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Prompt Engineering Best Practices for 2025

Alice Chen

2/5/2025

Why Prompts Matter

The same model can produce vastly different outputs based on how you prompt it. Understanding prompt engineering is essential for anyone working with AI.

Core Principles

### 1. Be Specific

Instead of "Write about dogs", try "Write a 200-word introduction about Golden Retrievers for first-time dog owners, focusing on temperament and care requirements."

### 2. Provide Context

Give the AI relevant background information and specify the role it should play.

### 3. Use Examples

Few-shot prompting with examples dramatically improves output quality.

Advanced Techniques

  • **Chain of Thought**: Ask the model to think step by step
  • **Self-Consistency**: Generate multiple responses and find consensus
  • **ReAct**: Combine reasoning with actions for complex tasks

    • Common Mistakes

  • Being too vague
  • Not specifying output format
  • Ignoring the models limitations

    • Conclusion

    Prompt engineering is part science, part art. Practice, iterate, and learn from what works.

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