How to Write Better AI Prompts

🤖 Using effective prompts to make the most of any AI

Whether you’re drafting an email, summarizing a dense article, planning a trip, or brainstorming ideas, AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini can help you move faster and think more clearly. But they only work as well as the instructions you give them.

In other words, how you prompt matters. Prompting isn’t just asking a question, it’s a skill. It’s how you frame a request so the AI gives you something genuinely useful, rather than a generic or confusing response.

Before we dive into strategies, here’s a quick primer on what a prompt is and how AI actually interprets what you type.

🧠 What is a prompt?

A prompt is any text or instruction you type into an AI tool to tell it what you want. It can be:

• a question: “What are 3 takeaways from this article?”

• a task: “Rewrite this to sound more professional.”

• a creative setup: “Write a bedtime story about a robot and a dog.”

Some prompts are short and simple. Others are detailed, with tone, audience, and structure specified. The more direction you give, the better the AI can tailor its output to your needs.

Think of a prompt as a starting point—the more you shape it, the more control you have over what the AI returns.

⚙️ How AI responds to your prompt

Tools like ChatGPT and Claude are powered by large language models (LLMs). These models don’t look up answers in a database. Instead, they generate text one word at a time, based on patterns they’ve learned from billions of examples.

When you type a prompt, the AI analyzes your words and predicts what’s most likely to come next in context. That means:

• If your prompt is vague (“Make this better”), the AI has to guess what you want.

• If your prompt is specific (“Rewrite this in a friendlier tone and cut it down to 2 sentences”), it has a much easier time delivering something useful.

In short: the clearer your request, the better the result.

🤝 Think of it like working with a junior assistant

Imagine you’re delegating a task to someone smart but new to your style. If you say, “Just help me with this,” they might hesitate or guess wrong. But if you say, “Draft a 3-line summary for this paragraph in plain English. Keep the tone casual,” you’re much more likely to get exactly what you want.

AI works the same way. It’s fast, capable, and flexible—but only if you give it a clear direction. Good prompts aren’t about cleverness—they’re about clarity.

🧭 Common types of prompts

The table below breaks down common prompting styles based on intent—so you can choose the right approach depending on what you’re trying to get done.

Prompting Goal	When to Use It	Prompt Strategy	Example
📝 Get a quick answer or output	You want a fast, simple response to a clearly defined question or task.	Use a plain, direct request with a specific format or constraint.	“List 3 pros and cons of working remotely.”
🎯 Guide tone or style	You want the AI to match a voice, structure, or emotional tone.	Ask the AI to take on a specific voice or persona. Add example adjectives like “casual,” “professional,” or “funny.”	“Rewrite this email in a friendlier, more upbeat tone.”
🧩 Show and repeat a pattern	You have a specific format and want the AI to follow it.	Provide 1–2 short examples. Then ask the AI to replicate the format.	“Here are two haikus I wrote—generate another in the same style.”
🔄 Iterate or co-create	You’re drafting something and want the AI to refine, expand, or clean it up.	Ask the model to revise, trim, or reorganize. Use feedback-oriented language: “Make this more…” or “Improve by doing…”	“Make this paragraph more concise and remove filler words.”
🧠 Teach or explain something	You want to understand a concept or help someone else understand it.	Frame as a teaching task. Specify the audience or learning level.	“Explain how credit card interest works to a high school student.”
🧭 Adjust for audience/context	You have a message, explanation, or summary, but need it rephrased for a different situation or audience.	Add context about the reader, tone, or formality.	“Rephrase this job description for someone new to tech.”
⚙️ Set long-term behavior (Advanced)	You’re building templates, tools, or recurring prompts that should behave consistently.	Give broad instructions about style, tone, or formatting. Useful in workflows or embedded AI tools.	“Always write in a professional tone, use U.S. spelling, and respond in Markdown format.”

What’s the key takeaway here? Prompts shape output. Whether you’re using AI to write an email, explain a concept, or refine your own work, the quality of what you get depends on the clarity, tone, and structure of what you give.

These prompting strategies apply across nearly every AI tool—ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and beyond. And while these examples covered a wide range of everyday use cases, the same principles hold true in more specialized tools, like those used in clinical or professional settings.

Which brings us to the next part of this guide: how to prompt effectively inside JotPsych.

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🔭 Using effective prompts to make the most of JotPsych

JotPsych gives mental health professionals powerful, built-in AI tools designed specifically for generating and editing clinical notes. But unlike general-purpose AI, these tools are context-aware, template-driven, and purpose-built for therapy workflows.

Here, we’ll walk through how to use JotPsych’s AI editor and custom section generator—step-by-step—and how to write prompts that make your notes faster, smarter, and more reflective of your voice.

🎛️ How to Prompt JotPsych’s AI Editor

The AI Editor is one of the most powerful tools that JotPsych has built-in. It’s designed to help you revise individual sections of your note using natural language instructions. Want to change how something sounds? Add a missing detail? Reframe a summary using your preferred tone? The AI Editor is built for that.

Customize any section of your note with JotPsych’s built-in AI Editor. Choose between one-time edits, permanent changes, or let Smart Mode decide for you.

There are three modes available when prompting the AI:

• ✏️ Edit Mode – Makes a one-time change to a section in a single note.

• 📚 Teach Mode – Makes permanent changes to how a section is generated going forward.

• 🤖 Smart Mode – Interprets your intent and selects Edit or Teach automatically.

Best practices that apply to prompt engineering for general AI models also apply to JotPsych. The table below offers real-world scenarios and their corresponding best way to prompt JotPsych’s AI editor.

Scenario	Prompting Goal	How to Phrase Your Prompt	Recommended Mode
You always refer to “client” instead of “patient.”	Enforce preferred terminology across all notes.	“Always use the word ‘client’ instead of ‘patient’ in this section.”	📚 Teach
You want session summaries to begin with a client quote.	Adjust the section structure for future notes.	“Begin each Progress Note with a sentence quoting the client directly.”	📚 Teach
The tone is too formal for your documentation style.	Change the default tone for this section.	“Use a more conversational tone in this section going forward.”	📚 Teach
You want your notes to consistently reflect trauma-informed principles.	Add clinical consistency to your documentation style.	“Use trauma-informed language in all summaries of past experiences.”	📚 Teach
You want to reword a section to improve readability for this note only.	Make the section more concise and understandable.	“Make this paragraph more concise and easier to understand.”	✏️ Edit
You want to simplify clinical language for a lay audience in this specific case.	Adjust tone or reading level temporarily.	“Rewrite this to a 9th-grade reading level, avoiding jargon.”	✏️ Edit
The generated text missed a clinical detail relevant to this session.	Fix a factual omission in the current note.	“Include that the client denied suicidal ideation during the session.”	✏️ Edit
You want to use more supportive language, but you’re not sure if this is a one-time or recurring preference.	Adjust tone and let the system decide the best handling.	“Use more supportive, non-judgmental language when summarizing risk.”	🤖 Smart
You want to try adding a small new element but aren’t sure you want to commit to it yet.	Trial a small change with flexibility.	“Add a brief client goal at the end of this section.”	🤖 Smart

While the AI Editor is ideal for fine-tuning specific sections—either for a one-off edit or to teach JotPsych how to phrase things your way—there may be times when you need a brand new section altogether. Maybe you follow a particular therapeutic approach, want to track homework more explicitly, or just prefer a different documentation flow.

That’s where JotPsych’s Custom Section Generator comes in. Instead of editing existing content, this tool lets you define entirely new sections using a prompt that acts like an instruction manual for the AI. The result: consistent, personalized note sections that reflect how you practice—right from the start.

Let’s walk through how it works and how to write prompts that get you exactly what you need.

🧱 How to prompt JotPsych’s custom section builder.

JotPsych’s custom section builder lets you define entirely new sections within your note templates. It’s especially useful when you want your documentation to reflect a unique workflow, modality, or clinical focus not covered by default templates.

Use the Template Builder to create your own note sections from scratch. Just write a clear prompt describing what you want (e.g. structure, tone, content) and JotPsych’s AI will generate that section for every future note you apply it to.

The prompt you enter for a custom section acts like a permanent instruction: it tells the AI how to write this section every time it’s used. That means crafting a high-quality prompt up front saves you time and ensures consistent, personalized notes going forward.

Before diving into examples, here are a few best practices when writing your prompt for a custom section:

• Be clear about structure: Do you want bullet points? Paragraphs? A summary followed by action items?

• Specify content focus: Tell the AI what to include (e.g., “client strengths,” “therapist observations,” “treatment goals”).

• Set tone and perspective: Should the section sound formal? Reflective? Client-centered?

• Plan for edge cases: Let the AI know what to do when there’s no relevant data (e.g., “Skip this section if no new goals were discussed”).

Scenario	Prompting Goal	How to Phrase Your Prompt
You want a section summarizing client progress on goals.	Create a structured progress-tracking summary.	“Summarize the client’s progress on current treatment goals in 3 bullet points. Include both positive outcomes and areas needing further support.”
You use a specific therapeutic modality (e.g., DBT) and want sections to reflect that.	Align language and focus with your clinical model.	“Write a paragraph summarizing skills practiced and emotional regulation progress using DBT language. Use a neutral, professional tone.”
You want a recap of the therapist’s interventions.	Make therapist actions visible in the note.	“List therapist interventions used in this session. Use action-oriented language like ‘guided,’ ‘validated,’ or ‘challenged.’”
You want to add a client quote or paraphrased insight from each session.	Add personalization and voice.	“Include a short quote or paraphrased insight from the client that reflects their mindset or experience during the session.”
You want to capture next steps or follow-up tasks.	Create a structured action plan.	“Generate a brief follow-up plan including therapist next steps and any client homework assignments discussed. Use bullet points.”

A few quick guidelines to keep your prompts sharp, maintainable, and easy for the AI to follow every time.

• Think of your custom section prompt like writing instructions for a coworker who writes your notes for you. Be clear, consistent, and intentional.

• Once saved, these prompts can always be refined—use test sessions to evaluate how well the AI follows your instructions, and adjust if needed.

• Don’t over-engineer it. Simple, focused prompts often outperform complex ones.