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.


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
·         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
·         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
·         document that is not revealed in its presentation?
Claim- what were people trying to accomplish or establish versus what actually took place.  Claim
·         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.


Questions to ask
Frame of answer
Speaker
Who is the author? Why should we believe what the author is saying?
The author is
Occasion
Time? Place?
This document was published, presented, printed in… (time & place)

Audience
Why does the author want to communicate with this audience?
The document was intended for…
The (document) was viewed by…
Purpose
Why did the author create this document
The reason for its distribution was…
The (document) was supposed to cause…
Significance
In what ways is this document important?
Since its inception this document has become important because…
Claim
What is the author trying to prove, establish, cause?
The author intended to show…. However…..

Conclusion:






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