The trap with research prompts is asking for the finished thing. Ask for options instead, then bring your taste to the edit.
Generate options, not answers
Write down what you never want as explicitly as what you do. The exclusions often do more work than the instructions.
- Ask for three angles, then cut to the one worth shipping
- Keep one ask per prompt — chaining beats cramming
- Lower the reading level, then check what broke
Name the failure modes
Ask for the reasoning, then the result. When the model shows its steps you can see exactly where to push back.
- Name the audience and the single goal before you generate
- Compare two outputs instead of trusting one
- Lower the reading level, then check what broke
Lock the parts that never change and leave one slot for the variable. Now every run shares a family resemblance instead of starting from scratch.