1. Elements of Critical Analysis: Primary Sources
Author: sometimes specific (name at the top); or establish a general profile (nationality,
gender, education, occupation, etc.)
Audience: sometimes specific or explicit (i.e. letter from husband to wife), or establish a
general profile (public or private, written or oral, fiction or nonfiction, complexity of
language and sources)
Language: images or metaphors; repeated, unusual, or stressed words or phrases; words
that seem to have a positive or negative charge
Argument or Logic: main point and secondary points; structure-how does it move from
point to point; linear, circular, leaps of logic
Sources: first-person witness; second-hand (others told me); written sources; divine
revelation
Style or Tone: analytical, impassioned, authoritative, questioning, etc.
Motives or Goals: why did the author use this language, argument, logic, source, style
and tone to appeal to this audience? Do all of these elements work together to meet the
author's goals, or are the author's motives complex and contradictory? Is one goal more
important than the others?