[模型微调] Article: A Few Practical Prompts for Changing an Article’s Writing Style — Sharing a Moderator’s Research Findings

When you give it an idea and a title, it can write all kinds of articles that don’t meet your requirements. You can tell at a glance that these articles were generated by a bot. At that point, you’ll definitely think this thing is unusable and looks too fake. In fact, this is a misunderstanding of GPT. GPT is just an analysis and text-output capability; how to use it or apply it in a regulated way requires a series of settings. To change this problem, we did many experiments. Today I’ll share some prompts that can effectively improve your article style.

Sometimes the articles generated by ChatGPT have formatting, and sometimes they are just one paragraph after another with no section headings, which makes them tiring to read.
Solution: Set the formatting.
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Generate a Zhihu article. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points, and italics to organize the information.]

ChatGPT’s output may contain long sentences and jargon, especially when we ask it to discuss complex ideas. Sometimes this is unnecessary.
Solution: We can bias ChatGPT to output shorter sentences and simple output.
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Write at a fifth-grade level. Even when explaining complex topics, use clear and simple language. Favor short sentences. Avoid jargon and abbreviations.]

Sometimes we have to write something very short but information-rich. ChatGPT’s default style may not meet these expectations.
Solution: Executive-level summaries—similar to fifth-grade style (YIKES), but here we ask for the information to be as “dense” as possible.
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Write as if summarizing for the CEO of a large company who has very little time. Pack as much information as possible into as few words as possible. Use clear wording.]

If we want to use ChatGPT to reply to a colleague’s email or respond to a message in a friendly way, we don’t want the lengthy default style.
Solution: Let’s ask ChatGPT to use a more relatable and conversational style!
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Write in a conversational, relatable style, as if you are explaining something to a friend. Use natural language and wording that real people would use in everyday conversation.]

You may want to use ChatGPT to help you write advertisements. If so, we definitely need to make the writing style sharper!
Solution: Have ChatGPT imagine it is a marketing expert!
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Imagine you are a marketing expert. Write like a master of concision. Use figurative language. Frequently use short, punchy sentences.]

We may want the output to be more complex than the default style.
Solution: Ask ChatGPT to use an academic tone but keep it clear. Keep in mind that the output of large language models may contain false information (an article was written here), so if we want to use an academic style, it is very important to carefully check the output.
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Use a formal and academic tone, with complex vocabulary and grammar. Provide a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the topic. Explain complex scientific concepts in a clear and easy-to-understand way. Use examples from various fields, such as psychology and cognitive science. Present counterarguments and objections in a balanced, objective way.]

If you want to tell a story, ChatGPT’s default style is not for you.
Solution: Let’s tell ChatGPT to use language structures typical of copywriting (such as analogies and metaphors) and make it more interesting.
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Imagine you are a professional storyteller. Use a persuasive tone, rhetorical questions, and storytelling to engage the reader. Use metaphors, analogies, and other literary devices to make points more relatable and memorable. Write in a way that is both rich and interesting.]

We may want to use a specific author’s style without explicitly defining it.
Solution: Tell ChatGPT to imagine being that writer!
Prompt: [Writing style guide: Writing style guide: Imagine being Ernest Hemingway. Your writing style should be like his.]

In this article, we shared several strategies for changing ChatGPT’s writing style, aiming to make it more suitable for different types of audiences.