Most advice about prompting focuses on clever tricks, but a handful of boring structural habits do more for output quality than any single magic phrase.

First, state the audience explicitly. “Explain database indexing” and “explain database indexing to a junior developer who has never used SQL” produce meaningfully different answers.

Second, specify format before content. Asking for “a comparison table” up front changes how the model organizes its reasoning, not just how it formats the final answer.

Third, give one worked example when the task is unusual. A single example often does more work than three paragraphs of instructions.

Fourth, separate constraints from content. Put word limits, tone, and formatting rules in their own line rather than burying them mid-paragraph.

Fifth, ask for a self-check. Appending “then review your answer for accuracy before finalizing” costs almost nothing and catches a surprising number of errors.

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