Rhetorical Analysis

In the course of my education, I have had to read many articles and do a lot of research in the field of elementary education and special education. When I graduate, I plan to focus on Autism. I have chosen Autism for most of the research and writing I have done. The one I chose to analyze here was an article on Autism and the benefits of additional funding grants. The article can be read here http://www.bmedreport.com/archives/11503 

The writer of the article, Autism Speaks Awards 16 New Research Grants For More Than $5 Million Over 3 years; Christopher Fisher has a PhD in Clinical Health Psychology & Behavioral Medicine and is the managing editor of for The Behavioral Report. The article is an informative article written by Dr. Fisher explaining the award of 16 new grants in the field of Autism and how those grants will be used in the autism arena.  The article is geared more toward the medical community and uses much medical language throughout.  Dr. Fisher is attempting to inform us of the importance of autism research and positive benefits that are being seen in the research that has already been funded. He does this by addressing many studies in the field of autism by experts across the country.

Autism is rising across the country and the article attempts to put into perspective the need for continued research and the hopes of what the medical community might be able to accomplish with this research.  Most of the language throughout the article is in a medical professional genre and one that might confuse the average reader.  I can see how an average reader would get lost with all the studies and drug reports that are accentuated throughout.  The writer is definitely focusing on a professional audience with that audience having some degree of a medical background.  The information that is being related is important to the medical community; however, the general public, specifically those with autistic children and relatives, would probably benefit from knowledge of what could come from these tests. If the article was written a little less formal it might be able to reach those individuals.

My evaluation of the article is that it is overall a good piece on the subject of autism if you are in the medical community. The general reader would grasp some of the points but a lot of the article is written over the head of the general public because of all the references to medical studies, the drugs that are being produced to combat the disease and the overall tone of the article. Having said that, I think the medical community benefited from the article; however, the general public did not.  By addressing the article in a more general tone a broader audience could have been reached.  The article was not a medical report, it was to inform about the benefits of grants that are being given to continue the research of a disease that is effecting more and more of the general public.