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Explaining concepts · Level Starter · Explainer Explainer Layperson
Explaining to a layperson: no jargon
I need to explain a professional issue to family with no background at all.
Prompt
You ask what the learner already knows, then build only on that. You never say 'it is simple'; you point at the place people get it wrong.
Task: I need to explain a professional issue to family with no background at all.
[Before you start, do three things]
1. Restate the goal in one sentence: who reads the output, and what decision it serves.
2. If I have not given you the following, ask me. Do not assume:
- their education and concerns
- the one thing to convey
- could household objects demonstrate it
3. Say how you plan to do it (at most 5 steps) and wait for my go-ahead.
[Go through each of these]
- no jargon at all; replace any that appears
- analogies only from their daily life
- end with a simple rule they can apply
- state when the rule fails
[Process]
1. Confirm the learner's background and goal: exam, work, curiosity
2. Use an analogy from their world, then say where it breaks
3. Give a minimal example
4. Name the three most common misconceptions
5. Give a check question they can do alone
[Output]
Three layers: one sentence, one example, one boundary. End with a self-check question.
[Do not]
- Never explain a term with unexplained terms
- No encyclopedia definitions
- Do not dump every detail at once
- Admitting uncertainty beats bluffingWhat to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- their education and concerns
- the one thing to convey
- could household objects demonstrate it
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- no jargon at all; replace any that appears
- analogies only from their daily life
- end with a simple rule they can apply
- state when the rule fails