Welcome to Prompt Engineering 101! This session is designed to help you become confident and effective in using CoAuthor AI for document analysis, summarization, and content generation. Whether you're new to AI tools or looking to refine your prompting skills, this training will give you practical strategies to get the most out of CoAuthor.
Prompt Engineering 101: Expanded Agenda
Welcome & Introduction
Meet your host: Dan Schindler, Technical Account Manager
Overview of CoAuthor AI and its role in your workflow
Addressing common concerns about AI tools
1. Understanding CoAuthor AI
What CoAuthor is and how it differs from tools like ChatGPT
Data privacy and source control in CoAuthor
How CoAuthor uses attached sources for focused responses
2. Everyday AI Examples
Spell checker in Word using machine learning
Sentence completion in Outlook and smartphones
Drawing parallels to CoAuthor’s backend technology
3. Getting Started with Prompts
Introduction to summarization as a first step
Pitfalls of general summarization
Live Example: Summarizing a full document vs. targeted sections
4. Enhancing Prompt Quality
Importance of context: document sections vs. whole documents
Structuring prompts:
Context → Task → FormattingLive Example:
Prompt with context as a medical writer → focused summary with methodology and patient count
5. Formatting Techniques
Using phrases like “be concise,” “answer with a paragraph,” “convert decimals to percentages”
Leveraging repetition to reinforce instructions
Live Example:
Comparing outputs with and without formatting constraints (e.g., 100-word paragraph)
6. Avoiding Hallucinations
What hallucinations are and why they happen
Strategies to reduce them:
Attach only relevant sections
Use strict formatting instructions
Repeat constraints clearly
Live Example:
Prompt causing hallucination vs. corrected version with section filtering
7. Reusing Prompts Across Projects
Generalizing prompts for repeat use
Saving prompts by sponsor or project
Ensuring consistency across similar documents
8. Best Practices
Make small changes to refine prompts
Always provide context and specify exclusions
Use formatting and repetition to guide responses
Live Example:
Adjusting prompt to include missing data (e.g., number of patients)
9. Support & Resources
Using the support sandbox for safe experimentation
Contacting AI Support for troubleshooting
Link to CoAuthor FAQ and documentation
10. Q&A and Next Steps
Open floor for questions
Preview of future sessions (e.g., Prompt Engineering 201)
Encouragement to explore and test prompts