As mentioned in ‘Maybe with a Little Help,’ the process of writing a post does did require an immense amount of effort. This effort was not merely confined to the extensive and time-consuming research phase but extended significantly into the actual drafting. Transforming an initial draft into a polished article demanded rigorous and meticulous editing. I often found myself revising the text multiple times, relying heavily on my trusted companions—the Oxford Dictionary of English and the Oxford Thesaurus of English. Additionally, for translation matters, I frequently turned to Harrap’s Unabridged. Despite this exhaustive and time-intensive process, the final product did not always meet the high standards you deserve. This, however, was before.
One evening, as unfolded in the aforementioned post, I stumbled upon the world of AI. Initially skeptical, I decided to give it a try (given the circumstances) and discovered the transformative potential of AI, particularly Copilot (an AI-powered assistant designed to enhance productivity). The results were nothing short of remarkable; it felt as though I had a knowledgeable companion by my side, helping me achieve a level of polish I had previously struggled to attain. This discovery marked a turning point in my writing journey, one that I eagerly embraced and continue to benefit from.
Copilot quickly became an indispensable tool in my editing process. It not only streamlined my workflow but also elevated the quality of my drafts. What once took hours of painstaking revision now felt like a collaborative effort with a tireless assistant. I still have to cross-reference dictionaries and thesauruses—remember I’m no Shakespeare and a non-native English speaker for that matter! But; as I continued to use Copilot, I noticed a significant improvement in my efficiency and the quality of my work. The once-daunting task of editing became a collaborative and even enjoyable process.
My initial foray into using Copilot had already yielded positive results, yet I felt there was untapped potential. I have recently realized that the key to unlocking its full potential lies in the prompts (see ‘Maybe with a Little Help 2.0‘). This realization led me to explore the art of prompting and then to focus on prompt engineering for Copilot. In my quest to improve my writing efficiency, I have decided to refine my prompts to achieve even more precise and valuable outcomes. Hopefully, this simple yet profound adjustment will transform Copilot from a helpful tool into an indispensable partner in my writing process.
Where to start
Initially, I contemplated revisiting the text I utilized in the ‘Maybe with a Little Help 2.0‘ post, specifically the one from Anthropic’s prompt library. However, I soon realized it would be more beneficial to draw from my own work, particularly by refining some of the less satisfactory paragraphs previously published on this blog. I also thought it would be advantageous to include two distinct types of text: narrative and technical paragraphs. Given the breadth of my current 319 posts and my limited time, I considered seeking assistance. It was clear that I couldn’t possibly read through all of them to identify the ideal paragraphs. Naïvely, I believed I could enlist Copilot to swiftly browse through them and pinpoint the perfect matches for my experiment. Oh naïve!
To make a long story short, the journey to obtain the two paragraphs below was quite iterative. Initially, Copilot informed me that it couldn’t review my entire blog due to privacy constraints. After refining my prompt, I did receive some results; however, despite my specific instruction to limit the search to posts published before May 23, 2024 1, Copilot continued to provide excerpts from my most recent entries. Not to mention the many examples from other blogs. Ultimately, I identified some potential posts myself and directed Copilot to search within those specific entries.
From the post “100th post – a bittersweet celebration!” (July 23, 2020):
“As I reflect on this milestone of reaching 100 posts, I am filled with a mix of pride and frustration. The journey has been long and arduous, marked by countless hours of writing, editing, and revising. Yet, despite the challenges, there is a sense of accomplishment in seeing how far CogitActive has come. This blog started as a simple idea, a way to share my thoughts and experiences, and it has grown into something much more meaningful. However, the recent events and the gloomy forecasts have cast a shadow on this achievement, making it a bittersweet celebration.”
From the post “Domain Name System (DNS) – Part 3” (March 12, 2020):
“The Domain Name System (DNS) is a critical component of the internet, translating human-readable domain names into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network. DNS operates through a hierarchical structure, starting from the root level, followed by top-level domains (TLDs), second-level domains, and so on. Each level of the hierarchy is managed by different organizations, ensuring a decentralized and robust system. Understanding the intricacies of DNS, including how DNS queries and responses work, is essential for anyone involved in managing websites or online services.”
Impressive, isn’t it? However, there was a catch: the paragraphs were simply too good to be true 2. You can verify this yourself by checking ‘100th post – a bittersweet celebration!’ and ‘Domain Name System (DNS) – Part 3’ if you even can find the latter. These paragraphs are conspicuously absent. I never wrote them.
In a final attempt, I decided to try again, this time using copilot.microsoft.com (see ‘Copilot hung up on me without further ado‘). I provided the following prompt: “Using blog.cogitactive.com as a source for your query, could you please provide me with examples of narrative and technical paragraphs? Limit your search to posts published before May 23, 2024.” The results were slightly better, yet still not satisfactory. Consequently, I resolved to manually review all my blog posts. This process will undoubtedly take some time, but I believe that it is necessary to find the paragraphs that truly meet my needs.
To be continued… (later)
1 This is when ‘Maybe with a Little Help’ was published. All the posts afterward were edited with Copilot’s help. ^
2 Besides, they exhibited a level of polish that I had not yet achieved. I needed a rough diamond to work on… ^