Make the task easier to understand.
CLEAR offers five principles for prompting. Use them to state the task, examine the response, and make a more informed next attempt.
- Concise
- Remove unnecessary wording. Keep the information the task actually needs.
- Logical
- Organize the request in a sensible sequence. Make relationships and dependencies clear.
- Explicit
- State the purpose, audience, constraints, and expected output instead of leaving them implicit.
- Adaptive
- Adjust your request in response to what the system produces and what the task requires.
- Reflective
- Examine the result and your own approach. Decide what worked, what failed, and what to change.
One small improvement.
Starting request
“Help me with an AI workshop.”
A clearer request
“Outline a 45-minute introductory AI literacy workshop for university staff. Include one activity for checking an AI-generated answer. Assume no prior technical knowledge and no paid tools.”
More specific instructions can make a response more useful. They do not guarantee that it is accurate. Use CARE to examine what comes back.