CINE 211: What is Media? : Evaluating Sources: BEAM

A method for classifying the function of a source in supporting an argument made in a piece of writing. Understanding the source's function can help you determine if a source is reliable in a particular context. For example, when faculty say that only scholarly or peer-reviewed are acceptable for an assignment, they often mean that your argument and method sources must be scholarly, but do not expect that your exhibit sources (e.g. a poem, a historical document, government produced data, the results of an original experiment) will be peer reviewed. 

Background

• Present facts, establish information
• This type of information is not contested.
• Most often found in encyclopedias, handbooks, and textbooks, but can also be found in more complex sources. 

Exhibit

• Explicate, interpret, analyze
• The original evidence the argument will examine.
• Includes primary sources in history, data in the social sciences, results of original scientific experiments in health and natural sciences, and texts or cultural artifacts in literature and media studies.

Argument

• Affirm, dispute, refine, extend
• Sources that interpret exhibit sources and make arguments about what their evidence demonstrates.
• These are most often scholarly articles and books, and high quality long form journalism. 

Method/Theory

• Critical lens; key terms; theory; style; perspective; discourse
• Sources that describe research methods or theoretical frameworks to contextualize which conclusions can be drawn from exhibit sources. 
• Most often scholarly articles, scholarly books, and research methods manuals.