> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://labs.laer.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Prompting tips

To get the most accurate and relevant responses when chatting over documents, here are a few helpful tips to craft effective prompts:

***

### 1. **Provide more context**

The more detail you provide, the better the system can understand your intent.\
**Better prompt**:

> *“What did Enron's CFO Andrew Fastow say about LJM2’s structure?”*\
> **Less Effective**:\
> \&#xNAN;*“What about LJM2?”*

***

### 2. **Use quotes for exact mentions**

If you're looking for an exact phrase or a specific mention, enclose it in **quotes**. This helps the system narrow down to precise text snippets.\
**Example**:

> *Find documents that mention "insider trading"*

***

### 3. **“List all…” prompts are limited**

As the system uses a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) approach with a limited context window:

* It may not return all mentions across the full document set.
* Instead, it returns the most relevant results based on document ranking.

**Better prompt**:

> *“Give me examples of emails that discuss accounting practices”*\
> 💡 Consider reviewing the citations/snippets and exploring further from there.

***

### 4. **Rephrase when results seem missing**

If your initial query doesn’t return what you expected:

* Try asking the question in a different way
* Break it into smaller parts
* Reframe with different terminology or synonyms

**Example**:

> *Instead of: “Was this a violation of GAAP?”*\
> Try: *“Did the documents discuss whether the accounting followed GAAP rules?”*

***

### 5. Ask it a different way

If the question doesn't return results, it doesn’t mean the answer isn’t in the documents.

* Not all relevant content uses the same wording.
* Try variations or related terms to expand your search.

***

### 6. **Use document highlights and citations**

Responses often include:

* Highlighted snippets
* Source citations Click to view the underlying document for more context — especially helpful in legal or investigative work.

***

### 7. **Ask follow-ups**

AIDA Chat supports follow-up questions based on previous answers.\
You can build a conversation thread to narrow down facts or timelines.

***

### **8. Start a new thread**

The system uses chat history for context, so continuing in the same thread can unintentionally narrow the scope.\
For broader or unrelated questions, it’s better to start fresh.

***

### Example Prompts

| Goal                     | Example                                                  |
| ------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| Summarize a topic        | How does Fastow explain the LJM partnerships?            |
| Find mentions            | Find documents that mention "off-balance sheet entities" |
| Create factsheet         | Create a factsheet about Andrew Fastow                   |
| Timeline building        | Create a timeline of Enron's bankruptcy                  |
| Transcript summarization | Summarize Ken Lay's deposition transcript                |
| Translation              | Translate Document 1-0001 into English                   |

***