WebMD.com

On WebMD, a team of contributors with advanced degrees in journalism, medical illustration, health communications, nursing, and medicine come together to create a site that dispenses free, accurate, and up-to-date medical advice.  The site is used by both healthcare professionals who are looking for community support and consumers who are seeking answers to their health questions. 

Visitors can get everything short of a physical exam on the ancillary consumer site, WebMDHealth.  By browsing through WebMDHealth, you will find the latest news headlines, information on special topics such as "Pregnancy & Parenting" and "Sports & Fitness."  Look through the Medical Dictionary for health guides, drug alerts, and sponsored medical studies.  Search alphabetical lists of symptoms and medical tests to learn more about diagnosing an illness.  Find out how to stay healthy by skimming through special pages on preventative care.

The rhetorical strategies most apparent on WebMDHealth are Cause/Effect and Problem/Solution. Consumers want to know either what is causing certain symptoms or what will help solve a health problem.  The content writers therefore have to explain complex relationships in simple and clear terms.  Notice how the writers identify causes and explore their effects or state the effect and examine their causes.  Keep an eye on the ways they study problems and present solutions.  Whereas a doctor with a patient in her office has the option of diagnosing and treating illness with little explanation, the site must offer the consumer all of the information he might want or need.




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Q & A

1. From WebMD's home page, click on "WebMDHealth Site."  On the left of the screen on the new page, you will see various categories.  Click on "Check Symptoms" under "Medical Info."  Choose any symptom on the alphabetical list and read the information. How effectively does the information present cause and effect?  How effectively does it explain how the health problem might be solved?  Summarize the information for your instructor, and analyze its use of cause/effect and problem/solution as rhetorical strategies.



2. Since the successful mapping of the human genome, genetics has become increasingly important in preventing and diagnosing illness.  Under "Medical Info," click on "Family Genetics."  Read any of the articles on "Pharmogenetics" (drug therapies based on genetics) or "Genetic Testing."  Consider how this new field of research and therapy depends on a primary cause/effect relationship—the one between our DNA and our health.  Write a paragraph or two discussing how this cause/effect relationship is being used in new studies and therapies.  Use examples from the articles you read.



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Either print your answers out for submission or email them to your instructor.