Asking Effective Questions
Usage Guides. Last reviewed
Retrieval works best when a question gives the system a clear source boundary and a specific task. The goal is not to sound formal; it is to identify what should be searched and what the answer should do with the resulting passages.
Name the evidence you need
Broad: “What does Christianity say about love?”
Focused: “How does Paul connect love with patience and conduct in 1 Corinthians 13? Cite the relevant verses.”
The focused version names an authorial context, a passage, and the relationship to explain. When you do not know the citation, name a distinctive phrase, figure, event, text, or concept instead.
Separate retrieval tasks
Use one request for one main operation:
- Locate: “Find Quranic passages that connect charity with accountability.”
- Explain in context: “What does wu wei mean in the cited chapter, based only on the surrounding passage?”
- Trace: “Show how covenant appears across Genesis and Deuteronomy.”
- Compare: “Compare these Buddhist and Jain passages on attachment. State a similarity and a difference, with one citation from each.”
- Test a claim: “Do the retrieved sources support the statement that these concepts are equivalent? Identify contrary evidence.”
Select every required tradition
Chat retrieves only from selected agents. A comparative question needs every relevant tradition selected before sending. The interface shows the combined credit cost.
Use follow-ups to reduce uncertainty
Ask which sentence is directly stated by a source, which is inferred, what relevant passage may be missing, or how a different translation could affect the wording. Then open the cited material in the Library.