Reading Critically Strategy - AP format
Borrowed from Reading and Learning Strategies. 4rth edition. Kendall Hunt Pub. 2001
by Lenski, S. Wham, M. Johns, J., Caskey, M.
by Lenski, S. Wham, M. Johns, J., Caskey, M.
SOAPS and Claim
Speaker- who is the author,
who drafted, edited, wrote or copied this document.
Occasion- time and place-
how was this impetus for change or continuity. What events led up to the
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creation of this document, if it is relevant
Audience- who and how many,
is their location relevant to who they are.
Why this audience? Was it
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homogenous or heterogenous? Did the audience
represent one demographic or across culture and class? Is there a difference
between intended and actual audience?
Purpose- did it do what it
intended? Were there surprise results?
Significance- why was it
important at the time and over time? Was there more to the story behind the
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document that is not revealed in its
presentation?
Claim- what were people
trying to accomplish or establish versus what actually took place. Claim
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combines the finding of significance and
purpose. In a way, it helps students draw their conclusion.
Students have difficulty identifying occasion more than they do speaker.
This chart doesn’t emphasize point of view, but I believe it to be
embedded in the analysis of audience, purpose, significance & claim. Later
we would want to remove these parts of SOAP and substitute them with POV.
Students tend to summarize a document
with ease. The analysis tends to be weak.
Students will find strength in making assumptions, but backing the
assumption is a weakness. Thus an assumption can pull their whole argument in
the wrong direction.
If several documents are handed out to a
class for in depth analysis, class discussion can begin with students who read
the same document. They can share the
sims/diffs of their research and analysis.
Regroup students so that each group has at least one person who can
share analysis of the one document. As a
group they determine: a thesis, groups of documents to support the thesis, 2
examples of specific evidence and agree on an additional document, not
included, that most likely exists to support the thesis or claims.
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Questions to ask
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Frame of answer
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Speaker
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Who is the author? Why should we believe what the author is saying?
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The author is
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Occasion
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Time? Place?
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This document was published,
presented, printed in… (time & place)
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Audience
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Why does the author want to communicate with this audience?
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The document was intended for…
The (document) was viewed by…
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Purpose
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Why did the author create this document
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The reason for its distribution was…
The (document) was supposed to cause…
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Significance
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In what ways is this document important?
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Since its inception this document has become important because…
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Claim
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What is the author trying to prove, establish, cause?
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The author intended to show…. However…..
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Conclusion:
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