How to Give AI the Right Context for Better Answers

Context is everything the AI needs to know that is not in the question itself. It is the single biggest difference between a generic answer and one that fits your situation.

The AI cannot see your screen, your files or your company. If you do not tell it, it does not know.

The six details that matter most

Detail	Why it matters	Example
Audience	Changes vocabulary, tone and depth	"For a client who is not an accountant"
Goal	Tells the AI what success looks like	"So they agree to pay this week"
Situation	The facts of your case	"Invoice is 30 days late, second reminder"
Constraints	Limits the answer must respect	"Under 100 words, no legal threats"
Source material	The real text or data to work from	Paste the email, policy or table
What you tried	Stops it repeating what failed	"I already tried a polite reminder, no reply"

You rarely need all six. But when an answer disappoints, one of these is almost always missing.

Before and after

Before:

How do I ask my manager for leave?

After:

I want to ask my manager for 5 days of leave in the second week of December
for a family wedding. Our team has a quarterly report due on 15 December, and
I will finish my part before I leave. My manager is supportive but busy.
Write a short, polite message I can send on Teams. Mention the dates, the
reason, and how my work will be covered. Under 80 words.

The second prompt gives audience, goal, situation and constraints. The answer will need almost no editing.

Paste the source, do not describe it

If the answer depends on a document, paste the document (or the relevant part) instead of describing it from memory.

Here is our company's travel reimbursement policy:
"""
[paste policy text]
"""
Based only on this policy, can an employee claim a taxi from the airport at
11 pm? Quote the exact line you are relying on.

Two tricks in that prompt:

Triple quotes """ clearly separate your material from your instructions.
"Based only on this" and "quote the exact line" keep the AI from mixing in general knowledge or guessing. (Remember the fact-checking lesson in the first course.)

Before pasting, remove anything confidential, as you learned in the safety lesson of the first course.

Let the AI ask for missing context

When you are not sure what matters, flip it around:

I need to write a proposal for a new client. Before you write anything,
ask me the 5 most important questions you need answered to do this well.

Answer the questions in your next message, and then ask for the draft.

Practice task

Take one real task you will do this week. Write the prompt with at least four of the six details: audience, goal, situation, constraints, source material and what you tried. Run it, then remove two of the details and run it again in a new chat. Note what got worse.

Key takeaways

Context is what the AI cannot know unless you tell it.
The big six: audience, goal, situation, constraints, source material, what you tried.
Paste real source material between """ marks and say "based only on this".
When unsure, ask the AI to ask you questions first.