The Center for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) (Essay Sample)

Rhetorical Analysis on CDC’s ADHD Website
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Instructor’s name
Course
Date
Rhetorical Analysis of the CDC’s ADHD Website
The Center for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) in the United States is a national public health agency tasked with promoting national health by innovating and using science to prevent avoidable epidemics, hence improving public health. They have identified Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) as one of the most prevalent neurodevelopmental childhood disorders(“What is ADHD?”, 2021). To raise awareness, CDC publishes details about its research on disorders and diseases that threaten national health. The website about ADHD has a lot of informative information as it provides: types, diagnosis, signs and symptoms, causes, treatments, managing symptoms, get help, and ADHD in Adults. The public health agency utilizes a rhetorical approach in writing the “What is ADHD?” report in an attempt to communicate to its audience effectively. Many rhetorical techniques of ethos, logos, and pathos have been utilized in the webpage as an art of persuasion to target audiences.
Ethos is a rhetorical area in which the CDC website utilizes to communicate information about ADHD. Ethos is essential as it creates an appeal on which the writer strives to persuade their target audience. Whenever adequately executed, it instills trust in the readers who believe that the information is credible and trustworthy (Edlund, 2012). Despite being a government agency and well known among many people as a credible source, they incorporate facts and evidence based on their research on their webpage. The detailed information backed with facts and evidence showcases that the article’s writers are experts in the field. This writing style shows the writer’s authority and makes it difficult for the audience to doubt the information. The article’s word choice, tone, and voice are effective in creating an appeal that persuades the target audience to trust the information. It utilizes a strong and assertive tone throughout the website, which works to promote ethos. Another aspect of ethos is that the CDC website is regularly updated with the latest information. Since new information tends to emerge quite often, the CDC website writers update the information based on their recent research. The website was updated on January 26, 2021, showing that the CDC is progressively researching on ADHD. These appeals to the audience and make it easy for them to trust the information.
The website has not quite captured the audience and could use some improvement when it comes to pathos. The pathos appeal of rhetoric is effective when it elicits an emotional feeling from the reader (Edlund, 2012). The website has incorporated photos that appeal to the emotional side of the readers. The child hugging the mother and the other one of the doctors explaining to a parent with two children definitely appeals to the emotional sides of the readers. Also, the constant reassuring of the parents, mainly in the “Get Help!” section, effectively portrays pathos. However, most of the information in the article does not offer emotional support. Most likely, the target audiences of this article are parents who are worried about their children’s mental health. Despite their quest for knowledge about ADHD, they are concerned about their child’s well-being. It would be appropriate if the CDC website would incorporate a tone, words, or phrases that make the parents feel hope as they learn about the disorder. Since the parents constantly speculate about their child’s mental health condition, the emotional appeal would help restore calmness.
Logos is evidently used in the website. The information presented in the “What is ADHD?” article on the CDC website appeals to the logical side of the readers through reasoning. Depicting information through facts and evidence from their research makes the reader engage their logical sides. Some of the sections that have adequately maximized on utilizing logos include Data and Statistics, Articles and Key Findings, Focus for the Future Initiative, State Information, Research, and Materials and Multimedia (“What is ADHD?”, 2021). These sections have lots of educative informati