Content creation
Write an AI prompt grounded in your source
You will have a reusable prompt with a task, audience, source and format, plus a way to spot claims the source does not support.
Before you start
- A short piece of source material you own, such as your own notes, a page from your website or a price list
- An AI assistant is helpful for trying the prompt, but you can read and write the prompt without one. A free or paid plan may be needed depending on the tool you choose
What “grounded” means
A grounded prompt tells the assistant to use the material you give it and nothing else. Without a source, an assistant fills gaps with plausible-sounding guesses. That is fine for brainstorming and risky for anything you will publish.
Use four parts: task, audience, source, format
- Task: what you want done, in one verb phrase, such as “write a short email”.
- Audience: who will read it and what they already know.
- Source: the material the assistant must use, pasted in full.
- Format: length, structure and tone, such as “120 words, three short paragraphs, friendly”.
Add one more instruction that matters a great deal: tell the assistant what to do when the source does not cover something.
A template you can copy
Task: [what to write]. Audience: [who will read it and what they know]. Format: [length, structure, tone]. Use only the source below. If the source does not say something, write “not in source” instead of guessing. Do not add figures, names or claims that are not in the source. Source: [paste your own material here]
Paste only material you are comfortable sharing with the tool you use, and remove private details first.
Worked example
Nia runs a small yoga studio. This is a made-up example. She wants a short welcome message for new members, based on her own class notes.
Task: write a welcome message. Audience: new members who have never been to the studio. Format: 100 words, friendly, no exclamation marks. Use only the source below. If the source does not say something, write “not in source”. Source: Classes run Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Mats are provided. Arrive ten minutes early for your first class. Please bring a water bottle.
If the reply mentions a parking area or a discount, neither of which is in the source, Nia knows the assistant made it up and removes it.
Check every claim against the source
Read the answer line by line. Underline each fact: a time, a number, a name, a promise. For each, find the matching line in your source. If you cannot find it, delete it or find a real source.
This check is the point of the whole exercise. A grounded prompt makes errors rarer, not impossible.
Save the prompt and improve it
Keep the template in a note. When a result goes wrong, change the prompt rather than only fixing the answer: tighten the format, add a constraint or supply a better source.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Asking for content without supplying any source
- Pasting private or sensitive material into a tool you do not trust
- Forgetting to say what to do when the source is silent
- Publishing without checking each fact against the source
- Writing one very long prompt instead of improving a short one
Final checklist
- My prompt states a task, audience, source and format
- It tells the assistant to say “not in source” instead of guessing
- I used material I own and am happy to share
- I checked each fact in the answer against the source
- I saved the prompt template for next time