Analyzing Primary Sources with SOAPSTone

SOAPSTone (Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone) is the acronym behind a useful strategy for analyzing primary sources. This process will help you examine the different dimensions of a text, which can then be used to employ the text as evidence in discussion or writing. The description and guided application below are adapted from "Speed Dating Strategies: An Introduction to SOAPSTone" by Kerryann Tracy.
Acronym
Description
Speaker
​It is not enough simply to name the speaker. Search for details like:
  • What do we know about the speaker (e.g., age, gender, class, occupation, origin)?
  • What does the speaker believe?
  • Include important facts about the speaker that might help you make judgments about his or her point of view.
Occasion
Occasion is not simply identifying the time and place. Consider the larger occasion or context: 
  • What was the environment of ideas, attitudes, and emotions surrounding the issues involved? 
  • What was the immediate situation that may have inspired this specific response?
Audience
To whom is this text directed? It’s not enough to say: “Anyone who reads it.” Consider:
  • Which group or groups did the author intend to read this article?
  • What assumptions can you make about the intended audience?
  • How might the intended audience have been similar to or different from you? 
Purpose
What is the speaker’s reason for writing the text? What is its intended effect?
  • What change does the author want to see as a result?
  • Is the author’s aim to entertain, to inform, to persuade, to critique, to complain, to explain, to describe, and/or to reflect?
Subject
The subject is the general topic, content, and ideas contained in the text. This can usually be stated in a few words or a phrase. The subjects of texts are frequently abstract: the right to die, racism, poverty, conformity, cloning, global warming, etc. 
Tone
Tone is the attitude of the speaker towards his subject. For help with possible adjectives, see the “Talking about Tone” section just below this chart.
  • What emotional sense do you take from the piece? 
  • Consider how word choice, sentence structure, and imagery might point to tone. 

Talking about tone

Below are examples of adjectives you might use to effectively describe the tone of a text.
​aggravated 
ambiguous
amused
angry
apathetic
apologetic
appreciative
apprehensive
arrogant
dramatic
ecstatic
effusive
elated
elegiac
factual
fanciful
flippant
foreboding
​​moralistic
mournful
nostalgic
objective
outraged
passionate
patronizing
pedantic
perplexed

Guided application

Below are tips for using SOAPSTone on Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream" speech delivered in Washington, D.C. on 28 August 1963.
Acronym
Description
Speaker
  • How does King's background manifest itself in the speech? For example, you might consider that he was both a preacher and the son of a preacher. 
  • What distinguished him from the many other speakers that day – as a person, a prominent figure in the civil rights movement, or a public speaker? 
Occasion
  • What is important to understand about the historical context of this speech?
  • Consider both the general background (the Civil Rights Movement), and this particular occasion (the March on Washington). How does King himself frame the occasion? 
Audience
  • Who comprises King’s audience? 
  • Which audiences are explicit (directly named) and which might be implicit (implied but not named)? 
  • Where in the speech does he address specific audiences?
Purpose
  • What changes does King want to see as a result of this speech? 
  • What other purpose(s), beyond advocating change, do you see in King’s speech?
Subject
  • The event was billed as a march “for jobs and freedom.” What other topics or issues, beyond these, does King address in his speech?
Tone
  • How would you characterize the tone of King’s speech? 
  • Where do you see significant shifts in tone? 

Examples