Sources can play several different roles as you develop your points:
Provide background information or context -- You can use facts and statistics to support generalizations or to establish the importance of your topic.
Explain terms or concepts -- Explain words, phrases, or ideas that might be unfamiliar to your readers. Quoting or paraphrasing a source can help you define terms and concepts in neutral, accessible language.
Support your claims -- Back up your assertions with facts, examples, and other evidence from your research.
Lend authority to your argument -- Expert opinion can give weight to your argument. But don't rely on experts to make your argument for you. Construct your argument in your own words and cite authorities in the field for support.
Anticipate and counter objections -- Do not ignore sources that seem to contradict your position or that offer arguments different from your own. Instead, use them to give voice to opposing points of view before you counter them.
Good research stems from analyzing your chosen topic, searching for relevant sources such as books or scholarly articles, and evaluating those sources to determine whether or not they can be used to bolster your argument or answer your question.
Thinking less about how many sources you need and more about what you might do with your sources can help you write a paper in which you contribute to the scholarly dialogue, or conversation, about your chosen topic. The BEAM Method asks you to consider the function of the source.
Image adapted from "BEAM Research Method" by Justina Elmore which is under a CC BY 4.0 license.
Background: Sources that provide general, established facts.
USED TO: Contextualize a topic with background information that sets up your position.
SOURCE EXAMPLES: Encyclopedia articles, overviews in books, statistics, historical facts
WHERE TO CONSIDER USING IN YOUR PAPER: Introduction
Exhibit: Sources that provide evidence or examples for interpretation
USED TO: Analyze exhibits and relate them to a topic and your position.
SOURCE EXAMPLES: Primary sources, like the text of a novel, field observations, focus group transcriptions, questionnaire data, results of an experiment, interview data.
WHERE TO CONSIDER USING IN YOUR PAPER: Body or Results section
Argument: Sources that provide claims by scholars on a topic
USED TO: Engage arguments and connect them to your position.
SOURCE EXAMPLES: Scholarly sources, like peer-reviewed journal articles, books and book chapters, literacy criticism, etc.
WHERE TO CONSIDER USING IN YOUR PAPER: Body, sometimes in Introduction or in Literature Review.
Method: Sources that establish theory and modes of thinking
USED TO: Frame your analysis or position with a specific method, theory, or approach.
SOURCE EXAMPLES: Part of scholarly books or articles with reference to theorists (e.g. Foucault, Derrida) or theory (e.g. feminism, post-colonialism, new historicism etc.)
WHERE TO CONSIDER USING IN YOUR PAPER: Methods section or referenced in Introduction or Body
1. Introduce the source: answer the following questions to create a context for your source:
2. Quote/Summary/Paraphrase of source: be sure to include the page number, if possible.
3. Translate the source: define any key words your audience might not know, and restate the main ideas of the source in your own words to demonstrate your understanding of its meaning and bring your reader up to speed on the subject matter.
4. Analyze/Critique/Interpret the source: this is where your ability to persuade comes into play. You control the conversation! Explore the source, dissect it, take it apart to see what makes it tick. Propose your unique perspective on the source’s meaning and significance. What is it really saying and how is that meaning conveyed? Why does it matter?
5. Synthesize the quote: by combining the source and your own ideas, you should now be able to create new knowledge that connects back to your own thesis and adds your voice to the conversation established by your source. How does this source fuel your argument? Why does your argument need this source to succeed? Connect the dots!
Temple's Student Success Center is an excellent source of help for writers. It offers one-on-one tutoring sessions (in-person and online) for individuals seeking to work together with a tutor to improve their work. It also offers email tutoring plus handouts and style guides on topics which writers frequently grapple.
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) contains writing resources and instructional materials focused on the writing process, academic writing, mechanics, grammar, punctuation, and more.
