Terminology and style guides provide AI with clear language guidelines. While terminology determines which technical terms should be used, the style guide defines, among other things, tone, form of address and writing style.
This information can be integrated directly into the AI prompt or provided through stored company guidelines, glossaries and reference documents. This creates content that complies with the company’s linguistic and technical standards.
Typical guidelines in a professional AI prompt include:
- Technical terminology: Which terms should be used or avoided.
- Brand and product names: Consistent spelling for products, features and company names.
- Tone and form of address: For example, formal or informal address, factual, professional or casual.
- Language rules: Guidelines for sentence structure, style or wording.
- Formatting: Instructions for headings, tables, lists or paragraph structure.
An example:
❌ Without guidelines:
"Write a blog post about our product."
The AI uses different technical terms, switches between informal and formal forms of address, and does not follow the company's language style.
✅ With terminology and a style guide:
"Write a blog post about our product. Consistently use the formal form of address, use only the approved technical terms from our glossary, and follow our factual, professional writing style."
The result takes the company's language style into account, uses the desired terminology, and ensures consistent communication.
In short:
Terminology and style guides help the AI create content that is technically accurate, linguistically consistent, and aligned with the company's communications.