This document provides an overview of using the BEAM framework to plan and organize sources for a research project. It discusses categorizing sources as background, exhibit/evidence, argument, or method (BEAM). Background sources provide context, exhibits are sources to analyze as evidence, argument sources show the scholarly conversation around the topic, and method sources discuss research methods. Examples are given for each category. The document encourages using a mind map to brainstorm potential sources and identifies places to find different types of sources, such as reference sources for background or subject databases for arguments. It concludes with a brief discussion of database searching and organizing sources in a literature matrix.

1. BEAMing Your Research Project
Nicole Branch
Santa Clara University Library
Lesson adapted from Woodward & Ganski, University of Wisconsin
Milwaukee; Engaging Ideas by John C. Bean, and Joseph Bizup, Boston
University. Image courtesy of Flickr user Brian Wolf.

2. Objectives
• Plan & execute a search strategy
• Evaluate sources for relevance & purpose
• Discuss potential value of sources
• Select sources for purposes of your capstone
project

3. Ways of Categorizing Sources
• Scholarly -------------------------- Popular
• Primary --------------------------- Secondary
• Good -------------------------------- Bad

4. Bizup’s “BEAM”
• Background
• Exhibit/Evidence
• Argument
• Method

5. Background
“Any source, assumed to be noncontroversial,
used to provide context… facts and information”
Examples:
• Encyclopedia articles
• Topic background/facts
• Statistics

6. Exhibit/Evidence
Sources you analyze or use as evidence.
Examples:
• Data you collect (interviews, surveys, field
observations, focus groups)
• Data collected by others you might use for
your analysis

7. Argument
“The conversation of critical views and relevant
scholarship” related to the topic.
Examples:
• Scholarly articles about your topic
• Literature reviews that trace the
“conversation” as well as the gaps in the
conversation

8. Method
“References to the theories or methods the
writer is employing”
Examples:
• Articles about particular research
methodologies
• Articles about particular theorists or theories

9. What can you do with these sources
for your writing?
•Provide context for your search for information
•Used in the introduction to orient your reader to your topic
and your paperBackground
•Used for the basis of your original analysis
•The basis of your “voice” in the conversation
Exhibit
•Understand how your topic has been treated by others
•Identify gaps in current understanding of your topic
•Place your own analysis in the context of scholarly discourseArgument
•Provides information to conduct your own original analysis
or research
•Provides validity for your methodsMethod

10. BEAM & the Research Paper
Discussion/Conclusion
Exhibit and/or argument sources
Results
Exhibit sources
Methods
Method sources
Literature Review
Argument Sources
Introduction
Background sources

11. BEAM Your Research Topic
• Use the mind map to brainstorm sources for
your research topic
– Things you have found
– Things you need to find
– Gaps in for the sources you have

12. Example

13. Where will you find these sources?
• Look for encyclopedia entries , statistics, and cultural artifacts in:
• Reference sources (CREDO, Gale Virtual Reference)
• Statistics Sources (Statista, American Community Survey)
• Reports from institutes or organizations
Background
• Look for exhibit sources in:
• Your own research study data
• Available data setsExhibit
• Look for scholarly articles related to your topic in:
• OmniFile
• Subject specific databasesArgument
• Look for scholarly articles about methods and theories in:
• Recommended research methods texts
• Sage Research Methods
• Subject specific databases
Method

14. Finding & Organizing Sources
• Brief review of database searching
• Introduction to Sage Research Methods
• Using a literature matrix

15. Questions?
Nicole Branch
nbranch@scu.edu
x5436