Rhetorical Analysis of a Public Document Final Draft

Rhetorical Analysis of the ADHD Resource Center Web Page
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Rhetorical Analysis of the ADHD Resource Center Web Page
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has become a major public health concern among adults and children in America today. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published and runs a website solely for educating the public on ADHD. The website provides invaluable information on ADHD; ADHD types, causes, and symptoms of ADHD, diagnosis process, and the treatment options available. The target audience for the website is the general public and efficiently uses pathos, ethos, and logos to relay evidence-based material and findings to individuals interested in more knowledge on ADHD to create awareness as one of the ways of curbing it.
The use of logos is evident in the manner in which CDC presents information on the website, how basic information on ADHD is laid out, and how the layout and presentation effectively appeal to the reader’s reasoning (Varpio, 2018). The presentation matters as it appeals to the reader and draws interest and attention. CDC portrays the use of logos by using concise and clear, easy-to-understand, and well-organized information that builds from one section to the other ("What is ADHD?", 2020). A section is based on the preceding, making the information flow clearly and concisely. For instance, the ‘Basic Information’ presented on the website has been presented in sections such as ‘Signs and Symptoms’ and the final one being ‘ADHD in adults’. Such organization and presentation of the content make it easy for readers to navigate through since the information flows in a logical sense. Similarly, it is easier for one to look up for specific information on ADHD as there are sections where one can go directly depending on their interest.
The CDC web page, however, employs limited appeal for ethos in the presentation of information since there is little invested to make an effective ethical appeal as the persuasion of the author’s credibility and reliability (Hong, Yu, Wu, & Pu, 2020). Simply put, there are is no evidence to prove the credibility of the author of the information on the web page ("What is ADHD?", 2020). The CDC seems to rely on the fact that it has already established r...