Armando Valadez

Mr. Lasley
Critical Thinking and Writing 1
20 September 2017
CRL 5

In Bizups BEAM: A Rhetorical Vocabulary for Teaching Research-Based Writing he notes

that we should not look at researching data as something used to bring up old and ideas to
reiterate someone elses thoughts, rather we should look at their writing to create new
understandings that either agree or contradict what the author is saying. In addition over the
years research papers have gradually been denounced as a genre rather than a unique topic.
Despite attempts by some authors to further the idea that research papers are a unique and
creative new piece is very difficult to accept because we fail to examine the way we process and
conceptualize the items we research. Furthermore, for writers to be successful with their work
they must have the ability to both look at the texts main idea for what it is but also be able to
procure larger implications outside of the texts knowledge. However, students who fail to
produce a good research paper is not entirely the fault of the student because as teachers they are
the ones who need to treat research papers as their own thing rather than make it a part of the
process to complete something else. Also, Bizup notes that when we classify sources as
primary, secondary, and (in some versions of the scheme) tertiary, we attend not to their
rhetorical functions or effects but to their relationship to some external point of reference (73)
this means that by classifying certain sources as more important than others because of how they
support our argument rather than taking the rhetoric into consideration and then deciding its
place within our writing. Bizup also inquires that there is a certain slipperiness to this
nomenclature that can make it difficult for students to apprehend (74) because the terms used to
teach the writing process specific to research papers are so abstract, it leaves the teacher
responsible to answer questions that can mislead students. We must acknowledge that academic
researchers and writers work not simply as individuals but as members of specific disciplines and
professions (74) which changes the way we interpret them. For example, something that is
considered a primary source for a business class could be a secondary source for a history one.
Instead of telling students what sources they should be looking for, we should tell them what to
do with those sources in order to better understand their rhetorical perspective. Bizups solution
to this is by using the acronym BEAM which stands for background, exhibits, arguments, and
methods. Background sources are materials that are considered or wanted to be seen as facts in
addition background sources are authoritative and they are meant to be seen that way. Exhibit
sources are those materials that a writer conjures up in order to form explanations, show analysis,
and come about interpretations. Next, there are arguments sources, which refer to those whose
assertions negate, support, or offer an extension of knowledge towards the main argument. Next
there are method sources that refer to materials that give a manner of working which means that
method sources can offer insight by giving step by step procedures. By allowing these new
changes to spread over campuses this allows us to become better writers. If we continue to
follow the same tendencies that have denounced the idea of research then we can never improve
the learning system.