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Artificial Intelligence in Teaching & Learning

Information for Students and Faculty about ChatGPT and Other AI Tools

CLEAR Framework

When using generative AI, a prompt is your question, request, or other input. The CLEAR Framework by librarian and professor Leo S. Lo provides guidance about how to approach AI prompting. 

The prompt (or text you input into the tool) should be: You (the user of AI) should be:

Concise

Logical

Explicit

Adaptive

Reflective

This guide from Georgetown University gives examples of putting the CLEAR Framework into action for research. 

Elements of a Prompt

It's possible to simply type a question into a tool like ChatGPT, but you probably won't get a very helpful response. That's because the AI needs you to provide specific information and context to address the information you're seeking or the task you hope to complete.

To increase the chances of getting a helpful response, include the following elements in a prompt for generative AI:

  • Instruction 
    • The specific task or instruction you want the AI tool to perform
    • Examples: List, summarize, explain...
  • Input Data 
    • The input or question you want a response for
    • Examples: A search strategy for an undergraduate nursing research paper, three potential topics for an English paper on The Yellow Wallpaper... 
  • Context 
    • Information that can steer the model to better responses
    • Examples: Write for a college student reading level, write for a middle school reading level...
  • Output Indicator 
    • The type or format of the output
    • Example: A short paragraph, a list in ascending difficulty... 

Read more about prompt engineering in the Prompt Engineering Guide written by technology consultants from an organization called DAIR.AI (Democratizing Artificial Intelligence Research, Education, and Technologies).

Note: Prompt engineering can get very technical, but it doesn't have to! Don't be intimidated. Try it, experiment, see what works and what doesn't, and keep on learning!  

Sample Prompts

To practice with generative AI, try these prompts as-is, or substitute your own topics.

  • I'm a college student studying botany. Can you help me understand photosynthesis?
  • I need to write a five-page paper on The Color Purple. How can I start it?
  • Write a multiple-choice quiz for college students about how the circulatory system works. Create 12 questions with 4 possible answers each. Include an answer key.
  • I'm preparing for a job interview for a human resources position at the University of Hawaii. Could you act as the interviewer and ask me some questions?
  • I'm a college student and I need to find research articles for my nursing class. The topic is: what screening should be done for perinatal maternal mental health? 
  • I need to find research articles in my library's databases on the topic of gun control. Can you suggest other search terms that would get me good results?