGPT.
In this article, we’ll explore actionable prompts and tips to help you generate quality essays with ChatGPT.
Can ChatGPT Write Compelling Essays?
Advanced LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini are great at generating consistent, well-structured content. This means they are also a great help for writing essays.
However, you should know that ChatGPT like other LLMs can also lack nuanced perspective and creative adaptability.
The output from ChatGPT can sometimes feel repetitive or take on a formulaic tone. You might have already noticed that it can lack emotional depth or an expert touch.
But don’t let this discourage you. By providing clear prompts and guidance, you can generate with ChatGPT quite compelling essay pieces.
The key to getting the best essay from ChatGPT lies in how you prompt it. Define the persona, specify the tone, and provide unique ideas, and you’ll get interesting outputs.
Another critical step is editing and humanizing the AI’s work. Post-writing tweaks are what can transform a decent AI-generated essay into an exceptional piece of writing.
6 Prompts for ChatGPT Essay Writing
These six prompts can help you harness the power of ChatGPT to produce essays that are well-structured, insightful, and engaging :
1. Defining the Essay Writer Persona
The first step to getting the best output from ChatGPT is to define the persona of your AI essay writer. You need to help the AI understand what kind of voice, tone, and perspective it should adopt when writing your essay. This will ensure that the generated content matches your requirements and audience expectations.
Prompt Template:
You are an experienced essay writer specializing in [insert domain specialization, such as history, economics, or science]. You’re writing for an audience of [insert audience type, such as high school students, professionals, or general readers] who are interested in [insert niche expertise or topic, such as the economic impact of climate change]. Make sure the tone is [insert desired tone, such as informative, conversational, or persuasive]. Write in a way that is engaging and easy to understand. Reply ‘ok’ if this is clear.
2. Giving Essay Writing Guidelines
To ensure that ChatGPT produces well-structured and articulated essays, you need to provide it with specific writing guidelines. These guidelines should cover aspects like essay structure, flow, style, and even how to use examples and evidence.
Prompt Template:
Whenever you write an essay, ensure it follows this structure: a clear introduction that sets up the topic, a logically structured body with distinct sections covering key arguments, and a conclusion that wraps everything up effectively. Each section should transition seamlessly into the next, guiding the reader through your arguments. Avoid unnecessary jargon and long-winded explanations; prioritize clarity and conciseness. Where possible, support your points with relevant data, quotes, or examples. Write in paragraphs that are short and easy to digest. Reply ‘ok’ if this is clear.
3. Providing an Example of Essay Writing
Providing an example essay to ChatGPT can help it understand your desired style and tone. This approach is highly effective in establishing a reference point for the AI. You can provide an excerpt from your previous writing or from a source that resonates with your preferred style.
Prompt Template:
Here’s an example of the style and tone I want you to use in this essay:
“The emergence of generative artificial intelligence has companies scrambling to define AI strategy and find use cases as workers fret that automation is coming for their jobs.
But while AI job displacement will likely be substantial in the long run, the roll out will be gradual. A new working paper, “Beyond AI Exposure: Which Tasks Are Cost-Effective to Automate With Computer Vision,” found that while AI will likely change labor patterns, predictions of rapid, widespread automation do not consider a slow adoption curve and the technical feasibility and economic attractiveness of building AI systems to do a specific job.
Researchers Neil Thompson, Maja S. Svanberg, and Wensu Li of MIT; Martin Fleming of The Productivity Institute; and Brian Goehring of IBM created a new AI task automation model to more accurately predict the pace of automation. Looking specifically at computer vision, they found that technical and cost barriers could leave about three-quarters of jobs unchanged in the near term.
<Our work highlights the importance of moving beyond ‘AI exposure,’ which looks at technologically what might be automated, to accounting for the economics of the adoption decision to know what is attractive to automate,> said Thompson, a research scientist at MIT Sloan and the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.”
Use this as a reference point when writing the essay. Only reply ‘ok’ if the sample is clear to you.
4. Outlining the Essay
An outline serves as the backbone of any good essay, helping organize thoughts and ensuring that all important points are covered. When using ChatGPT to write an essay, start by having it create an outline based on your topic. This way, the essay will have a logical structure, making it easier to develop each point in detail.
Prompt Template:
Draft an outline for an essay about [insert topic] using the following key ideas: [Insert your main ideas or bullet points]
5. Writing Step-by-Step
Once the outline is ready, it’s time to write the essay step by step. Instruct ChatGPT to focus on each section individually, which ensures that each part of the essay gets the attention it deserves. Writing in smaller segments also allows you to provide feedback and adjust the direction before moving forward.
Prompt Template:
Using the outline we created, write the introduction for the essay. Start with a relevant hook that will grab the reader’s attention and provide enough context to set up the topic. Make sure the introduction leads smoothly into the main argument.
Now, write the first body section of the essay. Focus on [insert specific argument or idea], and support it with relevant evidence or examples. Make sure the writing flows logically and maintains a consistent tone. Keep it within [insert word count, e.g., 300 words].
6. Editing and Refining
Editing is perhaps the most crucial part of creating a compelling essay using ChatGPT. Once the AI has completed the draft, it’s time to refine it to match your standards. This step involves adding your personal touch, ensuring consistency, and making the essay more engaging for your audience.
Prompt Template:
Review the essay you just wrote. Ensure that the tone matches what I originally requested. Make the transitions between paragraphs smoother and add any relevant examples or anecdotes to make the content more relatable. Where necessary, replace generic phrases with more vivid and specific language. Check for redundancy and ensure that each sentence adds value to the argument.
Try out these prompts by yourself and see how that works for your essay !
