Part 3 - Working With Your Own Material
11. Give the AI Your Own Text to Work On
Goal: Have the AI summarise, rewrite or analyse text that YOU provide.
The AI cannot open your files or links, but it can work on any text you paste directly into the chat. This unlocks the most useful everyday tasks: summarise this article, simplify this email, find the key points in these notes.
The trick is to clearly separate your instruction from your pasted material, so the AI knows which is which. Use a label and a divider like triple dashes.
The Script (Template)
[Instruction about the text below]. --- [Paste your text here] ---
Worked Example
You write
Summarise the text below in 3 bullet points a busy manager could read in 10 seconds. --- The quarterly report shows sales rose 12% overall. Growth came mainly from online orders, which increased 30%, while in-store sales fell 5%. The team recommends investing more in the website next quarter. ---
AI replies (sample)
- Overall sales up 12% this quarter. - Online orders drove it (+30%); in-store slipped (-5%). - Recommendation: invest more in the website next quarter.
Why it works
The dividers made it obvious what to summarise, and the 'busy manager, 10 seconds' framing set the length and level.
Do & Avoid
Tips
- Always separate instruction from pasted text with a clear divider.
- You can paste emails, notes, essays, transcripts - anything as plain text.
Common Mistakes
- Blending your instruction into the pasted text so the AI treats it all as content.
- Pasting private or confidential material without thinking (see Chapter 20).
Practice
- Paste a paragraph and ask for a one-sentence summary.
- Paste a wordy email and ask the AI to make it shorter and friendlier.
My Practice — capture your own script
Write your own version of this lesson's script, run it in your AI chat, then paste the reply. Your work is saved on this device; use Download to keep a copy.