SOAPSTone Reading/Annotation Strategy
Speaker
The voice that tells the Whose voice is supposed to be heard?
Whether it is a fictional character, the
story.
Occasion
The time and place of
the piece; the context
that prompted the
writing.
Audience
Purpose
The group of people to
whom the piece is
directed.
The reason behind the
text
Subject
The what is this
about
Tone (add The attitude of the
word
author
choice
comment
ary)
author, or a narrator, how are the
attributes of the speaker influencing the
perceived meaning of the piece?
What do we know about this historic or
contemporary person?
What role does he play in an historic
event?
Writing does not occur in a vacuum. All
writers are influenced by 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.
What is the Geographic and Historic
intersection at which this source was
produced?
The audience affects the purpose of the
text, how it is written, the inclusion of
certain elements.
Readers need to understand the purpose
of the text in order to develop a thesis,
analyze a piece of writing, or certainly
critique it.
Consider what the author wanted the
reader to take away from the reading.
What is the general topic, content, or
idea contained in the text?
Summarize in a few words or phrase.
The spoken word can convey the
speaker's attitude and thus help to
impart meaning through tone of voice.
It is often tone that extends meaning
beyond the literal, and the author
conveys this tone in diction (choice of
words), syntax (sentence construction),
and imagery (metaphors, similes, and
other types of figurative language).
*adapted from CollegeBoard
What is the attitude expressed by the
speaker?
Examine the choice of words, emotions
expressed, imagery used to determine
the speaker's attitude.