Since its launch at the end of last year, millions of people around the world have been using AI chatbot ChatGPT on a daily basis to help them complete their writing tasks much faster and with more efficiency.
The popular AI service has even been incorporated into Microsoft’s Bing search engine and Edge browser, which has given ever-increasing numbers of computer users access to this AI made for the masses.
So, if you have yet to use ChatGPT (or even if you have), then you may be interested in how you can use it to help you with your editing tasks. That’s why in this blog post, we look at how to edit your documents using ChatGPT and give you three prompts to get you started.
How To Edit Your Documents Using ChatGPT
Whether you’re an aspiring author who’s written a book, a student who’s written an essay, a job seeker who’s written a new resume, a manager who’s written a report, or even someone who’s just written a professional email, there are good reasons as to why you should edit your digital document before you press the send button.
Whether you’re an aspiring author who’s written a book, a student who’s written an essay, a job seeker who’s written a new resume, a manager who’s written a report, or even someone who’s just written a professional email, there are good reasons as to why you should edit your digital document before you press the send button.
Editing, as well as proofreading, are essential steps when it comes to presenting a document that is considered good enough for reading. Of course, many people don’t have the inclination or money to hire someone to do this work for them, but luckily, now you can use ChatGPT to do the job instead.
There are several factors that editors look out for when making a document worthy of reading, including making sure that the language is grammatically correct, that the words are spelled correctly, the style is consistent, and that the facts that are mentioned are accurate.
Although many people tend to get the two mixed up, editing and proofreading are not the same things. The editing of a document has to be completed first, before a proofreader performs the final review prior to publishing, in order to catch any minor mistakes that have been missed during previous editing cycles.
So, as you can see, if you have an important document that needs more than a good read, having it edited is a great idea, especially if it needs to be presented in a more professional manner.
However, you can now get ChatGPT to assist you in doing this. That’s because this popular AI tool has been developed using a massive amount of text data gleaned from the internet.
That means it is able to assist you with a variety of editing abilities, such as spell checking, using the correct language (such as differentiating between US and UK English), and fixing grammatical errors. So now, let’s take a closer look at some prompts that you can use to get ChatGPT to edit your documents.
Prompt #1 — Keep It Simple
Giving a prompt to ChatGPT for the text that you’ve already written is the easiest way to interact with the AI chatbot. You can start by giving it a prompt such as:
- @chatgpt, please edit this essay to ensure the structure reads well. I also need you to check for grammatical errors and spelling mistakes
- @chatgpt, please edit this business report and suggest more appropriate wording that will make this document appear more professional. Make sure that you identify any grammar and punctuation errors along the way
- @chatgpt, I want you to edit this group email. Keep the tone informal, but make it more persuasive, so that it’s impactful
- @chatgpt, I have written a short story and would like for you to edit the text to improve it. Make sure the tone stays consistent throughout, and that it flows well
Once you’ve given ChatGPT your prompt, you will then need to input the text that you want it to work on. You can also take it further by asking the AI chatbot to rewrite any paragraphs or sentences that you’re not happy with, in order to clarify your text even more.
Prompt #2 — Decent Proposal
You could also use ChatGPT to edit your document by giving it a range of prompt suggestions, and then play around with what you get. Examples of such prompts are:
- @chatgpt, edit the following text and check for fluency
- @chatgpt, rewrite and edit the following text, making sure that it remains coherent
- @chatgpt, revise this text using the AP (Associated Press) stylebook
- @chatgpt, edit the following text using the Elements of Style guidelines
- @chatgpt, edit the following text and make it more precise.
- @chatgpt, rewrite the following text in the style of a Vogue writer
- @chatgpt, please rewrite the following text in the style of Earnest Hemingway
Prompt #3 — Get In On The Act
You can also prompt ChatGPT to take on the ‘persona’ of a writer type, such as an academic writer, which would be useful for students needing to produce and edit their essays.
Just be aware that if you do this, any work that the AI chatbot generates, even if it has been edited from your own work, could be flagged up as plagiarism by your academic institution, because of the way the AI has been programmed to respond in human-like form.
This means that any text generated by ChatGPT should be credited in your essay or document.
So, back to our example, a persona prompt would be something like what we asked:
@chatgpt, I want you to act as an academic writer. You will have to research the topic I provide and formulate a thesis statement that is engaging and informative. My first request is: “I need help editing an interesting essay about the importance of daily exercise for the body”.
And this is the result ChatGPT gave us:
It’s worth noting that OpenAI has a maximum length for the input of text, which is around 2050 characters using ChatGPT v3, and about 25,000 characters with ChatGPT v4 (paid, currently). That means if you need it to edit larger texts using the free version of ChatGPT, then you will have to break it down into smaller sections and input these separately.
Watch Out For Hallucinations
You should also be aware that just because ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence model that has the potential of being smarter than humans, at present it’s not always accurate (particularly in v3). It may even suggest changes to your document that aren’t in alignment with the actual facts included in your text, the tone you were seeking, or even with your intended writing style.
Just because ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence model that has the potential of being smarter than humans, at present it’s not always accurate (particularly in v3), and may even suggest changes to your document that aren’t in alignment with the actual facts included in your text, the tone you were seeking, or even with your intended writing style.
That’s why it’s extremely important that you check ChatGPT’s final results before you hit the send button on your important document. It might also be worth having another pair of human eyes have a look at your final draft, so that you feel more confident about your document as a whole.
Final Thoughts
ChatGPT is the widely popular AI tool that many people have been using to inspire content, create tables, proofread, and edit their documents, without the time and expense needed to hire a professional editor.
However, it shouldn’t be your last port of call of your writing process. The AI chatbot does have its limitations, and it would be better to have a real human read your work as a final review before you hit the send button.
But with these 3 prompts for using ChatGPT to edit your documents, you’ll be able to present an accurate, concise, and professional-looking document to that human, who will think you’re a great writer — and you won’t even have to tell them it’s because of AI.
