Prompting Skills playbook/Module 4 · Documents & data

Day 31 / 100 · Documents & data · Summaries that don't distort

Shorter, not different.

A summary can be accurate line by line and still mislead through what it drops, softens or reorders.

Dropped caveats

Distortion 01

“May apply” becomes “applies.” Conditions and exceptions vanish.

THE FIX

“Keep every condition and exception.”

Lost numbers

Distortion 02

Figures, dates and deadlines get rounded off or left out.

THE FIX

“Keep every figure, date and deadline.”

Shifted emphasis

Distortion 03

A footnote becomes the headline, or the main point gets buried.

THE FIX

“Follow the source's order of importance.”

Added opinion

Distortion 04

Conclusions the author never drew slip in.

THE FIX

“No conclusions the source doesn't make.”

Ask what it left out, not just what it kept.