Lesson 1.4 · D1 Prompting & Task Execution · 6 min
Adapt prompting strategy to the task type
Analysis, research, drafting and brainstorming each need a different kind of prompt.
What the exam tests
Matching the prompting approach to the job, for example diverging before converging in brainstorming, or asking for evidence in analysis.
Key ideas
- Analysis
- Provide the data and the question it should answer, define the criteria, ask Claude to state assumptions, show workings and separate what the data shows from hypotheses.
- Research
- Ask for sources and citations, use web search or research for anything current, and plan to verify what comes back.
- Drafting
- Audience, purpose, tone, length and an example. Say what must be included and what to avoid.
- Brainstorming
- Ask for many varied options across categories without filtering. Shortlist with people, then ask Claude to develop the chosen few against stated criteria.
- Extraction and classification
- Give a fixed schema (columns, categories), one worked example, and tell Claude to leave a field blank and flag it rather than guess.
- Complex reasoning
- Ask Claude to think through the problem step by step, or use extended thinking where available, before giving a conclusion.
Worked example
A team wants campaign name ideas.
Weaker
Give me the best name for our campaign.
Stronger
Suggest 30 names across descriptive, aspirational and playful styles, one line each, avoiding claims about results. We'll shortlist five and come back to you to develop them.
Why: Brainstorming needs breadth first. Asking for “the best” collapses the option space and makes the pick arbitrary.
Common traps
- Asking for one answer when the task is creative.
- Asking for “insights” without stating the business question.
- Letting Claude guess missing values during extraction.
Remember
Name the task type, then prompt the way that type needs.