ACTT
A
Authorial Point-of-view: How might the author's race, ethnic background, occupation, political affiliation, social class, age, nationality, religion, influence their position?
C
Context: What is the context (background) or occasion in which the author is writing? Is the document private or public? Does the document have a clear purpose, perhaps as propaganda (see below)? Is the statement a fact, that can be proven, or an opinion, that expresses how a person feels? Is the information accurate or distorted? Does there exist faulty generalizations?
T
Time: How close to the event is the author? Is the author a primary or secondary source? Original research and sources are always preferable to secondary sources. The most persuasive argument is the one that supports the thesis with relevant, up-to-date, empirical data.
T
Tone: Does the author use strong words to suggest bias? Is the author oversimplifying the issue?
(from Mr. Aroune's web page)