Analytical Response

For my blog, I decided I wanted to focus on something relevant and familiar to most people. Further, I wanted to enhance the reader's knowledge on this topic and present them with the information in a narrative, more simple tone than if they were to read a scientific or heavily researched source.

I began my blog using a sentence I feel as though many people can relate to it. I talk about pandemics in general and how the normal trend is that we as humans eventually grow immune to them. New illnesses are going to keep popping up. COVID will not be the world’s last pandemic. However, responses and actions people take when these things happen is the most important way to keep the world healthy. I then introduce different responses that are being used today. I feel as though many people think this is the very first time the government has had to go to such drastic measures of quarantining and business shutdowns to keep their people safe. This is not the case. 

In this blog, I wanted to be able to start a discussion about the nation’s response to Coronavirus. My angle is talking about the response to COVID is the most important aspect of stopping the spread. I talk about how the government responds and how the general public responded and attitudes towards the virus. I wanted to put the information into a narrative that was clear and concise. I wanted to discuss more than just illness. I wanted to discuss what steps we have taken as a nation, the predecessors to these actions, the impact these responses have had, and the people’s attitude towards them. To reference Fahnestock’s “Accommodating Science”, I tried to make my piece epideictic in nature. Epideictic oratory is a form of discourse that places judgment on an important relevant thing and tries to instill the values into the audience (Fahnestock 278). In this case, I placed importance on the responses to COVID, a relevant and important event, and tried to explain to my readers the value of different responses such as how to cope with bad mental health during the crisis. I created a reason for reporting this information. 

In addition, I feel as though my piece is definitely tailored to the first two stases, facts and definitions, but also hints at the third and fourth, cause and effect. My blog incorporates these stases because it establishes that Coronavirus exists and explains it, as well as identifying the history or responses, the history of this pandemic, and its influences. It gives researched facts from the CDC and defines exactly what these facts entail. To summarize, COVID-19 is a virus that has turned into a pandemic and has forced many countries to shutdown and enforce strict rules for its citizens to follow of self-isolation, quarantine, and the encouragement of masks. In this sentence alone, one can see how the subject was identified and explained (it defines what the discourse is about) and the cause and effects it has had on the world. 

Further, these facts and the relevancy of the information give the text matter and motivation, or exigence (Grant-Davie 266). It is important because Coronavirus is something we are battling right now in the world. It should be written about because people need to be informed about pandemics in order to help us stop the spread of the virus and stay healthy both physically and mentally. The topic is urgent and needs to be discussed. “Exigence is a motivating force behind a discourse” (266). The motivating force behind this blog is the importance of coronavirus and the impacts it has had (the impacts refer to the different responses which I previously discuss). 

I think my blog does a good job of discussing the effects of COVID while also showing how and where these responses came from. I think using the information about the 1918 Flu Pandemic strongly enforces my angle that the response to a pandemic is the most important aspect of keeping people healthy. Further, I feel like it adds depth to the text because it shows the history behind a lot of the choices and actions the government decided to take and how it worked in the past. Although it may seem like the very first time people had to self isolate for long periods of time, it definitely was not. I think this also allows readers to see that if it worked back then, it should also work now, especially considering how much we have advanced medically. 

Works Cited

Fahnestock, Jeanne. “Accommodating Science: The Rhetorical Life of Scientific Facts”. Written Communication, Vol. 3, No. 275, 1986, pp. 275- 296

Grant-Davie, Keith. “Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents”.  Rhetoric Review, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1997, pp. 264-279. 

“1918 Pandemic (H1N1 Virus).” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 20 Mar. 2019, www.cdc.gov/flu/pandemic-resources/1918-pandemic-h1n1.html.

“COVID-19 Overview and Infection Prevention and Control Priorities in Non-US Healthcare Settings.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/non-us-settings/overview/index.html.

Guidance on Preparing Workplaces for COVID-19. U.S. Department of Labor, 2020.

“Mental Health and Coping During COVID-19.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/managing-stress-anxiety.html.