| Source Function | Explanation | Examples | Common Locations |
| Background | Factual and noncontroversial information, providing context |
Encyclopedia articles, overviews in books, statistics, historical facts; see CREDO Reference |
Introduction |
| Exhibit/Evidence | Data, observations, objects, artifacts, documents that can be analyzed |
Text of a novel, field observations, focus group transcriptions, questionnaire data, results of an experiment, interview data (primary sources) |
Body, Results/ conclusion section |
| Argument | Critical views from other scholars and commentators; part of the academic conversation | Scholarly articles, books, critical reviews (e.g. literacy criticism), editorials |
Body, sometimes in Introduction or in Literature Review |
| Method (or Theory) | Reference to methods or theories used, usually explicit though may be implicit; approach or research methodology used |
Part of books or articles with reference to theorists (e.g. Foucault, Derrida) or theory (e.g. feminism, post-colonialism, new historicism etc.); information on a research methodology |
Methods section or referenced in Introduction or Body |
A source may serve more than one function. For instance, a journal article could include background information, exhibits, argument and method. However, some sources are focused on a single function. For example, an encyclopedia entry on “Alzheimer's disease” is likely to only serve as background information.
Adapted from UC Merced; BEAM Method created by Joseph Bizup
News sources give you up-to-date information about national and local concerns. Reading news in German can help you learn the vocabulary of your topic and identify major events, people, or government departments associated with your topic.
To search for German-language sources in OneSearch, change the language drop down in the top search box to "German."
To retrieve sources in both German and English, scroll down to the language section in the left search bar. Hover to the left of each language to bring up the check box, and click there to include a language. Click save to update your results list.
To search for a term or idea in English and German at the same time, put the English phrase on one line in the top search box and the German in the line below it. Change the drop down on the far left of the second line to "OR" to find either of the two sets of keywords in a single results list. This is a great technique for titles of books or short stories, since scholars sometimes refer to the title in German even when they're writing in English.
