SOAPSTone

Evaluating Nonfiction Texts

What is SOAPSTone?

“Many students do not see the creation of a piece of writing as a way of ordering the mind, explaining their thoughts and feelings, or achieving a personal voice. One of the problems for these students is that they have no conscious plan that will enable them to begin the process and then to organize and develop their ideas…SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) is an acronym for a series of questions that students must first ask themselves, and then answer, as they begin to plan their compositions.” –Ogden Morse, academic director (apcentral.collegeboard.com)

Example

Brain-injury program working with NFL playersMichigan center updates military veteran brain-injury program to include football players

Speaker

• Who is telling the story

• The narrator’s point of view

Speaker

• Kyle Franko

• Sports Editor – The Idaho State Journal

• Point of view = third person(outside of the story)

Occassion

• Time and place of the text

Occassion

• Tuesday, Dec. 16

• Lansing, Michigan

Audience

• The group of readers to whom the text is directed

Audience

• Lansing residents

• Idaho residents

• Sports (NFL) fans

• NFL players

• Veterans

Purpose

• Reason behind the text

• What the author wants the reader to think about or consider after reading the story

Purpose

• To inform

• Medical/physical effects of football

• Available brain-injury rehabilitation

Subject

• Topic of the text

Subject

• A brain-injury rehabilitation center is working to help war veterans and NFL players in a unique way.

Tone

• The attitude of the author toward the subject or audience

Tone

• Objective

• It does not show any feelings for or against a topic

SOAPSTone Challenge

• Using one of my (personal and treasured) National Geographic magazines, choose and read TWO different articles

• With a partner, SOAPSTone the articles• PS: With non-fiction, you need to

research the speaker since it is a real person (who are they?)