Handout. Katherine Schaefer. Adapted from work from Joseph Bizup.
Overview: This classification system is different from the typical ways that source classification is taught in many high school classrooms. It’s not about the scholarly-non-scholarly axis, or the distinction between whether the source is primary or secondary. Instead, it’s about whether the author is using the source as a source of background information (B), as evidence (E), as an argument (A) to engage with, or as a source of methodology (M) (or theory, in the BEAT variation).
Uses: This system can be used to introduce students to reading a research paper rhetorically. By classifying sources in terms of how the author is using them, students start to focus on what information is taken for granted, what information is contested, and how sources are used to set up a question or to build an argument. It works well in WRT105, and also in upper-level writing, especially in disciplines not using an Intro-Methods-Results-Discussion format for research writing.
How do I use it in class? I ask students to read the handout. We then each contribute a scholarly article, and I ask students to classify the citations within the article, using the BEAM framework. Then, I ask students to do the same with their own drafts.
In my experience, students have trouble with the distinction between A and E. They see everything that they are using to support *their own argument* as A. They have trouble grasping the idea that their argument is an extension of another argument (A) and that they are using evidence (E) to build their own argument.
Because of this difficulty, I don’t require BEAM terminology in the annotated bibliography but instead focus on trying to get students to see how introductions introduce an argument to be engaged with, and body paragraphs use evidence to build on the argument.
The CARS handout (see separate entry) sometimes helps with helping students to see the A sources in an introduction.
The handout can be found at this link.
Citation: Bizup, J. (2008). BEAM: A rhetorical vocabulary for teaching research-based writing. Rhetoric Review 27(1), 72-86.