Sources and Information Needs
Use this BEAM Reference Chart to help you quickly determine how you might find or use a source.
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Self-Check
Re-read your research paper. If you’ve already gotten feedback from your professor on this paper, also look to see whether any of that feedback applies to the roles you gave your sources. Then consider the questions below. If you can’t answer “Yes” to every question, reconsider how you have used the sources in your paper.
Do My Sources Have the Right Roles?
- Have I used background information to introduce a setting, situation, or problem in the paper or essay?
- Did I avoid using journal articles that report original research for my background information?
- Did I interpret and analyze sources as though they are exhibits or evidence in my argument?
- Did I discuss and cite what others have written about my research question?
- Did I include writers who both agree and disagree with what I say is my answer to the research question?
- Did I avoid using tertiary sources to support my thesis?
- Did I make it clear where key terms, concepts, and manner of working that I used in my research were used first by others?
- Were my sources for useful key terms, concepts, and manner of working secondary sources?
- Did I cite all my sources correctly?