32 BEAM: Sources can do different things for your writing
Meghan A Sweeney
Learning Objectives
By the end of the chapter, you will be able to
- rhetorically analyze sources to determine which BEAM role its sources fulfill
BEAM
BEAM is an acronym that helps us understand how sources are used rhetorically (Bizup). BEAM stands for Background, Exhibit, Argument, Method. While in the past, you may have discussed sources as either primary, secondary, and tertiary, this alternative way of discussing sources opens the conversation up to think about how you will synthesize the sources into your own writing.
The examples on this page are from a text written and published by a Saint Mary’s College student in his first year (Matthew White [New Tab]).
Definition
Background: using a source to provide general information, or background information on your topic
Exhibit: using a source as an text to analyze
Argument: using a source to engage its argument
Method: using a source for its methodology, which you also intend to use
In the following sections, we provide more thorough definitions from Bizup and examples from Saint Mary’s College student Matthew White.
Background
When you use a source as background, it means using a source to provide general information to explain the topic. For example, a writer might use the encyclopedia to explain the history of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Bizup describes it as “materials whose claims a writer accepts as fact, whether these ‘facts’ are taken as general information or deployed as evidence to support the writer’s own assertions. Writers regard their background sources as authoritative and expect their readers to do the same. Because writers sometimes treat information gleaned from their background sources as ‘common knowledge,’ they may sometimes leave these sources uncited” (75).
How does White use this source to provide background on health science?
The academic expertise and skills gained are used to maintain the advancement of health by practicing various forms of treatments, such as surgery and medications. Some of the most common health science careers are physical therapists, physician assistants, audiologists, pharmacists, and optometrists (University of Twente, 2015).
Exhibit
When you use a source as an exhibit, you are using it as an artifact to analyze or an example to illustrate a point. For a literature paper, this would be a poem you are analyzing. For a history paper, it might be a historical document you are analyzing. For a sociology paper, it might be the data from a study.
Bizup describes it as “materials a writer offers for explication, analysis, or interpretation. Materials used as background, argument, or method sources tend to be prose texts, but anything that can be represented in discourse can potentially serve as an exhibit. The simplest sort of exhibit is the example, a concrete instance offered to illustrate some more general claim or assertion….[Exhibit] is not synonymous with the conventional term evidence, which designates data offered in support of a claim. Exhibits can lend support to claims, but they can also provide occasions for claims” (75).
How is this example from White’s research paper using a source as an exhibit? What source will he analyze?
In a think-aloud protocol session, participants made several remarks about the formatting, such as “The formatting is good” and “Bullet points are nice, and short, simple phrases make it easy to read and understand.” Through analysis of the genre of medication guides as a whole, along with the responses from the study, it is justifiable to state that these guides have a primary purpose of informing the patient and are formatted and structured in such a way that makes it easy for the patient to understand. Brief statements in the active voice allow the patient to quickly identify the most important information: “Use 2 inhalations of ADVAIR HFA 2 times each day” (Center for Drug Evaluation and Research).
Argument
When you use a source as an argument, you use it to engage, advance, or complicate its argument. For example, you might use an editorial from the New York Times on the value of higher education to refute in your own paper.
Bizup describes it as “materials whose claims a writer affirms, disputes, refines, or extends in some way. To invoke a common metaphor, argument sources are those with which writers enter into ‘conversation’” (75-76).
How does White use these sources to further his argument that there is an issue with readability of medication guides?
While previous studies have determined the readability and suitability of medication guides as well as explored the communication between physicians and patients, few have connected the two in regard to the overall effect they have on a patient’s understanding of their prescribed medication (Britten et al.; Wolf et al., “Usability of FDA-Approved Medication Guides”). Pharmaceutical representatives often play a substantial role in influencing a physician’s understanding of a medication, but it is questionable whether enough information is then conveyed to the patient regarding the medication they are being prescribed (Lexchin 664).
Method
When you use a source for method, you are using its way of analyzing an issue or to study a topic to apply to your own issue. For example, you might use a study’s methods, definitions, or conclusions on gentrification in Chicago to apply to your own neighborhood in New York City.
Bizup describes it as “materials from which a writer derives a governing concept or a manner of working. A method source can offer a set of key terms, lay out a particular procedure, or furnish a general model or perspective” (76).
How does White use this source as a way to describe and plan his study’s methodology?
For the think-aloud protocol sessions, three groups of four individuals were gathered to discuss their views and opinions of a package insert (Medication Guide) for Advair HFA, “an oral inhalation medication for treatment of asthma in patients aged 12 years and older” (Center for Drug Evaluation and Research). This specific medication guide was chosen because Advair is a commonly prescribed medication for asthma, a lung disease that affects approximately 25 million people in the United States alone (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Furthermore, this medication guide was selected as the age range of the participants in this study corresponded well with the age of patients that are afflicted with asthma and therefore prescribed this medication.
Works Cited
Bizup, Joseph. “BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing.” Rhetoric Review 27.1 (2008): 72-86.
White, Matthew. “A Disconnect in the Process and Understanding of Prescription Medications.” XChanges. https://xchanges.org/a-disconnect-in-the-process-14-2
