The BEAM spectrum is a way to think about how you can use sources for your project. What type of information are you looking for? What do you need to accomplish? Construct an argument? Provide evidence? Or just report basic facts?
Remember, not all projects will require you to use sources in all four ways. And some sources will help you in more than one of these categories.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Adapted from Kristin M. Woodward & Kate Ganski's "What Could A Writer Do With This Source?"