Assignment: weekly CREW matrix
Being familiar does not mean having full understanding. Instead familiarity means that students have made a first attempt at analysis of course material. Participating in the seminar helps to move from familiarity to proficiency. An initial step in analysis of course material involves identifying the structure of arguments, evaluating their claims, and being able to assess their evidence and warrants.
Honing the skills that help make the move from familiarity to proficiency takes practice. One way to practice these skills is to create a matrix of the claims, reasons, evidence, and warrants (CREW) associated with a given instance of course material (e.g., an article or podcast). A CREW matrix helps you find your way through the structure of course material while avoiding becoming lost in its details. The skills associated with generating a CREW matrix carry over to many applications and situations, including in your own research and writing.
If you are not familiar with the ideas behind CREW, I highly recommend consulting Chapter 6 and Chapters 10-17 of Booth, Wayne C., Gregory G. Colomb, and Joseph M. Williams. The Craft of Research. Third Edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008. The book is available electronically via the MUN Library website. To spell out the ideas in Booth et al briefly:
- A claim is any statement that needs to be back up with evidence.
- A reason is the logic underlying a given claim, whether that logic is explicitly or implicitly stated.
- A piece of evidence is anything that substantiates a claim.
- A warrant is anything that implicitly or explicitly provides a justification of a claim, reason, and/or piece of evidence.
- Download the CREW matrix template available at this link. It can be downloaded in a variety of formats from the "File" menu under "Download as".
- Read, listen to, and/or watch the course material for the relevant week. As you do so, fill in a CREW matrix template for each item assigned in a given week.
- Print out and bring each of your CREW matrices to seminar.
- At the end of seminar, take a couple of minutes to reflect on what you feel is the most important thing you personally learned during the seminar. Offer a 1 - 3 sentence synopsis of that to your CREW matrix (just hand write it on the template).
- Hand in your printed CREW matrices at the end of seminar.
will also provide guides to relevant portions of texts and other assigned material by allowing quick reference to source material for discussion. Feel free to annotate your matrices with notes during the seminar. They will be returned to you at the next seminar.