SPINLAB @ MSU

Unambiguous and mutually understandable communication is non trivial. One needs to think deeply about what the audience may or may not know and what the unspoken assumptions might be. To illustrate this, I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches following instructions written by four of the team members along with an additional instruction set generated by Chat GPT. I followed the instructions exactly as written to the best of my abilities. This post documents the anonymized results. This was an exercise in precise and clear writing.

Sandwich Instruction Set 1:

To make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (PB&J), you will need the following:

• two slices of bread
• open jar/container of peanut butter
• open jar/container of jelly
• plate (or paper towel/large napkin) to assemble the sandwich on
• butter knife
• spoon

Instructions:

1. Gather all required ingredients and tools as listed above, and place them in front of you on a table so that everything is easy to reach.
2. Put peanut butter on one piece of bread by doing the following:
   2a. Using your dominant hand, pick up the butter knife. Use it to scoop about 1-2 tbsp of peanut butter out of the peanut butter container, holding the container steady as needed with your nondominant hand.
   2b. Using your non-dominant hand, pick up a slice of bread and hold it flat in your palm.
   2c. Smear the peanut butter across the slice of bread using the knife to apply a roughly even layer of peanut butter on the side of the bread that faces up.
   2d. You should have a layer of peanut butter between 3 mm and 7 mm thick on one side of the bread, with no peanut butter on the crust. If there is not enough peanut butter on the bread to approximately cover the entire upper side of the bread slice, repeat steps 2a then 2c until there is enough peanut butter.
   2e. Place the slice on the plate, peanut-butter side up. Put the knife down somewhere out of the way, e.g. in the peanut butter container or next to the plate.
3. Put jelly on the other slice of bread by doing the following:
   3a. Using your dominant hand, pick up the spoon. Use it to scoop about 1-2 tbsp of jelly out of the jelly container, holding the container steady as needed with your nondominant hand.
   3b. Using your non-dominant hand, pick up the second slice of bread (which should have no peanut butter on it) and hold it flat in your palm.
   3c. Smear the jelly across the slice of bread using the spoon to apply a roughly even layer of jelly on the side of the bread that faces up. This step may be easier using the back of the spoon.
   3d. You should have a layer of jelly on the slice of bread, approximately the same thickness as the layer of peanut butter in step 2d. If there is not enough jelly to approximately cover the entire upper side of the bread slice, repeat steps 3a then 3c until there is enough jelly.
   3e. Put down the spoon somewhere out of the way, e.g. in the jelly container or next to the plate.
4. You should now have one slice of bread with jelly in your non-dominant hand and nothing in your dominant hand. Carefully pick up the bread slice with the peanut butter using your dominant hand, so that in each hand you have a slice of bread with either peanut butter or jelly facing up. Flip the slice with peanut butter upside down to place that slice face-down onto the slice with jelly, so the peanut butter and jelly meet with the two slices of bread roughly aligned.
5. Place the sandwich on the plate. You should now have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Sandwich Instruction Set 2:

Materials required:

1. Pack of bread
2. Jar of peanut butter (preferably creamy)
3. Jam or jelly (any flavor)
4. Spread knife (x2)
5. Plate
6. Cutting knife
7. Toaster (optional)

Procedure:

1. Gather all the required materials and arrange them on a clean table or workspace.
2. Take two (2) slices of bread from the bread pack and keep them on the plate.
3. If you prefer, toast the bread using the toaster.
4. Open the peanut butter jar and the jelly bottle and place them on the table.
5. Use one knife to scoop the required amount of peanut butter. You can hold the peanut butter jar in your left hand and use the right hand to scoop, or vice versa if you’re left-handed.
6. Place the jar back on the table and hold the knife with peanut butter in your preferred hand.
7. Take one slice of bread (or toasted bread) from the plate and spread the peanut butter evenly over it using the knife. Make sure to cover the entire surface of the slice for a better taste. If spreading on untoasted bread is difficult, try using toasted bread for a smoother spread.
8. Place the bread with peanut butter back on the plate and set aside the used knife.
9. Grab the second knife, and scoop required amount of jelly using the same method as in step 5 and 6.
10. Take the other slice of bread (or toasted bread) and spread the jelly evenly on it. Ensure the entire surface is covered for a better taste.
11. Set the used knife aside.
12. Take the bread with peanut butter and place it on top of the jelly-covered slice aligning the edges so that the peanut butter faces the jelly. Press the slices gently together.
13. Optional – trim the edges off with a cutting knife and cut the sandwich diagonally if desired.
14. Enjoy the perfect peanut butter jelly sandwich! Serve with a glass of milk or your favorite snack.

Sandwich Instruction Set 3:

Ingredients and food prep tools

• two slices of bread (not end pieces)
• a jar of peanut butter
• a jar of jelly
• two knives 
• a plate

Instructions

1. Place the two slices of bread onto a plate
2. open the jar of peanut butter
3. use one of the knives to scoop out some peanut butter
4. spread the peanut butter onto one face of one of the slices of bread
   • the peanut butter should cover the entire face of the slice of bread
   • continue to scoop out and spread peanut butter if one scoop was not enough to cover the face of the slice of bread
5. open the jar of jelly
6. use the other knife to scoop out some jelly
7. spread the jelly onto one face of the other slice of bread
   • the jelly should cover the entire face of the slice of bread
   • continue to scoop out and spread jelly if one scoop was not enough to cover the face of the slice of bread
8. stack the two pieces of bread together such that the jelly side and peanut butter side of the two slices are facing each other
9. Remove crusts on the sandwich if desired
10. Eat the sandwich

Sandwich Instruction Set 4:

1. Take out peanut butter, jelly, a knife, a plate, and 2 slices of bread not from the end.
2. Put both slices of bread on the plate.
3. Open the peanut butter, and spread it on the left piece of bread using the knife, on the face of the bread that is up.
4. Repeat step 3 with the jelly on the right piece of bread.
5. Combine the 2 pieces of bread together, putting the sides with peanut butter and jelly together.
6. Put the sandwich on the plate, close up your peanut butter and jelly bottle lids, and put everything away.

Sandwich Instruction Set 5 (Chat GPT):

prompt to ChatGPT free version website without logging in: please provide detailed and explicit instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for an elementary school age child

What You Will Need

1. 2 slices of bread
2. Peanut butter
3. Jelly or jam
4. A butter knife
5. A plate
6. A napkin (optional, but helpful!)

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Wash your hands
   • Go to the sink.
   • Turn on the water.
   • Use soap and rub your hands together for about 20 seconds.
   • Rinse and dry your hands.
2. Get out your plate
   • Place the plate on the table or counter in front of you.
3. Put the bread on the plate
   • Take two slices of bread.
   • Lay them flat on the plate next to each other.
4. Open the peanut butter jar
   • Hold the jar with one hand.
   • Twist the lid with the other hand until it comes off.
   • Place the lid on the table.
5. Spread the peanut butter
   • Pick up the butter knife.
   • Dip the knife into the peanut butter and scoop out a small amount.
   • Spread the peanut butter onto one slice of bread.
   • Move the knife back and forth until the peanut butter covers most of the bread.
6. Put the knife down
   • Place the knife on the plate or next to it so it does not make a mess.
7. Open the jelly jar
   • Hold the jelly jar and twist off the lid.
   • Set the lid down.
8. Spread the jelly
   • Pick up the knife again (wipe it first if an adult asks you to).
   • Scoop some jelly with the knife.
   • Spread the jelly onto the other slice of bread.
   • Spread it gently so it does not drip.
9. Put the sandwich together
   • Pick up one slice of bread.
   • Turn it so the peanut butter side faces the jelly side.
   • Press the two slices together gently.
10. Cut the sandwich (optional)
    • Ask an adult if you are allowed to cut it.
    • Cut the sandwich in half if you want.
11. Clean up
    • Put the lids back on the jars and close them tightly.
    • Put the jars away.
    • Put the knife in the sink.
    • Throw away crumbs or wipe the table if needed.
12. Eat and enjoy!
    • Sit down.
    • Take small bites.
    • Enjoy your peanut butter and jelly sandwich!

Failure modes during the making of the sandwiches:

• None of the instructions included removing the film covering the peanut butter jar under the lid. As a consequence, I had to stab through the film covering to access the peanut butter.
• One the last instruction set (from Chat GPT) started with “wash your hands.” Step-by-step instructions on how to do so were provided, including a step where the faucet was opened, but, unfortunately, the instructions did not include a step where the faucet was turned off afterwards, so I left the faucet running.
• More than instruction set indicated that the peanut butter and/or jelly should be spread “everywhere” on the surface. I dutifully covered both the front and back of the bread along with the edges.
• Instruction set 4 instructed by to apply peanut butter on just the left slice of bread and the jelly on just the right side of this same slice. It also said to combine the two slices of bread, which I did so by violently smashing them together.

One sentence self-reflective take-away from this activity by the team members:

• Even very precise instructions can be defeated by factors the writer doesn’t know about (for example, not knowing that peanut butter jars have a seal underneath the cap).
• One thing I learned from this exercise is that my instructions could be made more clear without the use of parenthesis to insert my personal comments, since parenthesis suggest something optional or at least, something not important.
• I need to focus more on actually clarifying what I want done, and making sure to think of all steps that need to be completed, including ones I instinctively do.
• Through this experiment, I realized the importance of writing detailed and precise procedures, with proper wording, to prevent assumptions and misinterpretation.
• It’s important to include sufficient detail at every step, but it’s also important to not include less relevant details that can make the procedure more confusing.
• Jaideep is bad at following instructions.