Start your AI content workflow with one page of notes: useful observations, copied source passages, opinions, and questions you haven’t answered yet. Sending all of it to ChatGPT at once can leave the draft mixing those things together.
Start by sorting five notes, then use them to plan and write one section. In the example below, the finished section offers a way to organize notes without claiming the writer already uses it as a personal habit.
A small finished section — editor-written example:
Use four headings in a notes document: What I did, Checked source, My take, and Not checked. Keep each note’s number beside the sentence it supports.
The first sentence gives the reader a way to sort the material; the second makes it easier to trace a drafted sentence back to a note. The five notes and outline below show where those two sentences come from. This is a sample you can adapt, not a saved ChatGPT response.
The prompts below are suggested inputs you can adapt. You don’t need to use every one on every article.
Write one question at the top of your notes, such as “How can I use ChatGPT to organize research notes before writing a blog post?” Save ideas that don’t answer it for another post.
On this page
Start your AI content workflow with four headings
Your own observation and a product help page can both be useful. They just support different statements.
Use these headings in a notes document:
| Heading | What to put there |
|---|---|
| What I did | An action, observation, or change you actually made |
| Checked source | A source passage you have read and checked, with its link |
| My take | Your opinion or explanation of what the material means |
| Not checked | An unanswered question, future plan, or detail still needing a check |
Number the notes so you can find them later. If a note mixes what happened with your explanation, split it into two. Use numbers such as 3a and 3b for the two parts.
Leave a heading empty if you have no material for it. You don’t need to make up a personal test to write a useful explanation.
For Checked source, open the page yourself and copy the relevant passage with its link. The source-checking example shows what to compare before calling it checked.
If you’re unsure how to sort your notes, paste this prompt and five notes into ChatGPT. Replace each whole placeholder, including the square brackets, with your own text:
Suggested prompt. Paste into the ChatGPT message box. Prepare your article question and five numbered notes. Replace QUESTION and notes 1–5.
Sort these five notes for a blog post using only the supplied text.
Use these headings:
- What I did: something I explicitly say I already did or observed.
- Checked source: a source passage I explicitly mark as checked, with its link.
- My take: my opinion or explanation, not an established fact.
- Not checked: an unchecked detail, unanswered question, or future plan.
Return a table with the note number, exact original wording, suggested heading, and short reason.
Keep every note and its number unchanged. If a note mixes headings or is unclear, mark NEEDS CLARIFICATION and explain why.
Do not add facts or claim to have opened a source.
QUESTION: [MY ARTICLE'S QUESTION]
NOTES:
1. [NOTE]
2. [NOTE]
3. [NOTE]
4. [NOTE]
5. [NOTE]A practice example is “I plan to test this on one article.” It belongs under Not checked, because the test hasn’t happened. If ChatGPT puts it under What I did, reply:
Move note 1 to Not checked. Keep its wording; this is a plan.Check that all five notes appear. Clarify any mixed note yourself, then use the corrected notes for the outline.
Ask for an outline, then stop and read it
If the title promises more than your notes contain, settle that scope with the five-part writing brief before outlining.
An outline is a short list of sections. It lets you check the direction before ChatGPT writes paragraphs around it.
Paste your sorted notes into this prompt. Write “none” under a heading with no material:
Suggested prompt. Paste into the same ChatGPT chat. Prepare the proposed title, question, and sorted notes. Replace all fields; use none under any empty category.
Suggest a short outline answering QUESTION using only the supplied notes.
If the notes cannot support an answer, name the missing information and stop.
Start with 3–5 sections, but use fewer if that answers the question clearly.
For each section, give a heading, the note numbers it uses, and what the reader will learn or do.
Use only these notes. Personal-experience claims must come from What I did.
Treat My take as opinion and do not use Not checked as fact.
Do not invent tests, quotes, results, sources, or feature claims. A link alone is not a verified source.
Keep the note IDs, including any 3a/3b splits I supplied.
If essential information is missing, name it separately instead of padding the outline.
Stop after the outline. Do not draft yet.
TITLE: [PROPOSED TITLE]
QUESTION: [ONE QUESTION]
WHAT I DID: [NUMBERED NOTES OR NONE]
CHECKED SOURCE: [NUMBERED CHECKED PASSAGES WITH LINKS OR NONE]
MY TAKE: [NUMBERED NOTES OR NONE]
NOT CHECKED: [NUMBERED NOTES OR NONE]Look at the note numbers beside each heading. They should point to material that can fill the section. Drop a heading that leads away from your question.
If ChatGPT starts drafting, reply:
Return only the outline and missing information. Wait for me to choose a section.Write one section from the relevant notes
Choose one outline heading. Paste it and only the notes it needs into this suggested follow-up:
Suggested prompt — follow-up. Paste into the same ChatGPT chat after choosing a heading. Prepare one approved heading and only its relevant numbered notes. Replace ARTICLE QUESTION, SECTION HEADING, and NOTES.
Write one blog section in everyday American English for a reader new to this task.
Use only the supplied notes for factual claims.
Explain unfamiliar terms when they first appear.
Personal-experience claims must come from What I did. Keep opinions separate from facts and don't use Not checked as fact.
Do not invent experiences, results, sources, quotes, or menu paths.
Where the notes support a practical step, explain what to do, what result to check, and what to change if it fails.
If an essential detail is missing, mark [DETAIL NEEDED: name it] instead of guessing.
Return only this section, without an introduction or conclusion for the whole article.
ARTICLE QUESTION: [PASTE IT]
SECTION HEADING: [PASTE ONE APPROVED HEADING]
NOTES: [PASTE THE RELEVANT NUMBERED NOTES WITH THEIR HEADINGS]Read the section beside the notes. Can you follow its advice without filling in a missing step yourself?
If it uses an unfamiliar term, ask for the everyday meaning. For repeated conclusions, these three real draft edits show the kind of small change to look for. If it adds a result, find the note that supports it. A source link alone doesn’t establish that ChatGPT read the source.
Keep any missing-detail marker until you’ve filled the gap, narrowed the claim, or removed it. Don’t publish the marker as part of the finished article.
A worked example: notes to one section
This editor-written example uses the wording edit recorded below. The notes, outline, and sample section were assembled for this guide; they are not a saved ChatGPT conversation.
Question: How can I suggest a way to organize notes without claiming I already use it?
| Note | Material to work from | Heading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The earlier draft said, “I use four labels in my working notes.” | What I did — recorded draft wording |
| 2 | The supplied notes did not establish that personal habit. | What I did — the gap found in review |
| 3 | The revision says, “Use these headings in a notes document”: What I did, Checked source, My take, and Not checked. | What I did — recorded revision |
| 4 | Keep note numbers so a drafted claim can be traced to its material. | My take — writing advice |
| 5 | These notes contain no completed test or measured time-saving result for the method. | Not checked — no result to claim |
Checked source: none supplied for this example. The material records a wording edit, not a checked product feature.
Outline: one section, “Organize the notes for one section.” First, give the four headings from note 3. Then give the note-number step from note 4. Notes 1–2 explain why this should be advice rather than a personal-habit claim; note 5 provides no test or time-saving result to add.
The first sentence in the sample section uses the headings in note 3. The second comes from note 4. Notes 1 and 2 explain why I wrote it as advice.
For your own section, put a note number beside each factual statement or instruction while reviewing it. If you cannot identify its support, narrow the sentence or supply the missing note before continuing.
Catch what the draft added
The recorded wording edit changed “I use four labels in my working notes” to “Use these headings in a notes document.” For your own section, check whether the notes support what each sentence claims.
Compare your drafted section with its notes:
- Can you trace each factual or personal claim to a note?
- Has a plan or suggestion become something that supposedly happened?
- Can the reader follow the instructions without supplying a missing step?
If you find a problem, quote the sentence and ask for one correction:
Revise only the sentence below using the supplied notes.
Keep the supported meaning and the surrounding text.
Do not add facts or experience. If the notes are insufficient, name the missing detail.
SENTENCE: [PASTE IT]
NOTES: [PASTE THE RELEVANT NOTES]Compare the revision with the notes before continuing. For sentence-level wording changes, see the three edits from my earlier draft. Review the complete article and saved page with the WordPress pre-publish checklist once the draft is ready.
Evidence and check dates
- Tool: An editor-written notes-to-section workflow, with suggested ChatGPT prompts.
- Model: Not applicable to the worked example; no saved model run is presented.
- Dates: Record reviewed October 23, 2026. The example was reordered and its note-to-sentence links clarified October 28; no new workflow trial.
- Input: Numbered notes and the recorded edit from “I use four labels” to “Use these headings.”
- What was checked: Editorial example: a proposed method stays advice instead of becoming an unsupported personal habit.
- Not checked: No completed end-to-end test, time-saving measurement, or independent source verification by the suggested prompts.
Source status: Source: the documented wording revision described above. The worked notes, outline, and section are editor-written examples; no external feature claim or measured performance result needs to be inferred from them.