Prompting cheat sheet

A one-page reference for writing prompts that work, across ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude and Gemini. UK English. The habits matter more than any single tool.

Key capabilities by level

Beginner

• Ask for one clear thing at a time, in plain English.
• Say who the reader is and what tone you want.
• Treat the first reply as a draft; react to it and ask for changes.

Better

• Give context: paste the source text, notes or data the answer depends on.
• Name the format you want: a table, five bullets, an email under 150 words.
• Ask for the reasoning or the exact source line so you can check it.

Advanced

• Give a role and an example of a good answer to steer style and depth.
• Break a big task into steps and run them in sequence.
• Save a reusable prompt or instruction set for tasks you repeat.

The RTCF framework

A quick shape for any prompt:

• Role: who the model should act as ("a cautious contracts reviewer").
• Task: the single thing you want done ("flag anything ambiguous").
• Context: the material and constraints ("here's the draft; UK English").
• Format: how the answer should look ("a table: clause, issue, fix").

Five best prompt patterns

1. Act as [role]. [Task]. Here is the material: [paste]. Give the answer as [format].
2. Rewrite the text below to be [shorter / warmer / simpler], keeping every fact unchanged. [paste]
3. Summarise this in [number] bullets, then list [number] questions I should ask before acting. [paste]
4. Compare these options in a table ([criteria]), then recommend one and say why. [paste]
5. Review my draft as a critical reader. Flag anything unclear, risky, or likely to be challenged. [paste]

Top three mistakes

• Being vague. "Write an email" gives a generic reply. State the situation, reader, tone and length.
• Withholding the source. If the answer depends on a document or data, paste it in; don't make the model guess.
• Trusting a fluent answer. Confident wording is not proof. Ask for sources or exact lines and check anything that matters.