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Trash DanceCall Number: Central Media Collection (4th Floor) ; DVD 7969ISBN: 0989343006Publication Date: 2012
Evaluating Sources
You've done your search in a database and found a list of articles. Or you have some book titles to consider. You now have to decide whether or not these potential sources help you accomplish your purpose. One way to do that is to see how you might use those sources in your research paper.
The BEAM model below might be helpful. As you examine your results ask yourself, does this source fall into one (or more) of the categories below?
More Details
Background Sources
- Rely on them for information accepted as unquestionable fact
- Provide general information to explain a topic
- Sources to consider: books, encyclopedias (either general or subject-specific), articles.
Exhibit Sources
- Materials a writer is interpreting or analyzing
- Used to provide an example of or give evidence for a claim
- Sources to consider: Depending on your topic and discipline, scholarly books or articles, a film, novel, a data set, an interview, experimental results, a diary, letters, a work of art, etc.
Argument Sources
- Information from other authors you are agreeing with, disagreeing with, or building upon
- Citing them puts your research in the context of other scholarship on that topic--brings you into the conversation
- You use your exhibit sources as examples of why you agree with, disagree with, or want to add more to what was claimed in your argument sources
- Sources to consder: articles, books.
Method Sources
- Materials an author follows to determine how they are doing their research
- Sources to consider: Course readings, books, articles, Can include research procedures, theories
Citation
Adapted from Beeghly LIbrary, Heidelberg University: http://libguides.heidelberg.edu/eval/beam#s-lg-box-2260491
Additional Sources:
Meredith Farkas, Meredith. “Good for What? Teaching Sources for Sustainable Lifelong Information Literacy." Presentation, Association of College and Research Libraries, Portland, OR, March 25-28, 2015. http://www.slideshare.net/meredithfarkas/good-for-what
Rubick. Kate. 2014. "Flashlight: Using Bizup's BEAM to Illuminate the Rhetoric of Research." Presentation at Library Instruction West 2014. http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/liw_portland/Presentations/Material/10/
Rumble, Juliet, Carter. Toni and Noe, Nancy. 2015. "Teaching Students the 'How' and 'Why' of Source Evaluation: Pedagogies that Empower Communities of Learning and Scholarship." Presentation at 2015 LOEX Conference. http://www.loexconference.org/2015/presentations/rumblePresentation.pdf
Woodward, Kristin M. and Ganski, Kate L., “BEAM Lesson Plan” (2013). UWM Libraries Instructional Materials. Paper 1. http://dc.uwm.edu/lib_staff_files/1
BEAM originally developed by Joseph Bizup.
Bizup, Joseph. "BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing." Rhetoric Review 27, no. 1 (2008): 72-86. doi:10.1080/07350190701738858
Primary Sources
Primary sources include historical and legal documents, eyewitness accounts, speeches, memoirs, results of experiments, statistical data, creative writing, unpublished manuscripts and archives, and audio and video recordings, among other documents. Interviews, surveys, and digital communications, including blogs and emails are also primary sources. Reports of direct observation from research, field studies, or experiments are also primary sources.
In the case of organizations, primary sources are documents created by the organization in the course of its operation. These documents can include annual reports, internal memorandums, letters, audio or video recordings, promotional material, and artifacts.
Primary sources help modern researchers interpret events in the context of the period in which it took place. They can also offer insight into the personal, social, religious, and political views of individuals who experienced the event.
For organizations, primary sources can provide a glimpse into the decisions taking place behind the scenes which affected the direction of the organization. They can also illustrate the history of the organization and its development over time.
Secondary Sources
Secondary sources are documents created by people removed in time from an historical event, or who were not present when the event happened. Secondary sources may include reactions and opinions of people far removed from the event being studied. Samples of secondary sources include textbooks, biographies, essays, and literary criticism.
An important step in evaluating a resource is determining if it is considered scholarly. This distinction will need to be made for books, as well as articles.
