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Another way to remember all of these elements is the acronym SOAPS: Subject, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, and Speaker. SOAPS is a useful start as a way to organize your ideas, whether you’re analyzing someone else’s argument or planning one of your own.

Subject. What is the speaker or writer’s general topic or content? Harriet Beecher Stowe’s subject was slavery in the United States. Carson’s was DDT specifically, pesticides in general. Remember that the subject can be stated in a few words or a phrase, while the claim is the speaker’s position on the subject. Part of your analysis of subject is determining if the writer has chosen a fairly narrow subject or a much larger one, and whether that subject is sufficiently developed.

Occasion. What circumstances give rise to the argument? Is there a controversy already in play? Is the speaker or writer responding to an accusation or an existing or urgent situation? When Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, there was emerging evidence that DDT softened the shells of bird eggs (particularly those of bald eagles and peregrine falcons), resulting in a dramatic drop in the birds’ population. This finding and others led Carson to sound the alarm and argue for action to preserve the environment.

Audience. While there are often multiple audiences for any argument, usually the speaker or writer has a primary audience in mind for his or her claim and will tailor the argument depending on the expectations, prejudices, anticipated objections, and interests of that audience. As Galileo was proposing his theories about our solar system, his greatest opponent was the Roman Catholic Church, so, in making his argument, he tried to be careful not to offend religious leaders.

Purpose. What is the speaker or writer’s intention? What does he or she want the audience to do? In many cases, a speaker wants action: vote, buy, stop, start, do something. But a speaker may want the audience simply to consider a different perspective or a new angle on an idea. In some cases, there is more than one purpose, an immediate and specific one and then a larger issue. For example, Malala Yousafzai wrote her blog primarily to call attention to what she believed was an unfair situation — limitations on the educational opportunities available to women in her culture — but she also intended to criticize the regime that created such oppression.

Speaker. Who is putting forward the claim? The speaker or writer is often a person, but it also could be a corporation, a political party, or a group of individuals. What do you know about the speaker? What is his or her age, gender, race, socioeconomic status, and so on? What are the speaker’s interests, biases, or political leanings? We know, for example, that Harriet Beecher Stowe was a committed abolitionist, and we also know that she was a devout Christian. Both aspects of her background greatly influenced how she presented her argument in Uncle Tom’s Cabin.