SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject ...



SOAPSTone Analysis and Writing Strategy

(Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone)

Who is the SPEAKER?

The voice that tells the story. Before a writer begins to write, she or he must decide whose voice is going to be heard. Whether this voice belongs to a fictional character or to the writers themselves, writers should determine how to insert and develop those attributes of the speaker that will influence the

perceived meaning of the piece. A paragraph analysis is required and should include information about the speaker’s background that you learn from the book.

What is the OCCASION?

The time and the place for the piece; the context that prompted the writing. Writing does not occur in a vacuum. All writers are influenced by the Larger occasion: an environment of ideas, attitudes, and emotions that swirl around a broad issue. Then there is the immediate occasion: an event or situation that

catches the writer’s attention and triggers a response. A one paragraph analysis is required, fully addressing each point previously listed.

Who is the AUDIENCE?

The group of readers to whom this piece is directed. As they begin to write, writers must determine who the audience is that they intend to address. It may be one person or a specific group. This choice of audience will affect how and why the writer creates a particular text. A short, one-paragraph analysis is required, complete with evidence from the textual clues supporting your ideas.

What is the PURPOSE?

The reason behind the text. Writers need to consider the purpose of the text in order to develop the thesis or the argument and its logic. They should ask themselves, “What do I want my audience to think or do as a result of reading my text?” Is the author attempting to bond with his audience, using appeals to

pathos (creating an emotional or suffering bond), or appeals to ethos (creating a bond through common belief: religion, political, or value-based), or appeals to logos (presenting facts, statistics, or hard evidence). A one-paragraph analysis is required with textual clues to support your ideas.

What is the SUBJECT?

Writers should be able to state the subject in a few words or phrases. This step helps them to focus on the intended task throughout the writing process. Find the author’s exact thesis and then restate it in your words. This should be at least two complete sentences.

What is the TONE?

The attitude of the author. The spoken word can convey the speaker’s attitude and thus help to impart meaning through tone of voice. With the written word, it is tone that extends meaning beyond the literal, and writers must learn to convey this tone in their diction (choice of words), syntax (sentence construction), and imagery (metaphors, similes, and other types of figurative language). The ability to manage tone is one of the best indicators of a sophisticated writer. What is the author’s tone towards his or her subject? Provide textual evidence (an example) in a one-paragraph analysis.

SOAPSTone - Visually Analyzing a Text or Film

Rationale

The SOAPSTone graphic organizer provides students with a strategy for analyzing any text or film. It is an acronym to help students identify main idea and point of view in a text in an organized fashion. It also as provides an opportunity for students to compare and contrast differing views. By using SOAPSTone as a basis for analysis, students will discover that a speech, poem or story is carefully structured, and they will look to the details of the text to support their analyses.

In this activity students will:

• Improve their reading comprehension

• Improve their analytical reading skills

• Compare and contrast perspectives in a given reading

• Enrich their organizational reading skills

Procedure

Step One: Introduction

Have students read a selected text, and ask them to write answers to some reflective questions in their journal. This post-reading writing can give students a sense of personal engagement to the reading.

Step Two: The Graphic Organizer

Provide students a SOAPSTone graphic organizer

SOAPSTone: Graphic Organizer Examples

By using SOAPSTone as a basis for analysis, students will discover that a speech, poem or story is carefully structured, and they will look to the details of the text to support their analyses.

A SOAPSTone graphic organizer for one piece of literature might look like this:

|Subject |Occasion |

|Subject |[pic] |

|Occasion |[pic] |

|Audience |[pic] |

|Purpose |[pic] |

|Speaker |[pic] |

|Tone |[pic] |

When two or more texts are being contrasted, the graphic organizer may look like this:

|Text # – Title & Author |Text # – Title & Author |Text # – Title & Author |

|Subject |Subject |Subject |

|Occasion |Occasion |Occasion |

|Audience |Audience |Audience |

|Purpose |Purpose |Purpose |

|Speaker |Speaker |Speaker |

|Tone |Tone |Tone |

S: What is the Subject?

The general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text. That is, what is this piece about? Students should be able to state the subject in a few words or a short phrase. For example, is this piece about the sadness of aging, the glories of nature or the need for abolition? Aging, nature and abolition are not subjects, but topics. There is a distinction.

O: What is the Occasion?

The time and place of the piece; the current situation which gave rise to the writing or speech. What is the rhetorical occasion of the text? Is it a memory, a description, an observation, a valedictory, an argument, a diatribe, an elegy, a declaration, a critique, etc.? Note the larger occasion, that is, the broad issue which is the center of ideas and emotions. Also note the immediate occasion, that is, the issue that catches the writer’s attention and triggers a response. It is particularly important that students understand the context that encouraged the writing or speaking to happen. An occasion may be impromptu, or a writer or speaker may be commissioned to deliver a piece for a particular occasion. For example, a writer may pen an editorial prior to congress taking an important vote, Dr. King wrote a speech particularly for the March on Washington, and Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible during the time of the HUAC hearings and the blacklist.

A: Who is the Audience?

The group of readers to whom this piece is directed. The audience may be one person, a small group, or a large group. Students need to know that people tend to write or speak for a particular audience, not for just anyone. What qualities do the audience members have in common? Are they of a particular age, class, occupation or ethnicity? Do they share certain beliefs or values in common? Does the author identify an audience? Is it one individual, a group, many groups? What assumptions can you make about the intended audience?

P: What is the Purpose?

The reason behind the text. Considering the purpose is important so that the reader can examine the writer’s argument and the logic of it. In what ways does the author convey the message of the purpose? What is the message? How does the speaker try to spark a reaction in the audience? How is the text supposed to make the audience feel? What is its intended effect? What does the speaker, writer, or filmmaker want the audience to do, feel, say or choose? In literature, we call this the theme of the piece.

S: Who is the Speaker?

The voice that tells the story. Are the author and speaker a different gender. Do not be confused by the gender of the author and assume the speaker must be the same. Let the facts lead you to the speaker. What does the speaker believe? Do not assume that the author believes what the speaker believes. If the text is non-fiction, do not simply identify the speaker/author by name. Include important facts about the speaker that will help the reader (the audience) make judgments about the speaker’s position (the speaker’s point of view).In nonfiction, what do we know about the writer’s life and views that shape this text? In fiction or poetry, students often mistakenly believe that the author and narrator of a piece are the same. They fail to realize that the author may choose to tell the story from any number of different points of view. They may think that what the speaker believes is what the author believes. This misconception creates problems for students as they try to unravel meaning. What can they tell about the speaker (not the author) from the text? Is someone identified as the speaker? What assumptions can you make about the speaker? (e.g., age, gender, class, emotional state, etc.) The author and the speaker are not necessarily the same. The author may tell the story from many different points of view. So who is telling the story? How do you know this? How does the writer present his/her narration? Assess the character of the speaker. These are crucial considerations.

Tone: What is the Tone?

What choice of words and use of rhetorical devices let you know the speaker’s tone? Is the tone light-hearted or deadly serious? Mischievous or ironic? The tone informs us as to the speaker’s true point of view. What emotional sense do you take from the piece? The spoken word can convey the speaker’s attitude and help impart meaning through tone of voice. However, with the written word, tone extends meaning past the literal. How does the diction (choice of words), point to tone? How does syntax (sentence construction) point to tone? Finally, how does imagery (vivid descriptions that appeal to the senses) point to tone?

Organization: How is the text organized? How does the writer arrange his/her content?

Narrative Style: How does the writer tell the “story” ? What does the writer reveal?

What does he/she conceal? What does (s)he invert/subvert? Is the writing “dramatic,” almost play-like in its use of dialogue or theatrical conventions ? How does the writer treat time?

Evidence: What kind of diction dominates the text? What is the source of the images (e.g, nature, weapons, law, science, theology, love, architecture, etc.). What do sound devices contribute to the work?

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download