22 BEAM: A Solution That Might Shine
This table, created from the ideas developed by Joseph Bizup, describes the roles that sources can play (some of the ways they can be used) in your finished assignment, such as a term paper. Bizup called his model BEAM, an acronym that stands for background, exhibits (or evidence), argument, and method.
| Role for Sources | How to Use Them |
Kinds of Sources That Can Have That Role* |
|---|---|---|
| Background** | Writers rely on these sources for general factual information. For instance, a writer could use background information to introduce a setting, situation, or problem in the term paper. | Usually secondary sources and tertiary sources, but, basically, just anything other than journal articles that report original research. Some examples: literature review articles (which are not the same as book reviews), non-fiction books, and biographies (secondary) and field guides and Credo/Britannica Academic/Wikipedia (tertiary). |
| Exhibits or Evidence | Writers interpret and analyze sources like these in the same way they are used as exhibits and evidence in a museum or a court. | Usually primary sources. Some examples: newspaper articles from the time in question, works of literature or art, and scholarly articles of original research. |
| Argument | Writers engage with these sources that they agree with or disagree with. The sources are usually written by scholars in their field. For instance, writers often include sources that describe earlier work that is specifically relevant to their own research question and their thesis (what they consider to be the response or claim to that question.) | Usually primary and secondary sources. Some examples of primary sources: scholarly research articles in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, and recordings of performances or artifacts in the arts. Some examples of secondary sources: commentaries and criticisms, such as those that appear in literature reviews (again not the same as book reviews), textbooks, and blogs that comment on research. |
| Method or Theory | Writers follow the key terms, concepts, or manner of working that are explained in these sources. That is, they pay attention to and use the relevant work of others who came before them to carry out their own work and then describe it in the term paper. | Often secondary sources. Some examples: literature reviews, textbooks, and blogs that comment on research. |
Using sources to function in these roles is how you enter into the scholarly conversation with all the other research and writing that has covered your topic before.
*See Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary Sources
**See Background Reading
TIP: BEAM at a Glance
Download this BEAM Reference Chart to help you quickly determine how you might find or use a source.
