College Composition

College Composition Study Guide

©2020 Page 25 of 56 understanding of the text was. If you find you cannot remember much of the information, you may want to repeat the first 3 steps, looking for another way that the information could be taken. • R eview: Review the text along with your notes. See how much of the information you were able to recall, and how accurate you were. It may feel like using a method like SQ3R takes a lot more time than just simply reading, but without using this technique -- or a similar one -- you may find that you miss important information, or that you only have a surface understanding when you are asked for a deeper analysis of the text. By practicing this technique, you will find that it becomes much faster to use than re-reading a text and eventually, it will feel very natural and automatic to read actively. 3.3 Reading Rhetorically with SOAPSTone Once you have actively read a text, you can begin to consider the rhetoric that the text uses instead of just the information or story. SOAPSTone is a very useful method for analyzing the rhetoric an author uses. When using SOAPSTone, you ask yourself questions that may not be answered directly in the text. Like a detective, you use clues from the text to help you answer these questions: • S peaker: Who is the speaker? What is his or her background and level of knowledge about the subject? What does he or she believe, and is that belief biased in some way? • O ccasion: Why is the author writing? What event has occurred to prompt the author to write this piece at this time? What events may happen soon that the author is trying to encourage or avoid? • A udience: Who is the intended audience? What does the audience know about the subject? How does the author expect the audience to feel about the subject? • P urpose: What does the author want the audience to get from the reading, or to do or not do after reading? What is the goal the author has in writing the passage? • S ubject: What is the writing about? Does the text cover a small, detailed part of the subject, or a broad overview? • Tone : What attitude does the author have regarding the subject and the audience? Is the writing formal or casual? 3.4 Other Components of Rhetorical Analysis Understanding the writer's choices when writing can help you understand how he or she is trying to persuade the audience. Examining the way the text is organized, the evidence that is given, the rhetorical appeals and rhetorical style the author uses can all help a reader understand more about a piece of writing than just the information given. Organization is the order in which an author decides to present arguments or information. Writers choose how the information will be presented to the reader to have the greatest impact on interest and persuasion. Some common approaches to organization are: Achieve