Strong prompt structure
Definition
Strong prompt structure is a four-part teaching routine for stating context, requesting justification, examining assumptions, and planning corrections.
Explanation
A prompt can make the kind of help you want more explicit. For a proof, that may mean asking for one justified step, rather than a finished answer. The response still needs checking.
| Label | Purpose | Action |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | Establish context | State the subject, problem, allowed methods, and what kind of help you want. |
| B2 | Require step-by-step justification | Ask each step to identify the rule or earlier result it uses. |
| B3 | Build in self-questioning | Ask the chatbot to state its assumptions and check them against the problem. Treat its self-check as another claim to examine. |
| B4 | Plan the corrective dialogue | Decide how you will identify an error and ask for a revision. Quote the disputed step and explain what it conflicts with. |
These parts give the student something concrete to ask and something concrete to inspect. They are an instructional routine, not a guarantee that the resulting answer will be correct.
Scope and evidence
Procedure B was taught in the ongoing Summer 2026 study and presented in the guest lecture. Its effect on learning or error detection has not been established. It should not be equated with a validated prompting method merely because it requests reasoning.
Sources
Related concepts
Collaborative prompting · Hallucination autopsy procedure · Subgoal label