This research guide is designed according to the BEAM framework. As such, guides for each section are constructed to adhere to the following format:
Background Sources - Students are guided to materials that provide topic overviews, such as encyclopedias, handbooks, and core books. These are primarily secondary sources. The main focus of sources in this category of materials is that they are used for information that is well-established in a field.
Exhibit Sources - In contrast, these materials may contain secondary or primary sources. These materials can be a novel, an interview, data sets, scholarly articles, diaries, and more. These sources are used to interpret or analyze a topic by giving evidence for a claim.
Argument Sources - Materials in this category are secondary sources. These sources support exhibit sources that a student selected and essentially constitute a literature review in a paper or context in a presentation. The main focus of these sources is to argue or build upon a position; they make a claim related to student-proposed topics.
Method Sources - These sources demonstrate how questions and conclusions are reached. They can be based on prior research (replicated studies) or originally designed (surveys, for example). They include procedures, theories, and disciplinary definitions, if they are presumed to be unfamiliar to the readers, or are used in a specific context in a student's research. The main focus of these sources is that the sources clearly explain the method used to reach the claim given.
Thus from this point on, each section in a course guide/page will use these headings and reference the types of resources in each of the categories explained here.
NOTE: The remainder of this page provides tips for various types of research assignments. If you feel that a specific type of assignment has not been addressed here, please contact me with the details and I'll be happy to work on including it in this guide.
