Anatomy of a strong public-service prompt

Free sample lesson from Prompt-Based AI for Local Government and Public Services · about 10 minutes · no payment or email needed

In this lesson you learn the five parts of a clear prompt by writing a short, accurate resident notice about a road closure, with the key details first and nothing invented.

The scenario

A water main repair will close part of Elm Street for two days. You need a short notice for residents, and the supervisor wants it today.

A weak prompt and a strong prompt

Weak prompt: Write a notice about road work.

The AI returns a vague notice with no dates, no affected streets and no contact information.

Strong prompt, in five parts:

  • Role: Act as a communications officer for a city public works department.
  • Context: A water main repair will close Elm Street between 3rd and 6th Avenue from 7 AM on Monday, [DATE], to 6 PM on Tuesday, [DATE]. Residents can still reach their homes on foot. Buses on Route 12 will be diverted via Oak Street. Questions: call [PHONE].
  • Task: Write a resident notice.
  • Format: Under 120 words, with a clear headline, the dates and times first, what residents need to do, and the phone number.
  • Limits: Plain language at about an 8th-grade reading level. Use only the facts above. Do not promise a completion time earlier than stated.

What the strong prompt returns

The AI returns a short, accurate notice with the key details first.

Why it works

Each part of the prompt does a different job.

  • Role sets the voice of the department.
  • Context supplies true details, so nothing is invented.
  • Format and Limits keep it short, readable and honest.

The five parts of a clear prompt

A clear prompt has five parts: Role, Context, Task, Format and Limits. Together they tell the AI who it is writing as, what is true, what to produce, what shape it should take and what to avoid.

The point of the structure is simple: the AI fills any gap you leave with a confident guess, so the more you supply, the less it invents.

  • Role: whose voice the AI writes in
  • Context: the true facts it must work from
  • Task: exactly what you want produced
  • Format: length and structure
  • Limits: tone, things to avoid, and "use only the facts above"

Watch out

A wrong date or street in a public notice affects real people. Check every detail against the official source before it is published.

Try it yourself

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude or your organization's approved AI tool and run it. Then change the facts to your own and run it again, and compare the two drafts.

Act as a communications officer for a city public works department.
Context: A water main repair will close Elm Street between 3rd and 6th Avenue from 7 AM on Monday, [DATE], to 6 PM on Tuesday, [DATE]. Residents can still reach their homes on foot. Buses on Route 12 will be diverted via Oak Street. Questions: call [PHONE].
Task: Write a resident notice.
Format: Under 120 words, with a clear headline, the dates and times first, what residents need to do, and the phone number.
Limits: Plain language at about an 8th-grade reading level. Use only the facts above. Do not promise a completion time earlier than stated.