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CASC 142.2: Strategies for Academic Success: Notetaking Strategies

Scholarship is a Conversation:

BEAM Method

Try BEAM:

Remember: This is not meant to replace what works for you- rather, we want to provide a new strategy to try out that you may see again in some classes. 

Identify paragraphs or sentence clusters by Background, Evidence, Argument, and Methods. 

Then write two to three sentences to summarize:

"What is this research about, how did they do it, what are they arguing?"

BEAM + My Sources

 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License by Justina Elmore, University of Rochester {{cc-by-4.0}}.  Adapted from Kristin M. Woodward & Kate Ganski's "What Could A Writer Do With This Source?" 
Awan, A. G., & Raza, S. A. (2016). The Effects of Totalitarianism and Marxism towards Dystopian society in George Orwell's
     selected fictions. Global Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 2(4), 21-37.

Claeys, G. (2010). The origins of dystopia: Wells, Huxley and Orwell. The Cambridge companion to utopian literature, 107.

Hasan, M., Muhammad, L., & Bahasin, G. (2020). Abuse practice of power in Orwell's Animal Farm: A historical approach.
     Journal of Culture, Arts, Literature, and Linguistics, 6(1), 383899. 

Howe, I., & Orwell, G. (1983). 1984 revisited : totalitarianism in our century (1st ed.). Harper & Row.

Nesti, F., & Orwell, G. (2021). 1984 : The graphic novel. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Author of the article

Primary or Secondary

Background Exhibit Argument Methods
Awan & Raza S     Will use to argue the dangers of excessive power within government.  
Howe S Will use to provide a background of/define totalitarianism      
Claeys S       Will use to explain and apply Marxist theory to the novel
Nesti P   Will use examples of gov. surveillance within the graphic novel to discuss oppression    

Primary sources provide a first hand record and are documents or physical objects created at the time historical events occurred or well after events in the form of memoirs and oral histories. Examples include:

  • ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS (excerpts or translations acceptable): Diaries, speeches, manuscripts, letters, interviews, news film footage, autobiographies, official records 
  • CREATIVE WORKS: Poetry, drama, novels, music, art 
  • RELICS OR ARTIFACTS: Pottery, furniture, clothing, buildings

Secondary sources interpret and analyze primary sources. These sources are one or more steps removed from the event. Secondary sources may have pictures, quotes or graphics of primary sources in them.  Examples include: Textbooks, journal articles, histories, criticisms, commentaries, and encyclopedias.