Analytics Vidhya
4 minutes
Worked Examples in the Prompt as a Specification of the Output You Want
Two or three correct example outputs placed in the prompt specify the shape, length, tone and level of detail you want more precisely than any description of them can, because each example carries information the model can copy rather than an instruction it must interpret. Unlike wording tricks and incentive phrases, which stopped mattering once instruction tuning absorbed them, worked examples still measurably change output because they add real constraints. The practical rules: choose examples that cover the variation you expect, keep them consistent with each other, and make sure none of them contains the answer to the current input.