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Get feedback on your college essay intro without a rewrite

Practice: Setting limits and rules. About 5 minutes.

About this exercise

Your Philosophy 101 paper is due Friday, and you want to improve your intro yourself, so you want feedback, not a rewrite. You want exactly 3 numbered suggestions, under 100 words in total, each pointing to a specific sentence in your draft, with no rewritten sentences, and one of them must address what your professor's rubric requires that the intro is missing. Plain text.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Asking for "feedback". The AI writes a long review with praise, headings and a list of every possible fix. Try: Be exact: "exactly 3 numbered suggestions."
  • Getting a rewrite instead. The AI's instinct is to fix it for you, so it hands back new sentences, which isn't your work. Try: Add: "Don't rewrite any sentences. Tell me what to change, not how to word it."
  • Ignoring the professor's rubric. The AI gives generic writing advice and misses the one rubric item that costs you points. Try: Say: "Check it against the rubric. One suggestion must cover what's missing."
  • Vague comments. "Make your thesis stronger" doesn't tell you where to look. Try: Ask: "Point to the sentence number for each suggestion."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands 10-20% over. Try: Cap each part instead: "each line under 15 words."
  • Formatting you don't need. AI adds bold labels and headings that clutter a quick note to yourself. Try: Ask for "plain text, no bold."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Says how many suggestions
  • Rules out a rewrite
  • Points to the rubric
  • Asks for specific sentences
  • Sets a length limit

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